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Important News from Construction Business Group August 2011 |
| Robb Kahl |
Welcome to the latest edition of our newsletter. As you all know, Wisconsin and Washington are involved in debates and elections this summer that will directly impact us all. However, while acknowledging this has become the summer of recalls and debt ceiling discussions, I would like to focus on some state and federal issues important to us all that have received little attention.
In Wisconsin, our state budget has been signed into law and provides $335.5 million in additional transportation funding over the biennium. This is a significant achievement given the economic realities confronting our state. To provide these additional revenues without increasing user fees, the budget redirects proceeds from certain fees and provides historic financial support from the general fund.
The budget also contained modifications to the state’s prevailing wage law (see pages 10-12 of the newsletter) and also enacted historic changes to the role of county highway departments by imposing new bid requirements on public works projects. Specifically, the new rules on bidding provide:
-Counties are prohibited from performing improvement projects with their own crews on roads of any cities or villages with populations over 5,000.
-Counties are prohibited from performing any road construction work for another county or any municipality outside their county with exceptions for roads or municipalities that cross county boundaries.
-Counties are prohibited from performing work for private parties including roads, sewer, grading, or other infrastructure projects where the responsibility for the cost of the project is that of the private entity (e.g. residential developments).
-Local preference ordinances (e.g. Milwaukee Residential Preference) and other bid laws not based on low qualified bidder system (e.g. Milwaukee Reverse Auctioning) are precluded statewide.
In Washington, the U.S. Senate's Environment & Public Works Committee unveiled in July the outline of a 2-year surface transportation reauthorization bill that would maintain current funding levels. However, $12 billion in new revenue is still needed to fully fund the $109 billion measure.
Called Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21), the bi-partisan Senate bill contains many similar components to the Republican House bill outlined earlier in July -- program consolidation, environmental streamlining and large increases in the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) program. The House bill, however, would provide $230 billion over six years -- cutting the federal highway program by about 35%. The impact on Wisconsin of the House bill could be the loss of up to $250 million annually.
While we have accomplished much legislatively, we clearly have more work to do to insure the necessary resources are devoted to building and maintaining our vital infrastructure. If you want to contact CBG, we can be reached on the internet at www.cbgwi.com, by phone at 608-240-4170, by fax at 608-240-4179 or by e-mail at cbginfo@cbgwi.com.
Thank you.
Robb Kahl
Executive Director
Thank you.
Robb Kahl
Executive Director
