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Earmark Repurposing 2016

2016 Earmark Repurposing

2016 Repurposed Earmark Funding Expired September 30, 2019

FHWA released a spreadsheet detailing the DEMO projects that were repurposed in 2016 whose funds were set to expire by September 30, 2019 if they have not been obligated to their intended project by that time. Below is a document listing those expired Repurposed Earmarks by District and Sponsor.

2016 Repurposed Earmark Funds Expired by 09/30/2019(PDF) (Updated October 1, 2019) 

Final Approved Earmark Repurposing Project List

FHWA has completed their approval of California’s Earmark Repurposing transfer requests. Below is the list of approved projects with the appropriate funding (with Federal Program Codes). Once funds have been programmed into the FSTIP, agencies may begin working with their DLAEs to process Requests for Authorization (RFAs) in accordance with the Local Assistance Procedures Manual (LAPM).

Final Approved Earmark Repurposing Project List

Additional information pertaining to the Final List can be found on the Local Assistance Blog:

Approval of Earmark Repurposing Transfer Requests

Background

On March 8, 2016, FHWA issued guidance on the implementation of Earmark repurposing provisions contained in the 2016 Consolidated Appropriation Act.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 allows States to repurpose any earmark that was designated on or before September 30, 2005, and is Less than 10 percent obligated or final vouchered and closed.

The repurposed funds may be obligated on a new or existing project in the State within 50 miles of the earmark designation. The project must be an eligible project under the Surface Transportation Block Grant Program (STBG) (formerly known as ATP). The Repurposing Provision is only available to be applied in FY 2016. 

California Implementation information

In California, after the recent $750 million funding loss to the STIP, the earmark repurposing provide a great opportunity for putting to use hundreds of millions of dollars of “stale” earmark federal funds to fill some of the funding holes, on delayed projects that are ready to go or needing additional funds due to cost overruns.

To help implement the earmark repurposing, Caltrans has convened an Earmark Repurposing Workgroup to help Caltrans with developing consensus for the implementation of the repurposing. The Workgroup consists of representatives from Caltrans, CTC, RTPAs/MPOs, cities, counties, and FHWA. A kickoff meeting is scheduled for 04/14/2016.

Division Chief's Letter to Local Agencies on 2016 Earmark Repurposing Information Update

For Workgroup member roster, please click here. 

RTPA ACTION Request Step 3 - COMPLETED

Step 3 involves submitting completed FACT SHEETS to your District Local Assistance Engineer (DLAE) by Monday, August 1.  These FACT SHEETS, which were formatted using excel, will be your official request to repurpose earmark funds.  We recently created the FACT SHEETS purely for this effort, so please feel free to edit/revise as necessary to properly represent your proposal.  Also, be aware that the FACT SHEETS contain multiple tabs, two of which must be submitted for each proposed project:

  • Instructions
  • Repurposed Project Fact Sheet*
  • Schedule and Funding*
  • Sample Project Fact Sheet
  • Sample Schedule and Funding

*submit to your DLAE

Once these FACT SHEETS are reviewed in the District and submitted to us here in HQ, we will use them to create and submit FHWA Transfer Agreements. 

Earmark Repurposing - FACT SHEET(Excel)

We have received the Program Code Crosswalk from FHWA.  This information will be used internally by Caltrans to complete the FHWA Transfer Agreement but is provided here for your information:

Program Code Crosswalk(Excel)

RTPA ACTION Request Step 2 - COMPLETED

Now that we have completed Step 1 and have determined which Earmarks we will attempt to repurpose (see the recently revised The ONE List below), our next step is to determine which projects will receive the repurposed funds.  We have filtered The ONE List down to just those 210 Earmarks that plan to be repurposed, referred to as The TO List (see below), and we would appreciate the RTPA’s performing the following by COB July 15, 2016:

  • Open The TO List and review your region’s earmarks to ensure we have accurately represented your repurposing plans.
  • Fill in the contact information at the top right corner of the sheet (rows 1-3, columns K and L).
  • Provide brief information for the projects planned to receive the repurposed earmark funds (column L).
  • Send your information, edits, comments to john.hoole@dot.ca.gov.  The information you provide will not be made public, but will only be used by the Office of Implementation to plan our workload and respond to management inquiries.

We understand that the information you provide may be draft, preliminary, or conceptual and that you may still need board (or other) approval before committing projects to the repurposing effort.

Earmark Repurposing - The TO List(Excel)

RTPA ACTION Request Step 1 - COMPLETED

During the Earmark Repurposing Workgroup meeting on 4/14/2016, it was agreed that the Regional Transportation Planning Agencies (RTPA’s) would undertake an effort in working with the earmark project sponsors in their region to identify eligible earmark projects to be repurposed. It was also agreed by the Workgroup that the effort in identifying earmark projects for repurposing would be limited to those with an obligation authority (OA) balance of more than $1,000. Caltrans’ analysis of the earmark projects indicated that, while focusing on projects with more than $1,000 OA balance will significantly reduce the number of earmark projects to consider, the aggregate OA amounts on the less than $1,000 OA earmarks represent a very insignificant amount of funding.

In cooperation with our regional and local partners, Caltrans has created “The ONE List” below that identifies earmarks that were:

  • Designated before September 30, 2005 and had less than 10% obligated, which are available for repurposing
  • Designated before September 30, 2005 and had greater than 10% obligated, which may be available for repurposing if they are final vouchered and closed
The ONE List also provides the RTPA’s recommendation for which earmarks should be repurposed in Column K, plus a color-coding to point out any obstacles to repurposing, such as needing to close/final voucher open projects.

 

Earmark funds are not required to be repurposed, they may remain with their current earmark project.

Questions? Please contact Bill Huang at (916) 653-4348 or e-mail bill.huang@dot.ca.gov.

Timeline and Projects

FHWA 2016 Earmark Repurposing Guidance

 

 If you have any questions regarding the Earmark Repurposing, please contact Repurposing@dot.ca.gov.

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