FHWA notice to States of $2.5 billion rescission of unobligated balances

June 30, 2011

From FHWA, Budget Division

Attention: Division Administrators and Financial Managers

Response Due Date: Friday, July 8, 2011

Purpose: To issue FHWA Notice No. 4510.735, which notifies the States of a $2.5 billion rescission of unobligated balances of apportioned contract authority and provides the procedures for implementation of the rescission.

Discussion:

1. Section 2207 of the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011, contains a $2.5 billion rescission of unobligated balances of funds apportioned to the States.

2. The law gives the States maximum flexibility to choose the unobligated balances of funds to be rescinded. The attached notice asks the State to identify the funds to be rescinded. State departments of transportation officials are encouraged to reach out to stakeholders in considering how to implement the rescission.

3. Table 1 shows the rescission amount for each State. Each State should indicate the program(s) from which to meet its rescission amount on Table 2. The Table 2 response should be reviewed by the Division Office and submitted to the Budget Office (HCFB-1) by COB on Friday, July 8, 2011. When submitting the response to HCFB-1:
1. Please submit to the official HCFB-1 mailbox “FHWA, BudgetDivision” (can be found in the Global Address Book by typing in exactly as it appears in the quotes). Please also copy Steven Frankel at steven.frankel@dot.gov.
2. Please remember to put the following in the subject line of the e-mail: "Response to Rescission of Federal-aid Apportionments (N4510.735)_[insert name of State]."
3. Please submit the Table 2 response in Excel format.
4. If using funds in program codes 1770, 35B0, Q810 or W360 to meet the rescission amount, please remember to indicate the withdrawal or urbanized area(s) and corresponding amount(s) to be rescinded from each at the bottom of your table 2 response

4. Most unobligated balances of funds apportioned to the States under chapter 1 of title 23 are subject to the rescission. The attached “Program Codes Eligible for Rescission (N4510.735)” document lists program codes eligible to be rescinded. Note that, although an attempt has been made to include nearly all of the program codes eligible to be rescinded, this list is not necessarily exhaustive and may exclude some older program codes that are eligible to be rescinded. If the State is considering including a program code in its Table 2 response that is not listed in the document, please contact the Budget Office so that we can verify that the funds are eligible to be rescinded.

5. The law excludes the following chapter 1 funds from the rescission, making them ineligible to be rescinded:

a. Highway Safety Improvement Program funds (LS30, LS3E, LS3R, LS20, LS2E, LS2R);

b. Railway-Highway Crossings Program funds (LS50, LS5E, LS5R, LS40, LS4E, LS4R);

c. Surface Transportation Program funds sub-allocated by population (33C0, Q230, H230, L230, L23E, L23R, 3AA0, Q200, H200, L200, L20E, L20R, 33E0, Q250, H250, L250, L25E, L25R);

d. The old STP safety set-aside funds (33P0, Q280, H280, L28R, 33A0, Q210, H210, L21R, 33M0, Q260, H260, L26R, 33N0, Q270, H270, L27R); and

e. The old Safety Incentives to Prevent Operation of Motor Vehicles by Intoxicated Persons (Q080, H080).

6. Non-chapter 1 funds are not subject to rescission, making them ineligible to be rescinded. The non-Chapter 1 funds are:

a. Appalachian Development Highway System Program funds (Q980, H980, L980, L98E, L98R);

2. Coordinated Border Infrastructure Program funds (H1G0, L1G0, L1GE, L1GR); and
3. Safe Routes to School funds (HU10, LU10, LU1E, LU1R, HU20, LU20, LU2E, LU2R, HU30, LU30, LU3E, LU3R, HU40, LU40, LU4E, LU4R, HU50, LU50, LU5E, LU5R).

7. Once the State has identified the unobligated balances of funds to be rescinded, those identified funds must not be obligated. After HCFB-1 receives the Table 2 responses, the responses still need to be reviewed, validated, and entered. Therefore, there will be a period of time between the submission of the Table 2 responses and the actual removal of funds from the FMIS. The Division/State must ensure that the unobligated balances of funds to be rescinded are not obligated during this time period.

8. For future reference, the Notice will be posted on the web at: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/legsregs/directives/notices.htm.

POC: For further information about this Notice, you may contact Steven Frankel at 202-366-9649, Kim Monaco at 202-366-2045, or Mike Wojcik at 202-366-6211.

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