New Law Mandates 'BUMP Funds' for Major Transit and Highway Projects Over $50M to Compensate Disrupted Businesses

The Business Uninterrupted Monetary Program Act of 2025 is essentially an insurance policy for your local coffee shop or dry cleaner when a massive construction project—like a new subway line or a highway expansion—sets up shop right outside their door. Instead of leaving small businesses to absorb the financial hit from blocked access and dust, this bill forces the project sponsors to set aside a dedicated pot of money to cover their losses.

The BUMP Fund: Mandatory Compensation for Construction Chaos

This legislation introduces the Business Uninterrupted Monetary Program Fund (BUMP Fund), a mandatory requirement for two types of massive infrastructure projects. If a project sponsor is getting federal funds for a fixed guideway transit project (think light rail or subway) or a federal-aid highway project costing over $50 million, they must establish a BUMP Fund. This fund is specifically for compensating “covered entities”—local businesses and nonprofits—that suffer measurable financial harm due to the construction disruption (Sec. 2, Sec. 3).

For the project sponsor, setting up this fund adds a new cost and administrative layer. For highway projects over $50 million, the BUMP contribution can be up to 25% of the non-Federal share. Interestingly, the bill allows this BUMP contribution to count toward the required non-Federal matching share for highway projects. This is a crucial detail: it means sponsors aren’t just spending extra money; they’re redirecting funds that would otherwise be spent on the project match toward mitigating local damage. While this is a practical incentive for sponsors, it also means the funds dedicated to local compensation are essentially replacing other local financial commitments (Sec. 3).

Who Decides What’s Fair?

Here’s where the policy gets tricky. While the goal is good—compensating businesses for lost income, payroll, rent, and utilities—the bill grants significant discretion to the project sponsor. The sponsor gets to decide how much money goes into the BUMP Fund initially (up to the cap), how they’ll define who qualifies for a payout, and what the payment terms will be. They have to tell the Secretary of Transportation these details, and the Secretary can step in and disqualify certain expenses, but the initial power lies with the entity funding the construction (Sec. 2).

If you run a small business, this means your ability to get compensated hinges entirely on the sponsor’s initial plan. If the sponsor underestimates the construction disruption—say, they only set aside $500,000 for a three-year project that ends up shutting down access to a dozen businesses—the fund might run dry quickly. The bill requires the sponsor to estimate the damages, but if that estimate is low, the affected entities could be left undercompensated. This vagueness in defining “estimated damages” is a potential weak spot.

Clearing Up the Leftovers and Looking Backward

What happens when the dust settles? The BUMP Fund must remain available for one year after the project is complete to handle any lingering claims. After that, any leftover cash doesn't just disappear. For transit projects, the remaining money can be used for the project’s operating expenses or other approved projects. For highway projects, it can go toward project enhancements or environmental cleanup (Sec. 2, Sec. 3).

The Act also includes a one-time relief measure for businesses already struggling. Section 4 creates a new competitive grant program specifically for businesses impacted by major transit projects that started after October 1, 2018, and were still under construction as of June 1, 2023. This is a rare instance of a bill providing retroactive relief, acknowledging that many businesses have already suffered financial damage from ongoing projects without any BUMP Fund in place. However, it’s a competitive grant, capped at $10 million per grant, and it’s a one-and-done deal, limiting its reach.