Good afternoon,
It has been quite the week for TRAA on Capitol Hill – and we couldn’t be happier with how things are progressing.
Early this morning, the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee marked up and passed the Build America 250 Act – otherwise known as the Surface Transportation Reauthorization or the Highway Bill. We are thrilled to report that the bill included an amendment, led by TRAA, to fix the weights & measures issues we lobbied on during our recent Hill Day(s).
As many of you are aware, as we prepared for the mark up of the Surface Transportation Act (or the Highway Bill), the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) sought to repeal the progress we had made on weights & measures in the 2015 FAST Act. AASHTO’s ask was to send all permitting back to the states without any exemptions for towing and recovery operations. AASHTO’s language was included in the base text of the Highway bill released earlier this week.
But TRAA fought this initiative, and we fought it hard! The amendment that passed T&I today struck AASHTO’s language, and replaced it with our own language to revise existing weight restrictions for towers on interstate highways and create a new exemption from length requirements for towers responding to tows on the interstate system. This is the issue TRAA has been lobbying for over ten years since the original, flawed exemption was included in the 2015 FAST Act, and exact language we lobbied for during 2026 Hill Day.
The amendment was led by Reps. David Taylor (R-OH-2) and Chris Pappas (D-NH-2), and co-sponsored by Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL-21). Critical behind the scenes work on this amendment was also led by Rep. David Rouzer (R-NC-7), and bipartisan support was secured from Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA-2). Additionally, many of our TRAA members who have Representatives who sit on the T&I Committee reached out to explain the district impact of this amendment. This bipartisan and constituent driven outreach is what won the day for us, and we thank you all for your support and efforts along the way.
The BUILD America 250 Act, with “weights & measures” included, now awaits floor action in the House. The Senate also has yet to weigh in on its priorities for the surface transportation bill, and TRAA’s work will now move to ensuring that “weights & measures” remains in the compromise legislation that will eventually emerge between the two chambers. We are very optimistic that we will be able to defend its inclusion in the final package, and these necessary safety protections will be finalized, but we will be calling on you again as our work in the Senate takes shape.
I cannot stress enough that this effort, and the related success we reported Wednesday on our EV fires language, would not be possible without the hard work of towers who attend TRAA’s annual Hill Day and offer their assistance throughout the year to maintain good relationships with their local elected officials. When towers work together, great things can happen, and this is just another example of the progress we can make together.
As always, the TRAA and TSG teams are both available to answer questions you may have. Thank you for your continued support in these legislative efforts.
Sincerely,
Liesl Sheehan
Tremont Strategies Group
