As required by the Negotiated Rulemaking Act, the Secretary of Transportation announces a meeting of the Tribal Transportation Self-Governance (TTSGP) Negotiated Rulemaking Committee. The meeting is open to the public.

I. Background

Section 1121 of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, Public Law 114-94 (Dec. 4, 2015), directs the Secretary to develop a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that contains the regulations required to carry out the TTSGP at the United States Department of Transportation (Department). Section 1121 also requires the Secretary to establish a committee to carry out this work and apply the procedures of negotiated rulemaking under subchapter III of chapter 5 of title 5 (the Negotiated Rulemaking Act) in a manner that reflects the unique government-to-government relationship between the Indian tribes and the United States. On July 27, 2016, the Secretary published a document in the Federal Register (81 FR 49193) “Negotiated Rulemaking Proposed Committee Membership and First Meeting,” and the TTSGP Committee held its first meeting from August 16 to 18, 2016, in Sterling, Virginia. The TTSGP Committee organized itself into work groups to assist in the negotiation and development of proposed regulatory text. Between September 2016 and December 2016, the full Committee met three additional times at the following locations: Sterling, Virginia; Shawnee, Oklahoma; and Bloomington, Minnesota. An additional meeting of the full committee was scheduled for Atmore, Alabama in December 2016. However, due to severe inclement weather and subsequent air travel flight cancellations, a quorum of representatives needed to conduct an official Committee meeting (in accordance with the Committee's protocols) was not obtained. Notwithstanding, the committee representatives that were present used the scheduled time to carry out business in work groups. A significant amount of the proposed language for the NPRM was developed during the meetings that were held. Due to a change in Administration, the committee's work was put on hold in January 2017 to allow the new Administration to be briefed on the rulemaking and determine its future direction.

Section 1121 of the FAST Act allows a 180-day extension to the deadlines identified within it for completing this work. After receiving a consensus approval from the tribal committee members, the Secretary sent letters to the required members of Congress on September 1, 2017, informing them of the implementation of this provision.

In an effort to publish the NPRM within the time frames identified by statute, this will be the last meeting of the Committee until after the comment period is complete. At that time, the Committee may reconvene to address the comments received and work together to develop the proposed language for the Final Rule.