ABSTRACT
Trust fund share account provides the funding mechanism for two Department of Transportation programs. First, it funds highway safety research and development conducted by the department. Second, it funds the state and community highway safety program. The highway safety program provides a series of matching grants to assist states in establishing and improving highway safety programs and in enforcing the national speed limit. These grants are focused on programs that control the drinking driver, improve the quality and availability of emergency medical service, and help reduce accidents. The reconciliation act dramatically reduced the amount of funding available for highway safety programs. The act authorized the appropriation of $100 million for each of the fiscal years 1982, 1983, and 1984. This represented budget authority reductions of $100 million, $114 million, and $127 million respectively from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) baseline. The reconciliation act also imposed some program requirements on the safety program.
