Senate subcommittee begins review of S.831, a DOT modernization bill with NEPA, tolling and procurement changes

The Senate Transportation subcommittee met to begin a sectional review of S.831, the Department of Transportation modernization bill introduced by Senator Grooms. The meeting served as an overview; the chair said no amendments would be taken at this session and that the committee will consider section-by-section changes in future meetings.

DOT Secretary Powell told the panel that S.831 would create a coordinating council and would move several authorities and processes into DOT's control to speed project delivery. "This bill really broadens DOT's toolbox when it comes to funding, tolling," Powell said, and he described a suite of proposals intended to accelerate projects and address capacity shortfalls.

Powell framed the measure around three implementation challenges: inflation and higher construction costs, rapid population growth and constrained staffing. He cited FHWA indices and DOT figures to show that buying power has declined since 2017: paving capacity funded per penny of gas tax fell materially and annual paving miles have declined from about 1,000 to roughly 700. Powell added that DOT has completed roughly 10,000 miles of paving work in the last 10 years on a 41,000-mile state system and has roughly 464 bridge projects underway.

NEPA assignment and litigation tradeoffs

A central provision would seek federal delegation of NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) reviews to the state DOT so the department could manage environmental reviews locally rather than rely on FHWA regional offices. Powell said other states reported months or years of time savings from similar delegations but warned that the state would need to waive sovereign immunity and consent to suit in federal court for those delegated decisions. "It would allow us to control our priorities, allow us to ascertain the risk of litigation ourselves, and would allow us to, I believe, expedite projects," he said.

Senators pressed operational questions: whether DOT has the staffing and manuals to assume NEPA duties and how the department would coordinate with the Army Corps of Engineers and other federal agencies. Powell said DOT has environmental engineers, archaeologists and other specialists and had reorganized to create positions and draft manuals; a historical certification process runs about a year, he said.

Tolls, choice lanes and public-private partnerships

S.831 would update toll statutes to permit adding tolled "choice lanes" as new capacity while keeping existing lanes free, a tool Powell said could reduce congestion and accelerate delivery in highly congested corridors. Powell cited a possible $7 billion-plus rebuild of I-526 in the Charleston area as an example where choice lanes and other financing tools could change the project horizon.

The bill would also expand explicit authority for long-term public-private partnerships (P3s) and retain oversight by the joint bond review committee, Powell said, describing P3s as a complex but available tool to protect bonding capacity while shifting some maintenance responsibilities.

Procurement and new delivery methods

S.831 would modernize DOT's procurement authorities and add two delivery methods used in other states: construction manager/general contractor (CMGC) and phased design-build, alongside existing design-bid-build and design-build tools. Powell said those methods can surface constructability issues earlier and allow cost review and third-party oversight for major projects. In response to lawmakers, he noted DOT tracks contract timeliness and change orders and typically sets contingencies (a minimum of 3%) to manage risk.

Local roads, fees and finance

The bill includes provisions to transfer some state routes to local control (a voluntary devolution), with incentives and a proposed $25 million buyback program in the governor's budget to aid local governments. It also contains new revenue proposals: an indexed 4.5' per kilowatt-hour user fee on public EV charging stations to flow to the State Highway Fund; increases to electric-vehicle registration fees (the transcript records a proposal to raise the EV fee from $120 every two years to $400 every two years); and a proposed congestion-mitigation development fee the department described as $2,500 per single-family dwelling for new development (with lower rates for other residential and commercial projects) to pay for local intersection and turn-lane improvements.

Public comment and opposition risks

Michael Covington, a contract lobbyist speaking for the Coastal Conservation League, said his organization generally supported the idea of NEPA delegation in concept but warned his group is likely to mount legal challenges if procedural and transparency protections are not built into the statutory text. He urged amendments requiring DOT to produce a public manual for environmental permitting, to favor fee waivers for Freedom of Information Act requests where appropriate, and to require a multi-year review of any NEPA delegation arrangement.

Next steps

Committee staff (Mr. Owens) told members to expect amendment language from multiple stakeholders, including a trucking association, Municipal Association, Senator Sutton and environmental groups. The chair said the subcommittee will schedule further meetings to work section-by-section on the bill. The meeting adjourned without votes on the bill itself.

Ending note

No formal votes were taken; the hearing was an informational overview and signaled an extended subcommittee process with targeted technical and stakeholder reviews to follow.