On Wednesday, a coalition of California businesses, trade associations, and workers groups - including RCRC - sent a letter to leadership in the House of Representatives urging the inclusion of significant federal investment in infrastructure in the next stimulus package to “accelerate our economic recovery and get Californians back to work.”
In line with these calls for infrastructure investment, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is expected to proceed with a surface transportation bill markup in late June. The Committee is likely to reserve an entire week for the markup to provide time to work through procedural challenges and technical difficulties associated with what is expected to be a virtual event. The markup is expected to be highly partisan. Democrats will likely move a bill that mirrors the outline released in January by Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon) and there has been little communication between Democrats and Republicans since its introduction. The total price tag is expected to be in the $500 billion range, with possible additions to back-fill state budgets for underfunded but pre-approved projects.