1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Port Optimization for Responsible Transportation Act . 2. Maritime administration (a) Categorical exclusions (1) Reciprocal use of categorical exclusions Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall issue a notice of proposed rulemaking to establish that the Maritime Administrator shall approve any action qualifying as a categorical exclusion established by the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Transit Administration, or the Federal Railroad Administration, as outlined in part 771 of title 23, Code of Federal Regulations, when the applicable requirements of that categorical exclusion have been met. (2) New categorical exclusions (A) In general Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall publish a notice of proposed rulemaking to propose new Maritime Administration categorical exclusions for port authority projects that require the approval of the Secretary under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 ( 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq. ). (B) Expanding list The Maritime Administration's list of categorical exclusions shall be expanded with the goal of having a list that allows the Maritime Administration to issue categorical exclusions that maritime port authorities would typically use, independently of the lists of other Department of Transportation modal agencies, including categorical exclusions— (i) corresponding to project types that have typically been granted a Finding of No Significant Impact in past Maritime Administration-granted projects and could feasibly be categorical exclusions