Department of Transportation Appropriations Act, FY2001

Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001 - Title I: Department of Transportation - Makes appropriations for FY 2001 (with specified transfers of funds, limitations on obligations and administrative expenses, and liquidations and rescissions of contract authorizations) for: (1) the Office of the Secretary of Transportation; (2) the Coast Guard; (3) the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA); (4) the Federal Highway Administration (FHA); (5) the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration; (6) the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; (7) the Federal Railroad Administration; (8) the Federal Transit Administration; (9) the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation; (10) the Research and Special Programs Administration; (11) the Office of Inspector General; and (12) the Surface Transportation Board.

Title II: Related Agencies - Makes appropriations for FY 2001 for: (1) the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board; and (2) the National Transportation Safety Board.

Title III: General Provisions - Sets forth specified prohibitions, limitations, permissions, and mandates with respect to the use of appropriations under this Act identical or similar to those enacted in the Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2000 (P.L. 106-69).

(Sec. 303) Makes funds appropriated under this Act for FAA expenditures available for: (1) expenses of primary and secondary schooling for dependents of FAA personnel stationed outside the continental United States at costs for any given area not in excess of those of the Department of Defense for the same area, when it is determined that the schools, if any, available in the locality are unable to provide adequately for the education of such dependents; and (2) transportation of such dependents between schools serving the area that they attend and their places of residence when it is determined that such schools are not accessible by public means of transportation on a regular basis.

(Sec. 305) Bars the availability of funds under this Act for salaries and expenses of more than 104 political and Presidential appointees in the Department of Transportation.

(Sec. 309) Prohibits a recipient of funds made available under this Act from disseminating: (1) driver's license personal information or motor vehicle records for any purpose not permitted under specified law; and (2) a person's driver license photograph, social security number, and medical or disability information from a motor vehicle record without the express consent of the person, except as permitted under specified law. Declares that such requirements shall not affect the use of organ donation information on the individual's driver license or affect the administration of organ donation initiatives in the States.

(Sec. 313) Bars the use of funds under this Act to establish a vessel traffic safety fairway less than five miles wide between the Santa Barbara Traffic Separation Scheme and the San Francisco Traffic Separation Scheme.

(Sec. 314) Authorizes airports to transfer to the FAA, without consideration, instrument landing systems (along with associated approach lighting equipment and runway visual range equipment) which conform to FAA design and performance specifications and which were purchased with airport development grant funds.

(Sec. 318) Bars the use of funds under this Act to compensate in excess of 320 technical staff-years under the federally funded research and development center contract between the FAA and the Center for Advanced Aviation Systems Development during FY 2001.

(Sec. 319) Reduces the amount of funds provided in this Act for the Transportation Administrative Service Center (TASC). Authorizes appropriations for projects involving construction of, and improvements to, corridors of the Appalachian Development Highway System.

(Sec. 323) Bars the use of funds, unless authorized by Congress, to pay for specified lobbying activities with respect to a Member of Congress or a State legislature. Permits DOT or related agency employees to communicate to Members of Congress or to a State legislature with respect to requests for legislation or appropriations which they deem necessary for the efficient conduct of business.

(Sec. 324) Prohibits expenditure of funds made available under this Act by any entity that does not agree to comply with the Buy American Act.

Expresses the sense of Congress that entities receiving assistance under this Act should purchase only U.S.-made equipment and products to the greatest extent practicable.

Prohibits the use of funds for contracts with persons falsely labeling products as made in America.

(Sec. 328) Authorizes appropriations for expenses of the Amtrak Reform Council for FY 2002. Includes within the duties of such Council the identification of Amtrak routes which are candidates for closure or realignment based on performance rankings developed by Amtrak which incorporate information on each route's fully allocated costs and ridership on core intercity passenger service, and which assume that Federal subsidies for Amtrak will decline from FY 1999 to FY 2002.

(Sec. 330) Prohibits the use of funds under this Act for FY 2001 for activities under the Aircraft Purchase Loan Guarantee Program.

(Sec. 331) Amends the Federal Transit Act of 1998 to increase from 50 percent to 90 percent the Federal share of costs with respect to grants for increasing over-the-road bus service accessibility to persons with disabilities (particularly in rural areas).

(Sec. 332) Directs the Secretary of Transportation to execute a demonstration program of the "fractional ownership" concept in performing administrative support flight missions in order to determine whether cost savings, as well as increased operational flexibility and aircraft availability, can be realized through the use by the government of such concept. Directs the Secretary of Transportation to report to the Committees on Appropriations on the results of such evaluation.

(Sec. 333) Bars the use of funds in this Act to make a grant unless the Secretary of Transportation notifies the Committees on Appropriations not less than three full business days before any discretionary grant award, letter of intent, or full funding grant agreement totaling $1 million or more is announced by the Department of Transportation or its modal administrations from: (1) any discretionary grant program of the FHA other than the emergency relief program; (2) the FAA airport improvement program; or (3) any FTA program other than the formula grants and fixed guideway modernization programs.

(Sec. 334) Amends the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century to add the Wilmington Downtown transit corridor and the Honolulu Bus Rapid Transit project to the list of projects for new fixed guideway systems and extensions to existing systems.

(Sec. 336) Amends the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 to direct the Secretary of Transportation to study, and report to Congress on, the maximum axle weight limitations applicable to vehicles using the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways as they apply to over-the-road buses and public transit vehicles.

(Sec. 337) Bars the use of funds appropriated under this Act to propose or issue regulations or orders for implementation of the Kyoto Protocol (adopted on December 11, 1997, in Kyoto, Japan at the Third Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) which has not been submitted to the Senate for advice and consent to ratification and has not been entered into force.

(Sec. 340) Bars the use of funds in this Act to adopt guidelines or regulations requiring airport sponsors to provide to the FAA without cost building construction, maintenance, utilities and expenses, or space in airport sponsor-owned buildings for services relating to air traffic control, air navigation or weather reporting. Provides that such prohibition does not apply to negotiations between the FAA and airport sponsors to achieve agreement on "below-market" rates for such items or to grant assurances that require airport sponsors to provide land without cost to the FAA for ATC facilities.

(Sec. 341) Bars the availability of funds under this Act or prior Appropriations Acts for Coast Guard acquisition, construction, and improvements after the 15th of any quarter of any fiscal year beginning after December 31, 1999, unless the Commandant of the Coast Guard first reports quarterly to the Committees on Appropriations on all major Coast Guard acquisition projects executed for it by the U.S. Navy and vessel traffic service projects.

(Sec. 342) Amends Federal transportation law to require the Secretary of Transportation to withhold five percent of the funds authorized for Federal aid highway programs for FY 2004, and ten percent of such amounts for subsequent fiscal years, from any State that has not enacted and is not enforcing a law that considers as intoxicated an individual who has an alcohol concentration level of 0.08 percent or greater while operating a motor vehicle in such State. Allows funds withheld from a State during FY 2004 to be available for up to three fiscal years after such date (to allow a State to meet such requirement within such period), but allows no grace period with respect to funds withheld during subsequent fiscal years.

(Sec. 343) Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to waive, without charge, any terms contained in the deed conveying U.S. lands to a public institution of higher education in Oklahoma that restrict the use of such land that, as of the date of enactment of this Act, is not being used for the operation of an airport or for air traffic.