PRIORITIZATION AND APPROVAL OF PROJECTS BY COMMISSION

(a) The commission by rule shall prioritize and approve projects included in the statewide transportation plan under Section 201.601 or in the unified transportation program under Section 201.991 in order to provide financial assistance under this chapter. (b) The commission by rule shall establish a performance-based process for setting funding levels for the categories of projects in the department's unified transportation program. (c) The commission by rule shall establish a scoring system for prioritizing projects for which financial assistance is sought from the commission by planning organizations. The criteria used to score projects must take into consideration the department's strategic goals as approved by the commission in accordance with the requirements of 23 U.S.C. Section 134 or 135, as applicable. The system must account for the diverse needs of the state so as to fairly allocate funding to all regions of the state. (d) The commission may make discretionary funding decisions for no more than 10 percent of the current biennial budget of the department.