Would Temporarily Eliminate the 18 Cents per Gallon Federal Gas Tax

Allows Congress More Time to Negotiate Full-Year Bill, Including Funding for New Infrastructure Programs

The recently enacted Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) allows states or localities to implement a local hiring preference on federal-aid highway and transit projects. Such was already the case prior to passage of IIJA through a U.S. DOT pilot program. However, as part of that pilot program, the grant recipient was forced to certify that there was:

Guidebook will assist state, local, Tribal, and territorial governments

On January 24, AGC, along with other transportation stakeholders, called on congressional leaders to enact a full-year fiscal year 2022 federal government funding bill that will finance all new and increased programs infrastructure investment accounts from the recently enacted Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. In December, Congress passed a continuing resolution to fund the federal government through February 18. That extension of existing funding did not include appropriation of funds for many new programs in the November passed infrastructure bill.

On January 14, the Federal Highway Administration launched the Bridge Replacement, Rehabilitation, Preservation, Protection, and Construction Program created in the recently passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The program represents the single largest dedicated bridge investment since construction of the interstate highway system, providing $26.5 billion to states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico over five years. The total amount that will be available to these entities in fiscal year 2022 is $5.3 billion. In conjunction with this announcement, the White House also detailed its progress over the last 60 days on implementing the new law, which may be found here.

January 25 and 27, 2022

Encourages Prioritization of Review and Permitting Reform Regs, Discourages Limits on State Flexibility

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) released its apportionment notice, which informs states how much money they are eligible for. The $52.5 billion in apportioned funding for Fiscal Year 2022 represents an increase of more than 20% as compared to Fiscal Year 2021 for Federal-aid Highway Program apportionments. This funding is distributed annually by FHWA for the Federal-aid Highway Program based on a statutory formula contained in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. However, because the government is operating under a continuing resolution, states will not have access to about 20 percent of the funds.