1. (a) Purpose. The Federal Transit Act, codified at 49 United States Code (U.S.C.) §5309, authorizes the secretary of the United States Department of Transportation to make capital investment grants and loans.
2. (b) Eligible recipients. Section 5309 funds are available to states and local public bodies.

3. (c) Department role. The department acts as the designated recipient for Section 5309 statewide grants. As the administering agency the department will:

   1. (1) develop application materials and disseminate information to prospective applicants and other interested parties;
   2. (2) allocate the available program funds in a fair and equitable manner;
   3. (3) develop evaluation criteria and select projects for funding;
   4. (4) prepare the state's funding application and submit that material to the FTA for approval;
   5. (5) negotiate and execute contracts with subrecipients;
   6. (6) prepare requests for federal reimbursement and process payment requests from subrecipients;
   7. (7) monitor and evaluate the progress of local projects, including compliance with federal regulations; and
   8. (8) provide technical assistance to subrecipients as necessary.
4. (d) Local share requirements. Section 5309 grants require a 20% match as the local share. FTA program funds cannot be used as the local share. Eligible match sources include local or state programs, unrestricted federal funds, and toll credits. Donations are eligible as local share if the value is documented.

Source Note:The provisions of this §31.16 adopted to be effective August 14, 1989, 14 TexReg 3704; amended to be effective July 20, 1992, 17 TexReg 4891; amended to be effective February 15, 2001, 26 TexReg 1365.