Last year’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure law was hailed by state leaders on all sides as a much-needed investment in roads and bridges, broadband internet, water systems and other priorities. But while the feds are signing the checks, state and local governments largely will decide how to funnel the money to specific projects—and they’ll need to put up some matching funds of their own. Federal officials have since said that the memo is not equivalent to a mandate, nor does it explicitly forbid new highway or bridge construction. Still, some groups that supported the infrastructure package say the memo caused confusion and undermined the efforts of the bipartisan coalition that came together to pass the bill. Some construction industry groups have noted that other federal funding program guidelines, including some included in the infrastructure law, encourage project labor agreements, known as PLAs, that could benefit unionized contract companies. Such agreements are collectively bargained pre-hire terms for a specific project.
States to feds: Don’t tell us how to spend infrastructure money