Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2027
This bill sets federal funding for transportation and housing programs, funding public road projects, commercial truck parking, and Section 8 housing vouchers. For drivers, the bill limits the use of automated speed cameras to school and work zones and prohibits the government from researching drunk-driving prevention tools that include remote-control "kill switches" or invasive biometric tracking. For residents, it funds programs to combat homelessness and address landlord safety violations, but also blocks the government from enforcing any eviction moratoriums or implementing new energy-efficiency rules for federally financed homes.
- Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 598.
- The House Committee on Appropriations reported an original measure, H. Rept. 119-686, by Mr. Womack.
- The House Committee on Appropriations reported an original measure, H. Rept. 119-686, by Mr. Womack.
The provisions, in plain language.
Funds the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development and related agencies for the budget year ending September 30, 2027, including departmental offices, IT modernization, and shared services.
Withholds federal transportation and housing funds from any local jurisdiction that refuses a Department of Homeland Security request to give advance notice of the scheduled release date and time of a particular immigrant who is in local custody and in the country illegally.
Blocks federal funds from being used to require or develop drunk-driving prevention technology that uses a remote "kill switch," tracks a vehicle's location or a driver's biometric or behavioral data, or lets a government or contractor remotely access a vehicle's data; the Secretary may still study privacy-respecting alternatives.
Exempts truck drivers hauling livestock or insects from the federal requirement to use electronic logging devices that record driving hours.
Provides $200 million to build free public parking for commercial trucks near major highways, requires no driver fees for using it, and bars spending any of these funds on electric-vehicle charging or fueling infrastructure.
Bars the FAA from spending any funds to limit a private aircraft owner's or operator's ability to block their tail number and flight identifiers from public real-time flight-tracking displays on request, for their noncommercial flights.
Prohibits using any funds in the Act to seize private property through eminent domain for economic development that primarily benefits private entities, while treating transit, rail, airport, seaport, highway, and public-utility projects as permitted public uses.
Prohibits spending federal funds to buy, install, or operate automated speed, red-light, or stop-sign traffic-enforcement cameras, except cameras used solely in school zones or active highway work zones.
Bars funds from being used to require inward-facing driver cameras or to require a trucking company to register a Department of Labor apprenticeship as a condition of joining the safe-driver apprenticeship pilot program for younger drivers.
Bars federal transit funds from buying buses or railcars from rolling-stock makers owned or subsidized by certain foreign governments, and bars DOT financial assistance to any entity that runs advertisements for companies headquartered in the People's Republic of China.
Prohibits using any funds in the Act to enforce the temporary federal moratorium on eviction filings.
Bars HUD from directing a grantee to make specific changes to its zoning laws when carrying out the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, and bars HUD from updating minimum energy-efficiency standards for new HUD-financed housing.
Denies Section 8 rental assistance to full-time college students under age 24 unless they are married, a parent, a veteran, a person with disabilities, a former foster youth at risk of homelessness, or otherwise independently eligible.
Caps the federally funded salary and bonuses of any public housing agency employee at the rate paid for Executive Level IV during the agency's 2027 fiscal year.
Requires HUD to issue a Notice of Default to owners of Section 8 project-based housing that fail physical-condition inspections, and lets HUD replace management, impose civil money penalties, abate or transfer the assistance contract, pursue debarment, or seek a court-appointed receiver if severe hazards are not corrected, while keeping tenants' rental assistance in place.
Bars local governments from selling, trading, or transferring their Community Development Block Grant funds to another community, and bars CDBG money from going to for-profit economic-development projects unless evaluated under HUD's required guidelines.
Caps Amtrak overtime pay at $35,000 per employee per year unless Amtrak's president waives the cap for specific safety-critical staff, with reporting on waivers, and keeps Amtrak Police staffing on trains and in stations no lower than the May 1, 2019 level.
Provides $875 million in transit assistance, including planning, capital, vehicle relocation, and operating support, for systems serving venues of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Bars any agency funded by the Act from operating a computer network unless the network blocks viewing, downloading, and exchanging of pornography, with an exception for law-enforcement and investigative work.
Prohibits spending any funds to plan, design, or carry out privatizing or separating the FAA's air traffic control functions, and bars privatizing FAA air traffic control services.
Bars using DOT funds in the Act to enforce a COVID-19 mask mandate.
Provides about $35.45 billion to renew expiring Section 8 Housing Choice (tenant-based) vouchers for the 2027 calendar-year funding cycle, plus $2.3 billion for the administrative costs of running those vouchers and roughly $300 million in tenant-protection and relocation vouchers.
Provides about $9.86 billion across the public housing operating fund, capital fund, shortfall assistance, emergency capital and safety/security needs, family self-sufficiency, and related programs run by public housing agencies.
Provides roughly $1.49 billion for Native American and Native Alaskan housing block grants and related tribal housing programs, and lets the Secretary transfer DOT funds for tribal transportation projects to the Office of Tribal Government Affairs.
