Sponsor
Harriet Hageman
Representative · R-WY
Representative · R-WY
This bill speeds delivery and reduces paperwork for many larger transportation projects—saving time and supporting jobs—but does so by expanding exclusions that raise environmental risk and shift greater review time and costs onto smaller mid-sized projects and local governments.
State and local transportation agencies can process and approve larger highway and major infrastructure projects (up to $70M) faster because more projects qualify for categorical exclusion from NEPA paperwork, reducing administrative delay.
Taxpayers and local economies benefit from lower planning costs and earlier completion of transportation projects, which can accelerate construction activity and create jobs for construction workers.
Rural and local communities and ecosystems face greater risk of unexamined environmental harms because more large projects (up to $70M) can proceed without detailed NEPA environmental review.
State and local agencies will face more planning time and fuller NEPA review for projects in the $2M–$6M range that no longer meet the lower exclusion threshold, increasing administrative burden.
Local taxpayers and grant recipients may incur higher planning or mitigation costs because some mid-sized projects now face increased environmental or planning requirements.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Adjusts two monetary caps that determine which highway projects qualify for categorical exclusion from detailed environmental review (one cap lowered, one cap raised).
Official title: To amend MAP-21 to modify provisions relating to a categorical exclusion for projects of limited Federal assistance, and for other purposes.
Introduced June 20, 2025 by Harriet Hageman · Last progress June 20, 2025
Changes two dollar thresholds used to decide which highway-related projects qualify for a categorical exclusion from detailed environmental review under existing law. It also sets a short title for the Act. One threshold is lowered (making fewer very-small projects eligible under that category) and the other threshold is raised (making a broader set of mid-to-large projects eligible under the other categorical exclusion), which shifts which transportation projects may proceed under streamlined procedures.