Senate Legislation Aims to Sustain Safe Routes to School
On April 12, 2011, twelve Senators—led by Senators Harkin (D-IA), Sanders (D-VT), and Merkley (D-OR)—introduced legislation (S. 800) to sustain and strengthen the federal Safe Routes to School program.
It’s a tough environment in Congress these days with so much attention on cutting spending—so this legislation helps send a strong message that the federal Safe Routes to School program should be preserved. S. 800 would:
- Maintain Safe Routes to School as a standalone transportation program;
- Sustain funding at the FY09 level of $183 million per year given high demand and need for the program;
- Add limited eligibility for high schools and bus stop safety;
- Improve project delivery and reduce overhead by addressing regulatory burden; and
- Add a research and evaluation component.
Please follow the links below to learn more and take action to support the legislation:
- Contact your Senators to ask them to co-sponsor the bill
- See which national organizations support the bill
- See if your state’s Senators are cosponsors
- Download a summary of the legislation
- Download talking points on why Safe Routes to School is a good investment
- Access full text of the legislation