Transit Agency Intergovernmental Agreements: Common Issues and Solutions (2012)

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The Problem and Its Solution The nation’s 6,000 plus transit agencies need to have ac- cess to a program that can provide authoritatively re- searched, specific, limited-scope studies of legal issues and problems having national significance and applica- tion to their business. Some transit programs involve le- gal problems and issues that are not shared with other modes; as, for example, compliance with transit-equip- ment and operations guidelines, FTA financing initia- tives, private-sector programs, and labor or environmen- tal standards relating to transit operations. Also, much of the information that is needed by transit attorneys to ad- dress legal concerns is scattered and fragmented. Conse- quently, it would be helpful to the transit lawyer to have well-resourced and well-documented reports on specific legal topics available to the transit legal community. The Legal Research Digests (LRDs) are developed to assist transit attorneys in dealing with the myriad of initiatives and problems associated with transit start- up and operations, as well as with day-to-day legal work. The LRDs address such issues as eminent do- main, civil rights, constitutional rights, contracting, environmental concerns, labor, procurement, risk management, security, tort liability, and zoning. The transit legal research, when conducted through the TRB’s legal studies process, either collects primary data that generally are not available elsewhere or per- forms analysis of existing literature. Applications Transit agencies often require intergovernmental agree- ments (IGAs), a commonly used method for transit agencies to contract with other governmental units— large and small—for a variety of purposes and projects, Legal Research Digest 42 TRansiT CoopeRaTive ReseaRCh pRogRam sponsored by the Federal Transit administration november 2012 TrAnSIT Agency InTergovernmenTAl AgreemenTS: common ISSueS And SoluTIonS This report was prepared under TCRp project J-5, “Legal aspects of Transit and intermodal Transportation programs,” for which the Transportation Research Board is the agency coordinating the research. The report was prepared by Larry W. Thomas, attorney-at-Law. James B. mcDaniel, TRB Counsel for Legal Research projects, was the principal investigator and content editor. responsible Senior Program officer: gwen chisholm Smith and memoranda of understanding (MOUs), an arrange- ment with other local jurisdictions, state governments, agencies, and other transit entities in connection with land acquisition, construction projects, bus and rail op- erations, partnerships, third-party responsibilities (e.g., local match), and other matters. Many of these IGAs and MOUs are relatively straightforward, but some can involve intensive and time-consuming drafting and ne- gotiation over sophisticated, transit-relevant issues. To avoid “reinventing the wheel” and to help assure that useful innovations in other jurisdictions are not overlooked, this project panel decided that transit agen- cies, in general, and particularly attorneys can benefit from identification of useful examples of transit-rele- vant issues and how they have been addressed in past IGAs and MOUs. The objectives of this project are to 1) discuss legal principles that distinguish IGAs and MOUs from other types of agreements, including consideration of specif- ic federal and state laws that may apply; 2) obtain and review examples of IGAs and MOUs from transit agencies addressing such general areas; 3) provide links and references to enable access to the complete IGAs and MOUs; 4) within each general area, analyze common, transit-relevant legal issues that arise; 5) dis- cuss specific examples including lessons learned; 6) provide samples of provisions successfully addressing such issues; and 7) provide a checklist of standard is- sues to address in IGAs and MOUs. With approximately 119 of these agreements includ- ed on the enclosed CD-ROM and a checklist of items to follow when developing an agreement, this digest should be of interest to state and local legislators, transit manag- ers, board members, state and local administrative offi- cials, attorneys, and financial and policy officials from these units of government. TRanspoRTaTion ReseaRCh BoaRD OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES These digests are issued in order to increase awareness of research results emanating from projects in the Cooperative Research Programs (CRP). Persons wanting to pursue the project subject matter in greater depth should contact the CRP Staff, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, 500 Fifth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001. Subscriber Categories: Law • Public Transportation ISBN 978-0-309-25855-5 Transportation Research Board 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 Tc r P lr d 42 Tr b