Conference negotiators agree pilot‑fund language, flag pressure on T fund if policy isn’t adopted

Conference committee members negotiating the transportation bill agreed to budget language that would appropriate pilot‑fund money for the Town Highway nonfederal disaster program and to reversion language if that money is unspent.

The change was described as an agreement on the pilot fund’s purpose and limit: the money “can only be used for that program and cannot be put into the key fund or used for any other transportation purposes,” according to committee discussion. Members said the appropriation includes reversion language that returns unspent pilot money to the pilot fund.

The committee debated what would happen if policymakers accept the budget language but do not approve the related policy swap. Staff warned that the result would be additional pressure on the T fund because the pilot money would be appropriated but not authorized for the program’s use. One participant summarized that without the policy swap, the appropriation would “just be putting additional pressure on the T funds” and that the pilot dollars could not be used for other transportation purposes.

Committee members and staff discussed numeric references used in the draft during negotiations: the transcript records repeated references to “1.15” in relation to the T fund and to “half a million dollars” as context in budget conversations. The participants did not provide a final, unified numeric table in the meeting; amounts and how they flow across accounts will be finalized in the budget text.

Next steps: negotiators said the pilot‑fund language is agreed for the conference draft, but the ultimate effect depends on whether the committee also agrees to the companion policy language. If the policy swap is not approved, participants said, the pilot appropriation will remain but cannot be spent for the intended purpose and will eventually revert to the pilot fund.