Section 11142(a) of SAFETEA-LU established the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission and charged it with analyzing future highway and transit needs and the finances of the Highway Trust Fund and making recommendations regarding alternative approaches to financing transportation infrastructure. These recommendations must address, but are not limited to, the following topics:

(a)  the levels of revenue that the Federal Highway Trust Fund will require to maintain and improve the condition and performance of the Nation's highway and transit systems and to ensure that Federal levels of investment in highways and transit do not decline in real terms (§ 11142(b)(2)(A)-(B)); and
(b)  the extent, if any, to which the Highway Trust Fund should be augmented by other mechanisms or funds as a Federal means of financing highway and transit infrastructure investments (§ 11142(b)(2)(C)).

The Commission will have 2 years to complete its work, and its final product will be a report that provides both analysis and recommendations to the Secretary of Transportation, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Committee on Finance of the Senate, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives, the Committee on Environment and Public Works of the Senate, and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate . (§ 11142(b)(2)&(h)).

As provided by statute, the Commission has 15 members representing State and local government, industry, financial institutions, public policy organizations, and law firms.(§ 11142(c))

The Financing Commission has been chartered as a Federal Advisory Committee to the U.S. Department of Transportation and must meet all of the requirements specified by the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).