The BUILD America 250 Act sets federal surface transportation policy and funding for fiscal years 2027 through 2031, covering highways, bridges, public transit, highway safety, motor carriers, freight, and railroads. It authorizes roughly $57 billion to $61 billion a year for the core federal-aid highway program, $9.2 billion a year for bridges, about $16.9 billion rising to $18.2 billion a year for public transit, and billions a year in grants to Amtrak for the Northeast Corridor and national network. It creates a new annual federal registration fee of $130 on electric vehicles and $35 on plug-in hybrids, collected by states and backed by a funding-withholding penalty, and expands a national pilot to test charging drivers by the mile instead of through the gas tax. The bill speeds up environmental reviews for transportation projects by widening categorical exclusions, shortening review deadlines, and exempting certain projects from historic-preservation review, while setting a federal framework for self-driving commercial trucks and barring purchases of certain foreign-made LiDAR sensors. For passengers and oversight, it raises the cap on total damages from a single passenger-rail accident from $200 million to $323 million, requires Amtrak to publicly disclose executive pay and bonuses, and applies federal open-records and open-meetings laws to Amtrak's board. State transportation and motor-vehicle agencies, transit riders, truck drivers and carriers, electric-vehicle owners, and Amtrak passengers are the most directly affected.
Corporate Benefits
- Self-driving commercial truck framework — Federal interstate operating rules established for ADS-equipped trucks
- State authority over self-driving truck safety — Preempted under federal commercial-vehicle safety standards
- Foreign-made LiDAR procurement — Barred for DOT-funded recipients using covered companies or countries
Average Household Impact
- Federal EV registration fee — New $130 annual charge on electric-vehicle owners
- Federal plug-in hybrid registration fee — New $35 annual charge on plug-in hybrid owners
- Per-mile road usage charge pilot — Expanded from demonstration to implementation testing nationally
- Federal-aid highway funding — Set near $57 billion to $61 billion a year through 2031
- Public transit funding — Raised from about $16.9 billion to $18.2 billion a year through 2031
- Safe Streets and Roads for All grants — Scaled from $500 million to $1 billion a year by 2031
Civil Liberties
- Passenger-rail accident damages cap — Raised from $200 million to $323 million per incident
Environmental Concerns
- NEPA environmental review timelines — Shortened for transportation project decisions
- Categorical exclusions — Expanded for highway, transit, rail, and tribal projects
- Historic-preservation review — Certain transportation undertakings exempted under section 4(f)
- Environmental review implementation funds program — Terminated
- Wildlife crossings program — Federal cost share raised from 60% to 75% and opened to non-construction work
Transparency & Accountability
- Amtrak executive pay disclosure — Base pay, bonuses, and bonus criteria made public
- Amtrak open-records and open-meetings — FOIA and Sunshine Act applied to Amtrak's board
- Truck driver lease-purchase disclosure — Carriers must give owner-operators a written terms form
- Federal data privacy guidance — Required for DOT use of telematics and predictive analytics
- GAO studies and reporting — Added across transit safety, automated-vehicle safety, and data quality
- Surface-transportation reporting requirements — Some existing reports eliminated as unnecessary
Congressional Summary
Building Unrivaled Infrastructure and Long-term Development for America's 250th Act or the BUILD America 250 ActThis bill authorizes federal surface transportation (highway, public transportation, and rail) programs and activities through FY2031. The bill also establishes or modifies Department of Transportation (DOT) programs and policies that are a part of the federal-aid highway, transit, highway safety, motor carrier, research, hazardous materials, and rail programs. For example, the bill authorizes appropriations through FY2031 out of the Highway Trust Fund for the federal-aid highway program, the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) program, highway safety programs, and bridge programs. The bill also authorizes funding through FY2031 for Amtrak. Current authorization for these programs expires on September 30, 2026.Among other provisions, the billestablishes a Surface Transportation Accelerator Grant (STAG) discretionary program to fund surface transportation projects in rural, urban, local, and regional communities;requires the Federal Highway Administration to impose a new annual electric vehicle (EV) registration fee, starting at $130 for a covered EV and $35 for a covered plug-in hybrid vehicle;exempts automated driving system technology and equipment from vehicle width requirements;establishes a consolidated state block grant program that allows DOT to allocate a lump sum to participating states to fund public transportation services in rural and urbanized areas;allows state rail safety inspectors to conduct railroad bridge inspections; andestablishes a system for state, local, and tribal governments to report safety concerns about the condition of railroad bridges.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in House
- Action Date
- 2026-05-19
- Date Added
- 2026-06-13
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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