Welcome to the Season 2 Premiere of Hops & Highways!
We know you have been hard at work this summer and we’d like to say the same about our lawmakers, but the truth is there isn’t much to report on the infrastructure bill just yet. In fact, The Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act (IIJA) is at a crucial turning point in Washington. The Senate passed the bill back down to the house in early August and the House agreed to vote on the bill by September 27th. Sounds easy right? Wrong. Lawmakers are complicating things as always by tying the $1.2 trillion infrastructure package aimed to improve our failing roads and bridges to a larger $3.5 trillion “social infrastructure” package democrats are hoping to pass through a process called reconciliation. Democrats have said they will not even consider a vote on the infrastructure bill without simultaneous passage of the larger reconciliation bill.
D: Like Jess mentioned, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did agree to a compromise that the House will vote on the bill by September 27th. Three days after this date, the Federal Aid Highway Program expires. Experts say that if we don't get this legislation passed, we're looking at continuing resolution and temporary extensions for as far as the eye can see. The House needs 217 yes votes for the legislation to pass but that will be an uphill battle with even Democrats balking at the large price tag associated with the reconciliation bill. It will then need to pass in the Senate where support is also waning.
J: Should debates in Washington draw out past the September 30th deadline for highway funding to expire, a continuing resolution would be passed. This however would not address our failing infrastructure or the cash shortfall the Highway Trust Fund is facing. Right now, there's not enough revenue coming into the Highway Trust Fund to support the ongoing payments. What that means is that the Federal Highway Administration will have to manage the cash flow of the Highway Trust Fund, which means delaying payments to contractors. If you do a project in the state, you submit the invoice to the state, the state submits the invoice to the federal government and there's an immediate transaction that occurs within 20 seconds. At some point, the Federal Highway Administration is not going to be able to reimburse the state quickly to pay you the contractor for the ongoing project.
D: That will start out and maybe the delay will be a day, maybe two days. But as the problem drags on, and as more and more invoices are coming in when there's not enough money to pay those invoices, that is going to require the contractor to float the loan until they get paid from the state who gets paid from the federal government.
Delays in cash payments from the highway trust fund could begin as soon as November. If the IIJA passes however, it would immediately solve the highway trust fund issue. Upon passage, it will transfer $118 billion from the Treasury’s general fund to the HTF – with $90 billion of this amount going to the highway trust fund’s highway account and we will drink to that!
J: I am so sad we are still talking about this pandemic. Last week, President Joe Biden used the full force of his presidency to push two-thirds of American workers to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, impacting the lives of up to 100 million Americans in total. The order reaches into the private sector to mandate that all companies with more than 100 workers require vaccination or weekly testing. This means Federal and state directives now or will require contractors working on certain projects to ensure their workers are vaccinated against COVID-19.
D: This however applies only to firms doing direct work with federal agencies. According to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), it does not appear applicable to firms working on federal-aid transportation construction contracts administered by state or local agencies, which comprise the vast majority of work done by ARTBA members. According to The White House, employers who break the rules could face fines of $14,000 per violation.
J: Federal and state vaccination mandates all have differing implementation dates and the order is already facing headwinds from businesses, conservative governors and even his union allies. Attorneys say they are fielding frenzied calls from companies with questions over what the rules requiring them to verify that their workers are vaccinated or tested weekly for Covid-19 will actually entail and whether the business or unvaccinated employees will have to pay for the testing.
D: As a result of the Executive Order, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will issue an emergency temporary standard requiring businesses with 100 or more employees to ensure all personnel are either vaccinated or tested at least once a week for COVID-19. Employers will be required to provide paid leave for employees to get the vaccine and to recover from their vaccination, if necessary.
J: Further guidance for direct federal contractors will be issued by Sept. 24, administration officials said. There is not yet a date for the OSHA ETS, although presumably it will be a priority item for that agency. There is definitely uncertainty associated with these recent directives, and we are going to keep an eye on this as it develops. Be sure to check with (or wait for) your contracting agency to issue more specific guidance for your Federal and State projects. For old times sake, let’s have a cheers hoping all these COVID mandates are over soon.
D: That is all the news we have for you this week, we want to get back to sharing photos of your hard work for Build America Friday so make sure you send us a message with your photos and details of your work!
J: Yes! Make sure you plan to join us next week where we’ll be live at Gallagher Asphalt learning about the culture of innovation they have created there. We’ll also be joined by the team at WEM controls who will talk about the new system Gallagher installed at their asphalt plants and how it helps them to be more productive at the plant. Thanks for joining us today and stay safe out there!