Provides homeless-assistance grants of about $290 million for emergency solutions grants and about $3.78 billion for the Continuum of Care and rural homelessness programs, including set-asides for rapid re-housing, survivors of domestic violence, and youth homelessness demonstration projects in up to 25 communities.
Provides $3.3 billion for Community Development Block Grants and $30 million for an opioid/recovery-housing set-aside, alongside lead-hazard and healthy-homes grants of roughly $295 million including home modifications for low-income seniors.
Sets the amount the FAA may obligate for federal-aid highways by directing the Secretary how to distribute the highway obligation limitation among states and programs for the year, and permanently rescinds and re-appropriates certain unobligated prior-year highway balances.
Provides national highway and motor-vehicle safety funds, including about $202 million for safety research covering automated-driving and advanced driver-assistance systems and consumer responses to recalls, and bars NHTSA impaired-driving ad campaigns from encouraging illegal drug or alcohol use.
Bars spending any funds on a high-speed rail project in Texas that is the same as or substantially similar to the former Texas Central / Amtrak Texas High-Speed Rail Corridor project.
Bars using funds to allow new scheduled flights from the United States that would land on or pass through property confiscated by the Cuban Government, and bars officials of any country designated a state sponsor of terrorism from touring or conferring with DOT or FAA employees.
Requires recipients of funds, and contractors generally, to comply with Buy American and Buy America domestic-sourcing rules, and bars funds to anyone convicted of violating the Buy American Act.
Bars recipients of funds from disclosing personal information drawn from state motor-vehicle records except as the federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act already permits, but bars withholding grant funds from a grantee if a state is out of compliance.
Bars using funds in the Act to use artificial intelligence to transcribe or record meetings, phone calls, or video conferences with the House and Senate Appropriations Committees.
Authorizes DOT and its operating administrations to buy, operate, and deploy unmanned aircraft systems (drones) to advance their missions, and ratifies drones acquired before enactment, while barring use of funds in violation of the American Security Drone Act.
Provides Maritime Administration funding of roughly $400 million, including the Merchant Marine Academy, port infrastructure development grants ($500 million for coastal, inland, and Great Lakes ports), state maritime academies, and the national security multi-mission vessel program.
Who it helps · who it burdens.
Who it helps
- owners and operators of private aircraftCan block their tail numbers and flight identifiers from public real-time flight-tracking displays for their noncommercial flights; the FAA may not spend funds to limit that.
- commercial truck driversGain free public truck parking with no user fees, an exemption from electronic-logging-device rules when hauling livestock or insects, and protection from inward-facing-camera and apprenticeship-registration requirements in the safe-driver pilot.
- Section 8 voucher tenants and applicantsAbout $35.45 billion renews tenant-based vouchers and $300 million supports tenant-protection and relocation vouchers, sustaining rental assistance for assisted households.
- tenants in federally assisted multifamily housingGain stronger HUD enforcement of physical-condition standards while keeping their rental assistance in place when owners fail inspections.
- homeless people and homelessness service providersReceive about $3.78 billion for Continuum of Care and rural homelessness programs and $290 million in emergency solutions grants, with set-asides for survivors of domestic violence and youth.
- Native American tribes and tribal housing entitiesReceive roughly $1.49 billion in Native American and Native Alaskan housing block grants and related tribal housing and transportation funding.
- transit systems serving the 2028 Los Angeles OlympicsReceive $875 million for planning, capital, vehicle relocation, and operating support tied to the 2028 Games.
Who it burdens
- local jurisdictions that decline to notify DHS before releasing immigrantsLose access to federal transportation and housing funds if they refuse a DHS request to give advance notice of an immigrant's scheduled release date and time.
- full-time college students under age 24 seeking housing aidAre denied Section 8 rental assistance unless they fall into a listed exception such as being married, a parent, a veteran, disabled, or a former foster youth.
- public housing agency executivesHave their federally funded salary and bonuses capped at the Executive Level IV pay rate.
- owners of substandard Section 8 project-based housingFace Notices of Default, replacement of management, civil money penalties, contract abatement or transfer, debarment, or a court-appointed receiver if they fail inspections and do not fix severe hazards.
- Amtrak employees who work overtimeHave their overtime pay capped at $35,000 per year unless Amtrak's president waives the cap for specific safety-critical staff.
- state and local governments using traffic-enforcement camerasMay not use these federal funds to buy, install, or run automated speed, red-light, or stop-sign cameras except in school zones or active work zones.
Who backs it
- the federal Treasury and taxpayersThe Act appropriates funds from the Treasury for DOT, HUD, and related agencies for fiscal year 2027, including roughly $35.45 billion for voucher renewals and tens of billions across aviation, highway, transit, and housing accounts.
Who opposes it
- rolling-stock makers owned or subsidized by certain foreign governmentsTransit funds may not be used to buy buses or railcars from them, and DOT assistance is barred to entities advertising companies headquartered in China.