S. 356

Transportation Opportunities for Professional Service Act or the TOPS Act

This bill establishes federal training and educational programs to develop the transportation workforce.

It directs the Department of Transportation to

• create a task force on developing a 21st century surface transportation workforce;
• provide grants to partnerships including states, institutions of higher education, and others, to support transportation-sector education and workforce development projects;
• conduct a national and international scanning tour of surface transportation agencies to identify critical future investment in workforce development;
• designate certain geographically diverse consortia of two-year institutions of higher education as Community and Technical College Centers of Excellence in Transportation Workforce Training;
• establish and administer a transportation workforce outreach program to carry out a series of public service announcement campaigns, including to increase diversity and the awareness of career opportunities in the transportation sector; and
• address emerging technologies in the transportation workforce, including cybersecurity related to such technologies.

Additionally, the Government Accountability Office must study issues relating to workforce development in intelligent and zero-emissions transportation technologies.