49 U.S.C. § 118 — Office of Multimodal Freight Infrastructure and Policy

(a) Definitions. "Department" means the Department of Transportation. "Freight Office" means the Office of Multimodal Freight Infrastructure and Policy created by subsection (b). "Secretary" means the Secretary of Transportation. (b) Establishment. The Secretary must create a Freight Office inside the Department. (c) Purposes. The Freight Office exists to: carry out the national multimodal freight policy from section 70101; administer and oversee certain multimodal freight grant programs as described in (d); help the private and public sectors share freight information; research how to improve multimodal freight movement and oversee other agencies' freight research; help cities and States build freight and supply-chain expertise; coordinate with other federal departments and agencies; and carry out other duties the Secretary assigns. (d) Administration of Policies and Programs. The Freight Office must: develop and manage the national freight strategic plan (section 70102) and the National Multimodal Freight Network (section 70103); oversee and update State freight plans (section 70202) and give guidance on them; administer multimodal freight grant programs - including the grants under 23 U.S.C. Section 117 - and set procedures for evaluating grant applications; help States set up State freight advisory committees (section 70201) and multi-State freight mobility compacts (section 70204); and give the Bureau of Transportation Statistics input on freight data and planning tools. (e) Assistant Secretary. (1) In general. The Freight Office is led by an Assistant Secretary for Multimodal Freight. This person is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, and must have real professional standing and knowledge in freight transportation. (2) Duties. The Assistant Secretary reports to the Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy; manages and oversees the Freight Office's activities, decisions, operations, and staff; works with the Department's other modal administrations to encourage them to collaborate across modes; and carries out any other duties the Secretary assigns. (f) Consolidation and Elimination of Duplicative Offices. (1) Consolidation. The Secretary may fold any Department office or office function into the Freight Office if it has duties, resources, or expertise that support the Freight Office's purposes. (2) Elimination. The Secretary may eliminate an office if: its purposes duplicate the Freight Office's; it has been mostly folded into the Freight Office already; eliminating it won't hurt the Secretary's ability to meet any federal legal requirement; and eliminating it will make the Department's programs more efficient and effective. (g) Staffing and Budgetary Resources. (1) In general. The Secretary must make sure the Freight Office has enough staff and money. (2) Staffing. The Secretary may transfer any Department position to the Freight Office if it's needed there, but must coordinate with the relevant modal administration to make sure the transfer doesn't hurt that administration's ability to meet its own legal requirements. (3) Budgetary resources. The Secretary may transfer to the Freight Office any funds that belonged to an office consolidated or eliminated under (f), and may later transfer those funds back to the original account. The Secretary may also transfer funds allocated for the administrative costs of the programs listed in (d)(3), with the same option to transfer them back later. (h) Website. The Secretary must post on the Department's website a description of the Freight Office, including its programs and their eligibility requirements. The Secretary may also set up a webpage with tools, templates, guidance, and best practices supporting this section's goals. (i) Notification to Congress. Within one year of this section becoming law, and at least every 180 days after that until the Secretary decides the section's requirements are met, the Secretary must send Congress a notification that: describes the Freight Office's programs, activities, and their status; states how many people work in the Freight Office, how many more are expected to join, and how many positions were eliminated or transferred because of office consolidation; says whether any office or function was consolidated into the Freight Office and why; says whether any office was eliminated and why; describes any other actions taken to carry out this section; and recommends any legislation needed to further implement it. (j) Savings Provisions. This section does not change any other law governing the programs listed in (d), except where this section specifically says so. It also doesn't remove the responsibilities of any other agency, administration, or office that is already legally in charge of managing, overseeing, or approving programs or projects covered by the Freight Office - again, except where this section specifically says so. And it does not affect any application under a program in (d) that the Secretary received on or before the Surface Transportation Investment Act of 2021 became law. (k) Authorization of Appropriations. (1) In general. Congress authorizes whatever funding is necessary to carry out this section. (2) Certain activities. The authorizations for subsections (f) and (g) still depend on Congress actually appropriating the money.