(a) Interests in Property. - (1) Financial assistance provided under this chapter to a State or a local governmental authority may be used to acquire an interest in, or buy property of, a private mass transportation company, for a capital project for property acquired from a private mass transportation company after July 9, 1964, or to operate mass transportation equipment or a mass transportation facility in competition with, or in addition to, transportation service provided by an existing mass transportation company, only if - (A) the Secretary of Transportation finds the assistance is essential to a program of projects required under sections 5303-5306 of this title; (B) the Secretary of Transportation finds that the program, to the maximum extent feasible, provides for the participation of private mass transportation companies; (C) just compensation under State or local law will be paid to the company for its franchise or property; and (D) the Secretary of Labor certifies that the assistance complies with section 5333(b) of this title. (2) A governmental authority may not use financial assistance of the United States Government to acquire land, equipment, or a facility used in mass transportation from another governmental authority in the same geographic area. (b) Notice and Public Hearing. - (1) An application for a grant or loan under this chapter for a capital project that will affect substantially a community, or the mass transportation service of a community, must include a certificate of the applicant that the applicant has - (A) provided an adequate opportunity for a public hearing with adequate prior notice; (B) held that hearing unless no one with a significant economic, social, or environmental interest requested one; (C) considered the economic, social, and environmental effects of the project; and (D) found that the project is consistent with official plans for developing the urban area. (2) Notice of a hearing under this subsection shall include a concise description of the proposed project and shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the geographic area the project will serve.

If a hearing is held, a copy of the transcript of the hearing shall be submitted with the application. (c) Acquiring New Bus Models. - Amounts appropriated or made available under this chapter after September 30, 1989, may be obligated or expended to acquire a new bus model only if a bus of the model has been tested at the facility established under section 5318 of this title. (d) Condition on Charter Bus Transportation Service. - (1) Financial assistance under this chapter may be used to buy or operate a bus only if the applicant, governmental authority, or publicly owned operator that receives the assistance agrees that, except as provided in the agreement, the governmental authority or an operator of mass transportation for the governmental authority will not provide charter bus transportation service outside the urban area in which it provides regularly scheduled mass transportation service.

An agreement shall provide for a fair arrangement the Secretary of Transportation considers appropriate to ensure that the assistance will not enable a governmental authority or an operator for a governmental authority to foreclose a private operator from providing intercity charter bus service if the private operator can provide the service. (2) On receiving a complaint about a violation of an agreement, the Secretary of Transportation shall investigate and decide whether a violation has occurred.

If the Secretary decides that a violation has occurred, the Secretary shall correct the violation under terms of the agreement.

In addition to a remedy specified in the agreement, the Secretary may bar a recipient under this subsection or an operator from receiving further assistance when the Secretary finds a continuing pattern of violations of the agreement. (e) Bus Passenger Seat Functional Specifications. - The initial advertising by a State or local governmental authority for bids to acquire buses using financial assistance under this chapter may include passenger seat functional specifications that are at least equal to performance specifications the Secretary of Transportation prescribes.

The specifications shall be based on a finding by the State or local governmental authority of local requirements for safety, comfort, maintenance, and life cycle costs. (f) Schoolbus Transportation. - (1) Financial assistance under this chapter may be used for a capital project, or to operate mass transportation equipment or a mass transportation facility, only if the applicant agrees not to provide schoolbus transportation that exclusively transports students and school personnel in competition with a private schoolbus operator.

