Trump DOT Ends Bias Reviews for Billions in Transport Funding

1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jul 24

Last month, the Department of Transportation dropped enforcement against transportation agencies whose policies create discriminatory outcomes if those effects were unintentional, removing a long-used civil-rights review tied to federally funded projects.
Billions of taxpayer dollars had carried a fairness condition: agencies could face penalties when decisions caused unjustified racial harm, even without proven intent. That disparate-impact standard no longer applies in transportation.
A 2009 Oakland BART airport extension shows how the rule worked: the Federal Transit Administration found the 3.2-mile project bypassed Black and Latino residents, charged premium fares and ultimately pulled federal funding.
The rollback fits a broader Trump administration push against disparate-impact liability across federally funded areas including employment, housing and lending, shifting pressure to states and local transit agencies to keep equity reviews in place.