Support S. 1813: Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) Act

Recipient: U.S. Senate

Dear Senator:

On behalf of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights,
a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 210 national organizations
to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States, we urge
you to support MAP-21, and to vote for Amendment No. 1542, Senator Cardin’s
Equal Opportunity Assessment Amendment. The Leadership Conference advocates for
strong civil rights enforcement, educational and economic opportunity, and an
end to discrimination against communities of color, women, people with
disabilities, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, Limited English Proficient populations, and seniors.
Transportation policy is a key civil
rights issue for The Leadership Conference, and one that is critical to
ensuring opportunity for all. We believe that the transportation
bill must be bipartisan and provide robust investments in infrastructure and
job creation, as well as improve access to public transit for transit-dependent
communities.  MAP-21 meets this
standard, and we urge you to support it on the Senate floor.

The
Leadership Conference is pleased that MAP-21 enables
the Secretary of Transportation to make grants or enter into cooperative
agreements with entities to provide technical assistance on how public
transportation systems can more effectively and efficiently provide
service.  Communities of color are
more likely to rely on mass transit to get to work and school than Whites and
in urban areas, people of color comprise 62 percent of all bus riders.^[i]
The inclusion of “transportation equity with regard to the impact
transportation planning, investment, and operations have on low-income and
minority individuals,” among the eligible criteria is key to improving public transportation
access for all communities, especially those that depend on it the most. Grants
could support such valuable resources as toolkits to help transportation
planners and community members identify and address local environmental justice
issues in transportation; model language implementation plans for serving
Limited English Proficient populations; or tools to assist transportation
planners and community organizations in assisting transit dependent communities
in emergencies.^[ii]

MAP-21’s modification of the existing research program to create
funding for research, development, and demonstration projects focusing on
providing more effective and efficient public transportation services to
seniors, individuals with disabilities, and low-income individuals is a
critical inclusion.  These
communities rely disproportionately on
public transportation, so it is crucial to provide research on how decisions
regarding public transportation affect their commutes and how to improve public
transportation service.  For
example, 33 percent of low-income African Americans; 25 percent of low-income
Latinos; and 12.1 percent of low-income Whites do not have automobile access.^[iii]
 Individuals with disabilities also heavily rely on public
transportation^[iv] and seniors are increasingly more
dependent on public transportation.^[v] Unfortunately,
with public transportation ridership at record highs, many transit agencies are
facing fiscal crises, resulting in service cuts and higher fares for riders who
can least afford these changes.^[vi]

The
Leadership Conference also applauds the restoration of the pre-tax transit
benefit in MAP-21 at the same level as the pre-tax parking benefit. While we
would prefer that the two benefits be permanently at the same level, we understand that
the one-year sunset for the transit benefit is the result of compromise.
Restoring the pre-tax transit benefit to $240 per month would
allow transit-dependent communities to save money on their daily commute. For those individuals who rely most heavily
on public transportation—people with disabilities, students, seniors, and
low-income people—not having a pre-tax benefit on par with the pre-tax parking
benefit would have a devastating financial impact and amount to an unequal
financial burden. Low-income individuals spend about 42 percent of their total
annual incomes on transportation, compared to 22 percent of middle-income
individuals.^[vii]
A pre-tax transit benefit on par with the $240 pre-tax commuter benefit would
allow working families to save money on their daily commute.

We
are also pleased with MAP-21’s increased funding for public transportation on
Indian reservations.  Additional
formula grants to continue to expand public transportation services in and
around Indian reservations are critical to economic development, job creation,
and improving living conditions for individuals and families throughout Indian
Country. Road conditions on Indian reservations are unsafe, inequitable and are
a primary barrier to economic development and improvement of living conditions.
More than 60 percent of the Indian Reservation Roads (IRR) are unimproved earth
and gravel, and approximately 24 percent of IRR bridges are classified as
deficient. American Indians have the highest rates of pedestrian injury and
vehicle deaths per capita of any racial or ethnic group in the United States.
These conditions make it very difficult for residents of tribal communities to
travel to hospitals, stores, schools, and employment centers.[viii]

Finally, The Leadership believes that comprehensive and
coordinated data collection is necessary to ensure compliance with civil rights
laws. Therefore, we urge you to vote in favor of the Equal Opportunity
Assessment Amendment, No. 1542 expected to be offered by Senator Ben Cardin, D.
Md. The Equal Opportunity Assessment Amendment would require a quadrennial
national report that would analyze data on demographics and compliance with
existing civil rights laws in federal transportation programs. The data
currently collected by the U.S. Department of Transportation and its operating administrations are not reviewed and analyzed comprehensively and are collected
using different methods with minimal public transparency. Thus, this new tool would
provide a comprehensive analysis of compliance with civil rights laws in
federally funded transportation programs and could assist federal, state, and
local transportation officials in increasing transparency and accountability
and avoiding lapses in civil rights safeguards. 

For these reasons, we urge you to support MAP-21and vote for Amendment
No. 1542, the Equal Opportunity Assessment Amendment. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Lexer
Quamie, Counsel at (202) 466-3648 or [email protected]
or Nancy Zirkin at (202) 466-3311 or [email protected].
Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Wade Henderson
President & CEO

Nancy Zirkin
Executive Vice President