This subsection does not apply - (A) to an applicant that operates a school system in the area to be served and a separate and exclusive schoolbus program for the school system; (B) unless a private schoolbus operator can provide adequate transportation that complies with applicable safety standards at reasonable rates; and (C) to a State or local governmental authority if it or a direct predecessor in interest from which it acquired the duty of transporting school children and personnel, and facilities to transport them, provided schoolbus transportation at any time after November 25, 1973, but before November 26, 1974. (2) An applicant violating an agreement under this subsection may not receive other financial assistance under this chapter. (g) Buying Buses Under Other Laws. - Subsections (d) and (f) of this section apply to financial assistance to buy a bus under sections 103(e)(4) (!1) and 142(a) or (c) of title 23. However, subsection (f)(1)(C) of this section applies to sections 103(e)(4) (!1) and 142(a) or (c) only if schoolbus transportation was provided at any time after August 12, 1972, but before August 13, 1973. (h) Grant and Loan Prohibitions. - A grant or loan may not be used to - (1) pay ordinary governmental or nonproject operating expenses; or (2) support a procurement that uses an exclusionary or discriminatory specification. (i) Government Share of Costs for Certain Projects. - A grant for a project to be assisted under this chapter that involves acquiring vehicle-related equipment required by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.) or vehicle-related equipment (including clean fuel or alternative fuel vehicle-related equipment) for purposes of complying with or maintaining compliance with the Clean Air Act, is for 90 percent of the net project cost of such equipment attributable to compliance with those Acts. The Secretary shall have discretion to determine, through practicable administrative procedures, the costs of such equipment attributable to compliance with those Acts. (j) Buy America. - (1) The Secretary of Transportation may obligate an amount that may be appropriated to carry out this chapter for a project only if the steel, iron, and manufactured goods used in the project are produced in the United States. (2) The Secretary of Transportation may waive paragraph (1) of this subsection if the Secretary finds that - (A) applying paragraph (1) would be inconsistent with the public interest; (B) the steel, iron, and goods produced in the United States are not produced in a sufficient and reasonably available amount or are not of a satisfactory quality; (C) when procuring rolling stock (including train control, communication, and traction power equipment) under this chapter - (i) the cost of components and subcomponents produced in the United States is more than 60 percent of the cost of all components of the rolling stock; and (ii) final assembly of the rolling stock has occurred in the United States; or (D) including domestic material will increase the cost of the overall project by more than 25 percent. (3) In this subsection, labor costs involved in final assembly are not included in calculating the cost of components. (4) The Secretary of Transportation may not make a waiver under paragraph (2) of this subsection for goods produced in a foreign country if the Secretary, in consultation with the United States Trade Representative, decides that the government of that foreign country - (A) has an agreement with the United States Government under which the Secretary has waived the requirement of this subsection; and (B) has violated the agreement by discriminating against goods to which this subsection applies that are produced in the United States and to which the agreement applies. (5) A person is ineligible under subpart 9.4 of chapter 1 of title 48, Code of Federal Regulations, to receive a contract or subcontract made with amounts authorized under the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (Public Law 102-240, 105 Stat. 1914) if a court or department, agency, or instrumentality of the Government decides the person intentionally - (A) affixed a "Made in America" label, or a label with an inscription having the same meaning, to goods sold in or shipped to the United States that are used in a project to which this subsection applies but not produced in the United States; or (B) represented that goods described in clause (A) of this paragraph were produced in the United States. (6) The Secretary of Transportation may not impose any limitation on assistance provided under this chapter that restricts a State from imposing more stringent requirements than this subsection on the use of articles, materials, and supplies mined, produced, or manufactured in foreign countries in projects carried out with that assistance or restricts a recipient of that assistance from complying with those State-imposed requirements. (7) Opportunity to correct inadvertent error. - The Secretary may allow a manufacturer or supplier of steel, iron, or manufactured goods to correct after bid opening any certification of noncompliance or failure to properly complete the certification (but not including failure to sign the certification) under this subsection if such manufacturer or supplier attests under penalty of perjury that such manufacturer or supplier submitted an incorrect certification as a result of an inadvertent or clerical error.

The burden of establishing inadvertent or clerical error is on the manufacturer or supplier. (k) Participation of Governmental Agencies in Design and Delivery of Transportation Services. - To the extent feasible, governmental agencies and nonprofit organizations that receive assistance from Government sources (other than the Department of Transportation) for nonemergency transportation services - (1) shall participate and coordinate with recipients of assistance under this chapter in the design and delivery of transportation services; and (2) shall be included in the planning for those services. (l) Application of Section 135 of Title 23. - The planning and programming requirements of section 135 of title 23 apply to a grant made under sections 5307-5311 of this title. (m) Preaward and Postdelivery Review of Rolling Stock Purchases. - The Secretary of Transportation shall prescribe regulations requiring a preaward and postdelivery review of a grant under this chapter to buy rolling stock to ensure compliance with Government motor vehicle safety requirements, subsection (j) of this section, and bid specifications requirements of grant recipients under this chapter.

Under this subsection, independent inspections and review are required, and a manufacturer certification is not sufficient. (n) Submission of Certifications. - A certification required under this chapter and any additional certification or assurance required by law or regulation to be submitted to the Secretary may be consolidated into a single document to be submitted annually as part of a grant application under this chapter.

The Secretary shall publish annually a list of all certifications required under this chapter with the publication required under section 5336(e)(2). (o) Grant Requirements. - The grant requirements under sections 5307 and 5309 apply to any project under this chapter that receives any assistance or other financing under the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 1998.