BIL Implementation Updates
Department of Transportation Issues Temporary Waiver of Buy America Requirements
The Department of Transportation (DOT) issued a temporary waiver of Buy America requirements for construction materials. The DOT is giving states and industries 180 days to start working on procedures to comply with Buy America requirements. The waiver period runs through November 10th, 2022, at which time compliance with the requirements will become mandatory. The DOT expects the extra time will allow stakeholders to develop practices and procedures to implement Buy America requirements. More information can be found here.
Infrastructure Initiative Press Conference
On May 17th Supervisor Holly Mitchell, Chair of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, and key infrastructure and community leaders commemorated National Infrastructure Week with the announcement of the Infrastructure Initiative. Speakers included:
- Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell – Chair, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
- Mark Pestrella – Director, Los Angeles County Public Works
- Stephanie Wiggins – Chief Executive Officer, Metro
- Director Norma García-Gonzalez – Director, Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation
- Selwyn Hollins – Director, Los Angeles County Internal Services Department
- Dr. D’Artagnan Scorza – Executive Director, Anti-Racism, Diversity and Inclusion Initiative
- Los Angeles/Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council
- Faith for Safe Streets
To view a recording of the press conference, visit here.
White House Launches New Building Codes Initiative
This week the White House launched the National Initiative to Advance Building Codes to help state, local, Tribal, and territorial governments adopt the latest, current building codes and standards. The goals of the initiative are to make communities resilient to the impacts of climate change and lower energy costs for households. The initiative will provide incentives and support for communities to adopt current building codes and standards primarily through programs managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Department of Energy (DOE). To read more about the initiative, click here.
Upcoming Webinars
Bureau of Reclamation Webinar on Small Water Storage Grant Program
The Bureau of Reclamation is hosting a webinar on June 2nd at 11:00 a.m. PDT regarding feasibility studies for the new Small Water Storage Grant Program. This new program is authorized by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), and it provides funding for surface and groundwater storage projects between 2,000 and 30,000 acre-feet. The Fiscal Year 2023 Small Storage Program funding opportunity is under development and is projected to open in August 2022.
The webinar will be hosted on Teams, information on how to register can be found here. A recording will be available if you cannot attend.
Joint Office of Energy and Transportation Webinar on Equity
The Joint Office of Energy and Transportation is hosting a webinar on June 8th at 9:30 a.m. PDT to provide an overview of equity considerations for planning and deploying electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. The webinar will also cover the Justice40 Initiative and how it relates to the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) formula program and state plans.
The webinar will be hosted on Zoom, the link to register can be found here.
