ACTION NEEDED:

Urge our federal partners to coordinate and consult with county officials throughout the implementation of the bipartisan law, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA/P.L. 117-58).  

BACKGROUND:

On November 15, 2021, President Biden signed the IIJA into law following a legislative consideration in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, where the bipartisan infrastructure package passed in votes of 228-206 of 69-30, respectively.

The IIJA provides $973 billion over five years from FY 2022 through FY 2026, including $550 billion in new investments for all modes of transportation, water, power and energy, environmental remediation, public lands, broadband and resilience.

Of the $550 billion in new investments, $284 billion will go toward all modes of transportation, with the remaining $266 billion directed towards other physical infrastructure sectors. Nearly 52 percent of IIJA’s new resources are dedicated to modernizing and making improvements to transportation infrastructure, with the majority of these funds reserved for highways, roads and bridges:

• Roads & Bridges: $110 billion
• Transit: $39 billion
• Rail: $66 billion
• Safety: $11 billion
• Airports: $25 billion
• Ports & Waterways: $17 billion
• Electric vehicle chargers: $7.5 billion
• Electric buses: $7.5 billion
• Reconnecting Communities: $1 billion

As Congress and USDOT work to implement IIJA, counties will be able to access transportation funds in three ways:

Meeting certain eligibility criteria for formula funds to public transit systems and airports
Receiving suballocations from state governments
Applying directly to USDOT or a state DOT for competitive grant opportunities

The IIJA is a major victory for counties, who worked closely with our partners in Congress throughout the legislative process to ensure county priorities were included in the final bill. The next step for IIJA is implementation at the federal, state and local levels.

KEY TALKING POINTS:

• Counties own more roads and bridges than any other level of government and ensuring successful infrastructure investments at the local level through meaningful intergovernmental engagement is key to successful implementation of the law.
• While counties are doing our part at the local level, we must rely on the intergovernmental partnership to meet our many public infrastructure responsibilities, as well as to reach our federal, state and local shared goal of improving the nation’s infrastructure.
• Congress and USDOT should continue to support county transportation and infrastructure priorities as the IIJA is implemented.