Resilient Transit Act of 2025
The Resilient Transit Act of 2025 would add a new program to the Public Transportation programs in title 49 of the U.S. Code to fund climate and hazard resilience improvements for public transit. It creates Public Transportation Resilience Improvement Grants (5337(g)) that may be awarded to state and local governments to finance projects and activities that make transit systems more resilient to sea level rise, flooding, extreme weather, wildfires, and other climate-related threats. Eligible activities include flood mitigation, flood detection, replacing flood-prone equipment, improving drainage and pumping, backup power, temperature monitoring, vulnerability assessments, emergency planning, and other resilience measures. The bill places special emphasis on environmental justice and underserved communities in selecting projects and reporting on outcomes. The bill also provisions funding increases to support these resilience grants, adds definitions related to environmental justice, and requires annual reporting to Congress and DOT on how the resilience grants are used and where they benefit disadvantaged communities. It directs how the new resilience grants are funded and apportioned, and it integrates a requirement to report on projects that benefit EJ, medically underserved, or other underserved communities.
Key Points
- 1Creation of Public Transportation Resilience Improvement Grants (5337(g)) to finance climate and hazard resilience enhancements for public transit systems; funded via a new or expanded line in the transit program and distributed by the Secretary of Transportation.
- 2Definitions focused on environmental justice and underserved communities, including:
- 3- Environmental justice community
- 4- EJSCREEN and EJ Index (tools used to identify affected communities)
- 5- Medically underserved and underserved communities
- 6- Clear criteria tying grant eligibility to benefiting these communities
- 7Eligible activities for grants:
- 8- Flood mitigation, flood detection equipment, and replacement of flood-prone facilities
- 9- Maintenance and upgrading of drainage and pumping systems
- 10- Equipment to handle extreme temperatures and monitoring sensors
- 11- Backup power and redundancy for critical transit systems
- 12- System vulnerability assessments and emergency response planning
- 13- Any other resilience improvement activity deemed appropriate by the Secretary
- 14Funding and allocation specifics:
- 15- Of the funds available for this resilience program, 97.15% must be apportioned via the standard formula, and 2.85% via an alternative method (as defined in the bill).
- 16- A separate authorization increase to fund the resilience program (including a specific addition of $300 million for fiscal year 2026 to carry out 5337(g)).
- 17Reporting and oversight:
- 18- Annual reports to Congress and DOT within one year of enactment and thereafter, describing activities, projects funded (and their benefits to disadvantaged communities), and recommendations to improve administration.
- 19- Reports must highlight projects in neighborhoods with higher poverty or unemployment, high reliance on certain federal programs, underserved or medically underserved areas, or higher EJ indices.
- 20Conforming and definitional refinements:
- 21- Cross-references updated to align section numbering (ensuring the resilience grants are integrated with existing 5337/5338 provisions).