Schatz Secures Extension Of $493 Million Honolulu Rail Funding Grant In Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal

News Release from office of Sen Brian Schatz, Nov 23, 2021

WASHINGTON – Last week, President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan infrastructure deal into law, which includes a provision authored by U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) that will extend the deadline for $493 million in grant funding for the Honolulu Rail Transit project. The federal funds, a portion of the $1.55 billion federal grant for the project, were set to expire at the end of the year if left unspent. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Schatz worked with congressional leaders to include the deadline extension and protect the project’s federal funding for another two years.

“My objective was to prevent the loss of these federal dollars. While this extension buys them more time, HART and the City still need to update their financial plan and come back with something that can actually work. They now have an opportunity to focus on what is most important – developing a clear-eyed plan for the people of Honolulu,” said Senator Schatz, Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development.

The new spending deadline for these funds is December 31, 2023.

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REALITY:

2015: Rail Funds Frozen? Feds Explain ‘Officially’ and ‘Unofficially’ What they Told Caldwell

2016: Rail Recovery Plan? Feds Explain How Rail Systems Blow Budget

2016: HART ‘Interim Plan’ Just a Rehash of Caldwell’s Tax Hike Demands

2016: Instead of Submitting Plan, HART begs Feds for Another Extension

2017: Honolulu Boondoggle Recovery Plan

2017: Rail Plan B: FTA Contradicts Caldwell

2018: Rail in Default? Feds Give HART 60-Day Warning

2020: City is withdrawing from P3 Honolulu rail procurement process, Mayor Kirk Caldwell tells feds

2021: 3% Hotel Tax to Fund Rail ‘Recovery Plan’?

2021: Honolulu Rail Project: $3B Deficit and No Recovery Plan

2021: Bid-Rigging: Hanabusa Chickens out, Blangiardi Appoints her to HART Board Instead

2021: 'Procurement Collusion' -- Hanabusa, HART Reported to Federal Authorities