Construction Bills: Recent Changes to Construction Laws

• Author: By Brian R. Zimmerman and Rowan T. Mason
• Pages: 38-40

THE CONSTRUCTION LAWYER38 Fall 2020

Published in The Construction Lawyer, Volume 40, Number 4, Fall 2020. © 2020 American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion

thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.

CoNstruCtioN Bills: reCeNt ChaNges

to CoNstruCtioN laws

By Brian R. Zimmerman and Rowan T. Mason

Brian R. Zimmerman is a shareholder at Hurtado

Zimmerman S.C. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Rowan T.

Mason is a San Francisco–based partner with Jones Day.

Infrastructure Investment: The Moving Forward Act Is

Unlikely to Continue Moving Forward

On July 1, 2020, the House of Representatives passed

a $1.5 trillion infrastructure spending bill, the Moving

Forward Act (H.R. 2).1 The Act passed the House along

a mostly party line vote and represents Democrat spend-

ing authorizations to replace the current spending law set

to expire in September 2020.

The Act’s spending authorizations go beyond tradi-

tional road, bridge, and transit system investments, and

include schools, housing, broadband access, and signi-

cant clean energy investment. The House Committee on

Transportation and Infrastructure issued a statement pro-

claiming that the Act is “about investing in infrastructure

that is smarter, safer, and made to last.”

With little bipartisan support in the House, the Act

faces staunch opposition from Senate Republicans. Sen-

ator John Barrasso (R-WY), chair of the Senate EPW

Committee, stated his opposition that “There’s nothing

bipartisan about it. It’s completely partisan.”

2

Senate

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said on the

Senate oor that he would not take up the Act, character-

izing it as a “1,000-page cousin of the Green New Deal,

masquerading as a highway bill.”3

The White House threatened to veto the Act if passed

by the Senate, while expressing general support for invest-

ment in the nation’s infrastructure: “The Nation needs a

back-to-basics, bipartisan plan to move its infrastructure

into the 21st century, one that focuses on streamlining

project delivery; providing exibility for States, localities

and the private sector; providing long-term funding cer-

tainty; accelerating innovation; and right-sizing the

Federal role.”4

The White House cited staunch opposition to the Act:

“It is heavily biased against rural America. It also appears

to be entirely debt-nanced. And it fails to tackle the

issue of unnecessary permitting delays, which are one

of the most signicant impediments to improving our

infrastructure. Further, instead of taking a balanced

approach that would benet more Americans, H.R. 2 is

full of wasteful ‘Green New Deal’ initiatives that would

impede economic growth and impose unnecessary man-

dates, hindering innovation and driving up costs for the

American people.”5

A summary

6

of the Moving Forward Act’s spending

authorizations is below.

$484 Billion to Highways, Bridges, Transit, Rail, Airports,

Ports/Harbors

•

Over $300 billion of investment in existing

infrastructure.

• Over $100 billion in transit including initiatives to

put zero-emission buses on the road, add new routes,

and provide more reliable service.

•

$1.4 billion toward alternative fuel charging

infrastructure.

•

$29 billion to Amtrak (triple the prior funding),

allowing for upgrades and expansion of the passen-

ger rail network, and to improve rail crossing safety.

•

Funding for dredging and upkeep of harbors, ports,

and channels.

$130 Billion to Schools and Child Care

•

Invests in schools with the Reopen and Rebuild

America’s Schools Act, which invests $130 billion

targeted at high-poverty schools.

•

Five-year, $10 billion federal investment in address-

ing structural challenges and upgrading child care

facilities to generate additional state and private

investments.

Local Financing & Community Development

•

Provides nancing support for state and local

government investments and spurring private

investment through the tax code by permanently

reinstating Build America Bonds and Advance

Refunding Bonds, and increasing and expanding

the issuance of Private Activity Bonds.

Brian R. Zimmerman Rowan T. Mason