House Bill Would Revive State Infrastructure Banks
The bill was introduced Feb. 3 by Reps. Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.) and Janice Hahn (D-Calif.), members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. They introduced a similar measure in 2014.
Under the bill, states could establish infrastructure banks using federal transportation dollars through 2020.
Congress created such a program in 2005 in which states could use up to 10% of their federal transportation dollars for a bank that pooled public and private resources to finance local road or transit projects.
The program expired in 2009 and was “inadvertently omitted” from the most recent transportation reauthorization bill passed by Congress, MAP-21, which was approved in 2012. The Hahn-Hanna bill would include the state bank provision in MAP-21, although Congress has yet to renew that funding law, which is set to expire May 31.
“States governed by both Republican and Democratic governors, including New York, California, Arizona, Delaware, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Indiana, Rhode Island and Iowa, had state infrastructure banks that worked but are now inactive,” Hahn and Hanna said in a statement about the bill.
“During difficult budgetary times, these banks seeded with federal dollars can help leverage private investment in local projects across the nation,” Hanna said. “This is precisely the type of cost-effective, flexible and innovative transportation policy that Congress should support now more than ever.”
Hahn said: “For years, our roads, bridges and ports have deteriorated and been neglected, hindering transportation and delaying our full recovery from the recession.
“This legislation is an important step in ensuring local infrastructure projects get the vital funding they need to create jobs and build the goods-movement system our businesses need to succeed,” she said.
