Could Trump, Legislature claw back Florida’s electric bus funds?

The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority announced last year that it had won its largest federal grant to date to buy more hybrid and electric buses. Transit agencies across Florida were told they would be awarded more than $120 million.

But President Donald Trump has taken aim at clean energy funds distributed by his predecessor. Last month, his administration suspended a program meant to fund electric vehicle charging stations.

Could transit agencies’ electric bus funds be next on the chopping block?

Transit agencies have ramped up their efforts to secure electric buses and replace aging diesel-powered fleets in recent years, said Rachel Chard, deputy director of electric school buses for Calstart, an industry organization focused on clean energy for transportation. Laws passed under former President Joe Biden directed more funding toward electric vehicle infrastructure, aiming to curb the 28% of greenhouse gas emissions that are caused by vehicles.

In 2024 alone, federal grants were poised to fund more than 1,000 electric buses across the country, according to Calstart. Florida transit agencies have ordered, received or deployed more than 500 buses, leading most states in the nation.

Pinellas’ current fleet of 123 hybrid and electric buses saves the transit agency nearly $50,000 per year in fuel costs, said Debbie Leous, chief financial officer. The buses, along with generating fewer emissions, are also quieter as they breeze past neighborhoods.

But the Trump administration is slowing that progress and could try to halt it entirely.

Pinellas County’s transit agency is pausing work on the $28 million grant it received through the Federal Transit Administration’s low or no emissions grant program, which launched in 2015 and received additional funding under Biden in 2021. They’ve already ordered 13 buses from a contractor, and production was scheduled to start on some in April.

While a government-wide freeze on grant and loan disbursements was blocked by a judge last month, some agencies still aren’t moving forward on grant applications, said Scott Sheffler, a federal grants lawyer with Washington, D.C. firm Feldesman Leifer LLP. That’s put Pinellas’ bid for electric buses in limbo.

The agency doesn’t have to pay until it receives the buses, grants administrator Pamela Reitz said. That won’t be until 2026.

But there’s a risk promised funds could get slashed in the meantime, said Sheffler and Whit Blanton, director of Forward Pinellas, which manages transportation policy in Pinellas County.

Pinellas was announced as an intended recipient, but agency staff are still finalizing its formal application for the funds, Reitz said. That gives the federal government more leeway to pull back the funds if it chooses to, Sheffler said.

“It’s much easier for the federal government to say, ‘We’ve changed our mind on this grant we haven’t reached an agreement on,’ than to break an agreement,” he said.

State legislators threaten electric buses, too

Another party could jeopardize Pinellas’ electric bus funds: the state transportation department. That agency is holding off on supplying necessary documents for Pinellas to complete its application for electric bus funds amid federal uncertainty, Reitz said.

Blanton said transportation department officials told him the state is “probably a no” on matching the electric bus grant with toll revenue credits. That news came despite a previous understanding that the state would chip in, Blanton said.

The state transportation department didn’t respond to emailed questions in time for publication.

Blanton believes the department is being influenced by a Legislature and governor’s office that are quick to fall in line with the president’s preferences, including an opposition to electric vehicles.

“I do not understand this,” he said. “I thought there was a consensus that reducing carbon emissions was a good thing… It’s just gotten so wacky politically.”

This year’s state transportation bill, sponsored by Hillsborough County Republican Sen. Jay Collins, threatens to deny state funding to transit authorities that “adopt or promote energy policy goals inconsistent with the energy policy of the state.”

Florida’s energy policy, as defined by state statute, supports development and use of “domestic energy resources, including the use of renewable energy resources.” But Collins’ bill singles out carbon emissions reduction goals in its discussion of state energy policy. It’s unclear from the bill’s text whether emissions reduction goals are in line or out of line with the state’s policy, according to a presentation from Forward Pinellas.

Blanton said he thinks the bill merely formalizes what the state transportation department has already decided internally: that it won’t help transit agencies pay for electric buses and other measures that reduce carbon emissions.

Collins didn’t respond to requests for comment asking for more clarity on his bill.

“It’s just punishing transit because it’s ideologically out of favor,” Blanton said.

If the state pulls back its funding, Pinellas will need to secure a local match — likely totaling at least $4 million — to secure its electric buses. That may involve a request to the transit agency’s board, Blanton said. Pinellas could also pare back its request for 22 hybrid and electric buses, leaving passengers with inefficient, older vehicles, Reitz said.

One board member, citizen appointee Barbara Haselden, has voiced skepticism that the agency should continue pursuing electric vehicles under Trump.

Reasons for optimism

Jeff Hiatt, leader of Michigan-based electric bus company Optimal EV, has seen orders and quote requests slow down while local governments wait to see what happens with federal funding.

But on Friday, Republicans in Congress passed a budget that maintains funding for the Federal Transit Administration’s electric bus program. That gave Hiatt more confidence that the government plans to eventually honor its obligations under that program.

“We’re not hearing about claw-backs at all with these (transit) programs,” Hiatt said.

As the Trump administration cancels diversity, equity and inclusion grants, it hasn’t cut funds for transit agencies, Sheffler said. That could change, he said — but electric buses don’t appear to be the administration’s first priority.

Pinellas isn’t the only Florida locality trapped in limbo. A $4.5 million grant for the city of Gainesville to build a new solar-powered bus facility has been paused by the federal government, public information officer Rossana Passaniti said.

In South Florida, Broward County Transit hasn’t heard anything about the status of its $25 million grant for electric buses, spokesperson Greg Meyer said.

The Federal Transit Administration also didn’t respond to a request for comment from the Tampa Bay Times.

That silence seems to be a deliberate tactic by the administration, Sheffler said. Staffers are waiting for political appointees to gain their footing and make decisions on programs before resuming communication to local partners, he said.

“I’ve said for years that one of the most powerful tools in the government’s toolbox is to not answer the phone,” Sheffler said. “People don’t fully appreciate it. I think right now they do.”