On May 25, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved an AGC-supported $5 billion Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), which authorizes new U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ civil works construction projects, including locks, dams, levees, harbor maintenance dredging and environmental restoration projects, among other construction projects. Specifically, the bill authorizes 28 new Army Corps projects, which you can find here.

This week, the House and Senate both made progress in moving their respective transportation funding bill for fiscal year 2017. Both bills include a key, AGC-backed provision that sets restrictions on the use of a U.S. DOT pilot program that enables state or local grant recipients to utilize local or geographical, economic-based, and veterans hiring preferences on federal-aid highway and federal transit projects.

This week, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed a bipartisan bill reauthorizing the Diesel Emission Reduction Act (DERA) program through 2021 at $100 million per year. This bill is identical to a provision that legislators included in the recently passed Senate Energy Modernization Act. AGC and our coalition partners will continue to push for a DERA reauthorization prior to the expiration of the current program on Sept. 30, 2016. Further updates on DERA status and grant availability can be found here.

As previously reported by AGC, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is accepting public comment on its draft 2017 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Construction General Permit (CGP) until May 26. AGC has taken numerous actions over the last several weeks to inform the EPA staff of AGC’s main concerns with the agency’s proposed draft, but more input from the construction industry would be helpful to shape the final rule. The paramount concern is the possible addition of a brand-new requirement that would make construction site “operators” publicly report (via an Internet post) their construction stormwater pollution prevention plans (SWPPPs). Please use AGC’s draft discussion document to share your concerns with EPA by the May 26 comment deadline. Although EPA’s CGP directly applies in only a handful of states and territories, it serves as a national model for state-issued CGPs.

AGC and its industry coalition partners in the Water Infrastructure Network have been working for a number of months to get significant water infrastructure provisions included in the 2016 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) in the Senate. We were successful in getting many important provisions approved by the Committee. The bill creates a longtime AGC priority, a Clean Water Trust Fund, and, while this bill itself does not carry additional funding, it authorizes voluntary contributions to the trust fund. Creation of a trust fund dedicated to water infrastructure opens many new possibilities for future dedicated revenue prospects.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved an AGC-supported $9 billion Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), which authorizes new U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ civil works construction projects, including locks, dams, levees, harbor maintenance dredging and environmental restoration projects, among other construction projects. Specifically, the bill authorizes 25 new Army Corps projects and modifies 4 existing projects. The bill will now move to the Senate floor for consideration. The House is expected to introduce its version of a WRDA bill in early May.

This week the Senate passed the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015 by a vote of 85-12. The comprehensive energy bill included several provisions supported by AGC, including reauthorizing the Diesel Emission Reduction Act (DERA) program through 2021 at the current authorization level of $100 million per year. Further updates on DERA status and grant availability can be found here.

As reported last week, the Senate was working towards finalizing an AGC-supported reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) programs for fiscal years 2016 and 2017. This week they passed the bill with an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 95-3.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking this week detailing performance measurements for congestion, freight, and on-road mobile source emissions for the National Highway System which it was required to do in the 2013 “Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century” (MAP-21) reauthorization law. Under the proposal, states would be required to monitor, report, and set targets for improving performance by measuring travel reliability, peak-hour congestion, freight movements, and on-road emissions of pollutants like ozone. The performance measures would then be used to manage investment of federal-aid highway funds to achieve these state performance goals, which ultimately would help make progress towards meeting national goals. Generally, the measurements are considered an improvement in managing the program and in demonstrating to the public the benefits achieved from federal investments in highways. One of the national commissions set up in earlier SAFETEA-LU legislation called for the establishment of performance measures.

The Senate Transportation Appropriations Committee unanimously approved the fiscal year 2017 budget for the U.S. Department of Transportation (US DOT), which included a key provision AGC requested that would set certain conditions on a US DOT pilot program that enables the state or local grant recipients to utilize local or geographical, economic-based, and veterans hiring preferences on federal-aid highway and federal transit projects. The language is identical to a provision that AGC was successful in getting included in last year’s omnibus appropriations bill. The provision requires a grant recipient to certify that a local hire requirement will not force the layoff of a company’s employees, will not significantly increase the cost of the project and that they will not impose local hire requirements unless they can certify that there is an available, trained workforce in the local area.