What Comes Next With the Infrastructure Bill in California?
When President Joe Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act last month, a number of California officials were in the White House crowd, watching as billions of dollars were set aside for making improvements in their state. California is expected to be the largest beneficiary of the bipartisan act, receiving more than $40 billion for updating roads, increasing broadband internet access and investing in climate resiliency, to name a few of the bill’s components.
But getting those dollars from DC to California will require action across all levels of government, a massive effort that is already in motion and will take years to carry out. And, with the Build Back Better plan languishing in Congress, these funds are expected to be stretched thin when it comes to delivering on some of the administration’s climate and social goals.
The first influx of cash Californians are likely to see in the early months of 2022 will come from what’s known as “formula funding,” says Xavier de Souza Briggs, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute research group and a former volunteer on the Biden-Harris Transition Team. Federal agencies like the Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency use predesigned formulas that incorporate variables such as population and existing infrastructure to standardize how much states receive for projects. Since some of these formulas were already included in the act, it’s possible to get a baseline idea of how much states will receive. For example, the White House estimated that California will receive $25.3 billions for federal highway programs, $4.2 billion for bridge replacement and repairs, and $9.45 billion for improving public transit over five years.
Once the formula funding is officially approved, it’s then up to state officials and agencies to put the money to work or distribute to municipalities. For example, one agency that will deal with distributing formula funds is the California Transportation Commission. Chair Hilary Norton says federal funding directed to the Commission will be split with 60% going towards state programs and 40% sent to regional and local programs.
State and local officials will also have the chance to compete for additional federal infrastructure funding in the form of grants and loans. In this case, the money is awarded based on project applications, which are often put together by coalitions of politicians and other leaders.
“Local governments will apply to the federal government for grants under the various programs that they qualify for,” U.S. State Representative Adam Schiff says of the process. “We will help them with those grant applications or write letters in support where it's appropriate.”
An example of this sort of funding is the $17 billion set aside for improving and modernizing ports, millions of which will be distributed in an “open competition” through the Department of Transportation (DOT). Projects may include port electrification, transitioning to zero-emission technologies, building support facilities, and updating data collection and tracking, among other initiatives. The Biden administration, as well as Representative Schiff and California Senator Alex Padilla, have all listed ports as a top priority for directing funding in the short-term; a portion of the grant money is expected to be put towards the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach to ease supply chain congestion long term.
In November, the White House gave a 90-day window for the DOT to announce more information about the port grants, establishing one of the first public timelines for rolling out infrastructure bill funding. Other programs will take longer to ramp up or be designed. That includes legislation Senator Padilla championed to allocate billions nationwide towards developing electric grid resiliency in the face of extreme weather events; funding will go towards new transmission lines, improvements that will reduce wildfire risk from power lines and creating a Grid Deployment Authority within the U.S. Department of Energy.
One aspect of the infrastructure bill that will shape the direction of funding is a focus on equity. Earlier this year, President Biden issued an executive order known as the “Justice40 Initiative” mandating that 40% of relevant federal investments be directed to disadvantaged communities. That includes communities that have been “historically marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution,” according to the administration.
Along with expanding investments in tribal nations, the infrastructure bill calls on agencies to set requirements that will consider factors like race and income in competitive grants. There's also money set aside for communities that were negatively impacted by past infrastructure investments such as highway developments that razed and divided Black neighborhoods, although the funding amount was reduced drastically in the final bill. Critics have noted that there is currently a lack of clarity about how the focus on equity will flow down and be implemented in state or local programs. And Democrats had hoped that the bill would be complemented with the Build Back Better package, which would have concentrated significantly more cash in the direction of early education and climate resiliency in communities on the frontline of climate change.
As they wait for next steps, California officials across all levels of governments urged residents to reach out to their local politicians about what is needed in their neighborhoods, whether it’s by calling them directly or attending city council or board meetings. Some federal agencies, including the DOT’s Federal Highway Administration, have also started opening up requests for public input.
Many politicians are waiting with their own wish lists ready, too. Representative Schiff, California Transportation Commission Chair Norton and Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis expressed excitement over the potential to extend Los Angeles’ light rail system. Solis, who is Chair of the L.A. County Metro Board, pointed to a pending proposal to expand the Gold Line light rail beyond East L.A. She estimates an additional $4 billion of federal funds is needed to make that happen, which is “very expensive,” she acknowledges, but would help alleviate congestion and potentially reduce car usage.
Investing in greener technologies, such as electric public buses, is another area officials are eyeing. The L.A. Metro has pledged to transition to all-electric buses by 2030, and Mayor Eric Garcetti previously said that infrastructure act funding would help support related costs. Norton adds that the bill allows for a more holistic approach—so, it’s not only about funding more electric public transportation, but making sure that, when the state receives its estimated $25.3 billion for highway programs, that the money goes towards preparing the roads for these new, heavier vehicles, as well as supporting other climate resiliency measures like storm water capture.
Broadband is another significant area of interest for California officials, with the White House estimating at least 545,000 residents of the state currently do not have internet access. California is expected to receive $100 million in formula funding for this purpose, with additional money going directly to families through the bill’s Affordability Connectivity Benefit. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is in charge of this new program, which will offer discounted internet and other tech items for low-income families; the L.A. County Board of Supervisors is currently exploring options to improve broadband access in low-income communities, according to Supervisor Solis.
The Washington Post cited an estimate that, of the $566 billion in additional spending created by the legislation, about $20 billion will be spent by September 2022, the end of the current fiscal year. Behind the scenes, de Souza Briggs says, there will be a lot of activity, from designing those new programs on the federal end to state and local agencies staffing up to apply for and deliver on their projects.
“We've never asked the systems we have for delivering infrastructure to stretch on climate action number one, worker empowerment number two, racial equity number three,” he says, “We've never asked our major infrastructure systems to stretch on any of those three dimensions, let alone all three at one time. And it's a significant lift.”
