States gain flexibility to spend highway money on transit and bikes
S. 1733 — Highway Funding Transferability Improvement Act · Filed by Kevin Cramer (R-ND) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced May 13, 2025 · Hearing held
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What it does
This bill increases the share of federal highway funding that states can redirect to non-highway transportation projects (transit, bike lanes, pedestrian infrastructure) from 50% to 75%. States gain flexibility to use federal road money for broader mobility purposes; the change does not reduce total federal highway spending, only expands what states can do with it.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is a technical amendment raising a statutory percentage cap. It is a straightforward procedural change to existing law that expands state discretion over federal transportation dollars.
What the text implies
- States with strong transit advocacy may shift highway funds to public transportation; states without may not, potentially widening regional disparities in transit investment.
- Increased transferability may reduce federal highway construction in some states if legislatures prioritize transit; this could affect construction employment in those regions.
- The change is permissive, not mandatory—states retain full discretion, so actual impact depends on state-level political choices, not federal mandate.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill expands state discretion over federal transportation funds without reducing total federal spending. Citizens benefit from increased flexibility for states to fund transit, pedestrian, and cycling infrastructure—modes that serve lower-income populations, reduce car dependency, and improve public health. No citizen loses existing rights or protections.
Who stands to gain
- public transit agencies
- state departments of transportation (expanded discretion)
- pedestrian/cycling infrastructure contractors (if states elect to fund these)
Named in the bill
23 U.S.C. § 126(a), Federal Highway Administration, State transportation departments, Public transit agencies
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- May 13, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- May 13, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works”
- Jul 23, 2025 — Hearing held · Congress.gov: “Committee on Environment and Public Works Senate Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure.”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 lobbying clients named this bill on 4 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $1,495,175 in lobbying spend. A filing names 94 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.
Kevin Cramer, the sponsor, reported $204,312 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies — $1,005,758 on 2 filings
- American Society of Civil Engineers — $489,417 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (247 characters) on Jun 8, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“States gain flexibility to spend highway money on transit and bikes” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s1733 Report an error
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