[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8068 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8068

   To amend title 49, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of 
 Transportation to establish a transit workforce center, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 24, 2026

Ms. Wilson of Florida introduced the following bill; which was referred 
         to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title 49, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of 
 Transportation to establish a transit workforce center, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``National Transit Frontline Workforce 
Training Act''.

SEC. 2. TRANSIT WORKFORCE CENTER.

    Section 5314 of title 49, United States Code, is amended by adding 
at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(d) Transit Workforce Center.--
            ``(1) Establishment.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Secretary shall establish a 
                transit workforce center (in this subsection referred 
                to as the `Center') and award grants to a qualified 
                nonprofit organization to carry out the mission and 
                duties of the Center pursuant to this subsection.
                    ``(B) Qualified nonprofit organization.--For 
                purposes of subparagraph (A), a qualified nonprofit 
                organization is an entity that--
                            ``(i) is a nonprofit organization;
                            ``(ii) operates nationally;
                            ``(iii) has demonstrative experience in, 
                        and abilities regarding--
                                    ``(I) the provision of technical 
                                assistance to address issues in public 
                                transportation workforce development; 
                                and
                                    ``(II) outreach and marketing 
                                activities that focus on current and 
                                emerging public transportation 
                                workforce development needs;
                            ``(iv) undertakes activities to support 
                        standards-based training for the public 
                        transportation maintenance and operations 
                        workforce through collaborative approaches, 
                        including labor-management partnerships;
                            ``(v) undertakes activities to support 
                        public transportation workforce development 
                        with respect to emerging technology areas; and
                            ``(vi) has the project management, 
                        organizational, fiscal, and administrative 
                        capacity necessary to effectively staff any 
                        proposed initiatives and deliver proposed 
                        outcomes, including implementation of any key 
                        components of such initiatives and outcomes, 
                        such as technical assistance, outreach, and 
                        marketing.
            ``(2) Mission.--The mission of the Center is to assist the 
        public transportation industry by supporting the recruitment, 
        hiring, training, and retention of skilled frontline public 
        transportation workers, which in turn may enable public 
        transportation providers to operate transit more efficiently, 
        safely, and reliably, to better serve communities, and to 
        increase transit customer satisfaction.
            ``(3) Duties.--The duties of the Center include the 
        following:
                    ``(A) Developing, and providing directly through 
                the Center, training programs to support the workforce 
                development needs of public transportation providers, 
                including training addressing the workforce development 
                needs specific to public transportation providers 
                delineated by service to each of urbanized areas, 
                suburban areas, rural areas, and Tribal populations.
                    ``(B) Developing and disseminating educational 
                materials and other resources related to public 
                transportation workforce development, including 
                materials and resources designed to support training 
                programs of the Center.
                    ``(C) Developing, leading, and contributing to 
                presentations, dialogues, learning sessions, and 
                strategic planning sessions--
                            ``(i) in partnership, collaboration, or 
                        consultation with entities in the public 
                        transportation industry, including entities 
                        that provide public transportation workforce 
                        development, career support for public 
                        transportation workers, or transit-related 
                        technical education; and
                            ``(ii) regarding any topic that supports 
                        the needs and priorities of the Federal 
                        Transportation Administration or the public 
                        transportation industry, especially topics 
                        related to the recruitment, retention, job 
                        readiness, and preparation of a skilled 
                        frontline public transportation workforce 
                        capable of working with new and emerging 
                        technologies.
                    ``(D) Providing technical assistance regarding 
                workforce development to public transportation 
                providers.
                    ``(E) Conducting data analytics and providing 
                analyses regarding public transportation workforce 
                trends to public transportation providers.
                    ``(F) Leveraging transit-related workforce data to 
                support efforts of public transportation providers to 
                ensure the recruitment, retention, and advancement of a 
                skilled workforce.
                    ``(G) Conducting outreach, marketing, and other 
                similar activities to increase engagement by, and 
                awareness within, the public transportation industry 
                with respect to the research, resources, trainings, 
                projects, services, and initiatives of the Center that 
                support frontline public transportation workers, 
                including workforce-related research and information 
                regarding changes to applicable policies of the Federal 
                Transportation Administration.
            ``(4) Collaboration.--In carrying out the duties of the 
        Center, the Secretary shall--
                    ``(A) permit the qualified nonprofit organization 
                selected under paragraph (1) to collaborate or consult 
                with the Administrator of the Federal Transit 
                Administration, the heads of public transportation 
                providers, relevant national professional membership 
                associations, and representatives of frontline public 
                transportation employees; and
                    ``(B) require the qualified nonprofit organization 
                to consider requests and feedback from public 
                transportation providers when developing and providing 
                training programs of the Center.''.
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