Piers Reinvestment Act

119th Congress Introduced by Robert Garcia and 2 co-sponsors

Expands PROTECT grants to include municipal piers, boosting eligibility and funding (from $300M to $500M) for pier strengthening, upgrades, and resilience projects.

Introduced in House

Overview

Piers Reinvestment Act (HR 8508) is a proposed bill in the 119th Congress that amends title 23 of the United States Code to create and expand resilience-related funding for municipal piers. It aims to explicitly designate grants for strengthening, upgrading, or improving municipal piers under the existing Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-saving Transportation (PROTECT) program, and to adjust related authorization levels to support such piers.

Main purpose and intent

Ensure federal support for the resilience and modernization of municipal piers that support transportation, commerce, and public access.

Integrate piers into the broader resilience framework established by the PROTECT program.

Increase the financial resources available for pier-related infrastructure improvements, particularly in at-risk coastal areas.

Key provisions and changes

Eligibility expansion for resilience improvement grants:

Adds “strengthening, upgrading, or improving municipal piers” to the list of eligible resilience improvements under the relevant section of title 23.
Expands scope to include “at-risk coastal infrastructure” by explicitly referencing municipal piers alongside pedestrian walkways and similar facilities.

Authorization of appropriations:

Increases the available funding for eligible projects under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), raising the authorized amount from $300 million to $500 million.

Administrative alignment:

Incorporates piers into the existing grant framework, ensuring consistency with current procedures for selecting, awarding, and administering resilience grants.

Who/what would be affected

Municipal pier projects across coastal and other vulnerable areas seeking federal resilience funding.

State and local transportation agencies that oversee pier infrastructure and apply for PROTECT grants (as amended).

Communities relying on piers for transportation access, commercial activity (fishing, tourism, shipping), and public amenities.

Procedural and timeline considerations

The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure (as of introduction date).

It does not, within the text provided, specify new application deadlines or grant cycles beyond aligning with the PROTECT program; instead, it adjusts eligibility and funding levels and codifies pier-specific eligibility.

The enacted changes would take effect upon passage and any anticipated regulations or program guidelines would be updated to reflect the expanded scope.

Summary

HR 8508 expands federal resilience funding to explicitly include municipal piers, integrating them into the PROTECT program and elevating their priority for resilience upgrades. It broadens eligibility to cover strengthening and upgrading piers, adds piers to at-risk coastal infrastructure eligible categories, and increases the appropriations cap from $300 million to $500 million. If enacted, the bill would enable more pier modernization projects to receive federal support, potentially improving coastal resilience, transportation reliability, and local economies dependent on pier infrastructure.