U.S. Rep. Julia Brownley (D-Calif.), a member of the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, has introduced legislation to help cities and states transition to cleaner public transit systems, including mandating that all new buses purchased with federal funds be zero-emission by 2029.

The transportation sector is the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, contributing 28% of the United States’ total greenhouse gas emissions, Brownley said.

California’s Legislature recently passed a law requiring that all new buses be zero-emission beginning in 2029. Minneapolis/St. Paul and New York have also recently announced zero-emission bus plans.

The Green Bus Act introduced by Brownley would take the state policy to the federal level by increasing funding to improve green bus technology and help deploy it nationwide, increasing funding to ensure that transit agencies have the resources necessary to purchase and deploy zero-emission bus fleets and requiring all buses purchased with federal funds be zero-emission, starting Oct. 1, 2029.

Specifically, the law will increase funds for the Federal Transit Administration’s Low or No Emission Vehicle Component Assessment Program from $3 million to $5 million, annually. It will also increase funds for the FTA’s Transit Cooperative Research Program from $5 million to $20 million, annually, which will prompt more federal research on ways to reduce emissions and develop and deploy zero-emission technology nationwide.

Funding for FTA bus programs would also be increased through the allocation of $450 million in fiscal year 2020, with a $50 million annual increase until reaching $900 million in 2029. Funds set-aside for the FTA’s low and no emission bus program will increase from $150 million in 2020 to $600 million in 2029, also with a $50 million annual increase.