23 U.S.C. § 408 — Agency accountability

This section requires regular federal reviews of state^* highway^* safety programs.

(a) Triennial State Management Reviews. The Secretary^* must review each state's highway safety program at least once every three years, except that reviews of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands can happen as often as the Secretary decides is right. These reviews must include: (A) an evaluation of how well all the grant programs under this chapter are managed; (B) a check of how the state collects and evaluates data tied to the Secretary's performance measures; (C) a comparison of the state's efforts to proven best practices; and (D) recommendations for how the state can better manage and oversee its grant activities, including a written oversight plan.

(b) Recommendations Before Submission. At least 90 days before a state must submit its highway safety program for approval, the Secretary must give the state data-based recommendations to guide its goals and plans.

(c) State Program Review. If a state hasn't made real progress toward its priority safety goals over three years, the Secretary must conduct a special program improvement review, and provide technical assistance plus program requirements to help the state reach any goal it missed.

(d) Regional Harmonization. The Secretary and the Department of Transportation's Inspector General must review how the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's regional offices conduct these management and program reviews, and write a report of best practices for the regions to use. This report must be finished within 180 days of this section's enactment.

(e) Best Practices Guidelines. Based on that report, the Secretary must issue uniform guidelines for management and program reviews, which every regional office must follow. The Secretary must also publicly post, once finished: (A) the review guidelines themselves; (B) every state highway safety program submitted under this chapter; (C) states' annual accomplishment reports; and (D) the agency's summary report on findings from management reviews and improvement plans. However, the Secretary cannot post a program, report, or review meant for a specific state highway safety agency until after that state agency has already received it.

(f) Tracking Process. The Secretary must build a process to spot and fix safety problems that show up across multiple states or regions, by reviewing the findings and recommendations from the triennial state management reviews.