Legislative Issues & Policies - Recreational Trails Program and Congressional Funding

Introduction
Every four to six years, Congress passes highway funding reauthorization legislation, which includes all funding for transportation projects. The legislation is important to the horse industry because it also contains authorization for funds for the Recreational Trails Program (RTP), which provides funds to the states to develop and maintain recreational trails and trail-related facilities for recreational trail uses, including riding.

The program was authorized in 1991 and has received increased funding and support since its establishment. The RTP provides funding to build and improve trails and allows the states to decide where to build new trails and what trails need maintenance work.

In August 2005, President Bush signed into law the $300 billion federal highway funding bill known as SAFETEA-LU. The controversial legislation took over two years to agree to and enact, requiring numerous Continuing Resolutions extending the prior federal highway bill past its expiration.

Recreational Trails Program Funding
Favorable funding for the Recreational Trails Program (RTP) was included in the legislation. The total funding for the next five years is $370 million, compared with the Administration’s request for $300 million ($60 million per year) and the Senate-passed provision of just over $280 million. RTP funds are used to build and maintain recreational trails for various motorized and non-motorized users, including recreational riders.

The year-by-year breakdown of RTP funds follows:
$60,000,000 for fiscal year 2005
$70,000,000 for fiscal year 2006
$75,000,000 for fiscal year 2007
$80,000,000 for fiscal year 2008
$85,000,000 for fiscal year 2009

Congressional Rescissions
In spite of the proposed funding, Congress expressed uncertainty about fully funding SAFETEA-LU programs (which includes RTP) in December 2005 and announced three rescissions that may affect RTP funding in FY 2006. Rescissions occur when Congress takes back previously appropriated money.

The first action was a flat 1% rescission of most federal spending during the year. This is very likely to result in a spending reduction of $700,000 of this year’s $70 million appropriation for RTP.

The second rescission was included in a FY 2006 Department of Transportation appropriations measure passed in late November. It reduced SAFETEA-LU spending by $2 billion (roughly 5%) of about $40 billion allotted for 2006 spending.

This second rescission gives each state discretion as to which programs they may decide to cut. The mandated spending cuts may be taken from (1) unspent funding from prior years and (2) a variety of programs, including RTP.

Therefore, potential RTP funding cuts will on a state-by-state basis and some states could be exempted from cuts entirely where as other state’s funding could be reduced sharply.

The third rescission was included in a Department of Defense appropriations bill that became law on December 30, 2005. This rescission mandates cuts of slightly more than $1.1 billion in FY06 SAFETEA-LU spending – roughly an additional 3%. This rescission is structured similarly to the second rescission – a reduction in allowed state spending, but giving the states discretion on how to allocate the cuts within each state.

To summarize, RTP funding will drop from the allotted $70 million for FY 2006, but the amount of the drop will not be clear for some time. The key areas in jeopardy are:

1) RTP funds from FY05 and prior that have not been spent;

2) States where DOT decision-makers favor traditional highway projects over programs like RTP.

AHC Position
The AHC continues to work with the Coalition for Recreational Trails to monitor which states will be affected and by how much.