Next 2 months will show what Wisconsin will do with infrastructure bill....if WisGOPs don't sabotage it

Wanted to do a deep dive on the recently-signed "roads and bridges" infrastructure bill, and how it might work out inb Wisconsin. The Legislative Fiscal Bureau describes what types of programs the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) deal with, and how that would affect Wisconsin. The LFB starts by noting much of the "roads and bridges" bill are increased funding for current programs, but there are also some new items in there as well.

IIJA includes reauthorization of funding for existing federal surface transportation programs as well as for new program initiatives funded from the segregated federal Highway Trust Fund (HTF). HTF funding is considered contract authority, against which states may obligate funds, however, subsequent appropriations legislation is needed to fund these obligations. In addition, IIJA provides supplemental federal general fund (GF) monies for transportation programs, some of which are also subject to subsequent, annual appropriation (GF-STA) legislation. This section of this memorandum provides information on these programs as well as the funding levels that would be provided under the Act.

The LFB says that there will be about a 25% increase in available Federal highway funds that Wisconsin can pretty much use as it needs over the next 5 years.

The state is also slated to get $225 million in the next 5 years on a new bridges program, nearly $79 million as part of an electric vehicle program, and $2.2 million for ferryboats and ferry terminals.

There also is a sizable boost in transit funding flowing into Wisconsin, starting with a 30-40% increase in annual funding for everyday operations.

Wisconsin can also expect to get a part of the $21 billion in additional funds to buy buses and fix up other physical transit infrastructure, and boosts in assistance for both passenger rail and freight rail. Given that we're about 1.6% of America, that might mean somewhere around $320 million for these funds instead of having local tax dollars pay for it, or to defer the projects to a later time. Seems pretty good so far.

So with these numbers, I wanted to look at how things were handled with the last time we had a stimulus program with a big boost for highway spending, which was back in 2009 with ARRA. At the time, the Doyle Administration sent down a list of plans to the Dem-controlled Joint Finance Committee, and you can click here to see an example of these requests.

Like most highway funds, larger communities are allowed to handle funds at their own discretion while WisDOT gets applications from smaller communities and parcels up the money in some fashion from there.

The State of Wisconsin will receive a total of $529.1 million in funds under the highway formula component of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (federal economic stimulus act). Of this amount, the Department has established a policy of making $158.7 million available for local highway and bridge projects, and the federal act requires a set-aside of $15.9 million for transportation enhancements projects. Of the set-aside for local highway and bridge projects, $38.7 million is reserved for projects in the Milwaukee urbanized area, $9.8 million is reserved for projects in the Madison urbanized area, and $0.6 million is reserved for the portion of the Round Lake Beach, Illinois, urbanized area that lies in western Kenosha County. These amounts are determined under a federal formula for areas with a population exceeding 200,000. Federal transportation law requires that the metropolitan planning organization (MPO) for each of these areas must approve any use of federal funding within those areas....

At the time that the earlier request was submitted, the Department of Transportation indicated that local governments had been given a deadline of April 7 to submit applications for highway, bridge, and transportation enhancements projects to use the remaining stimulus funding. The projects included in the Governor's present request are all projects that were determined to be eligible for federal funding and that could be constructed in calendar year 2009.

So it was a mad scramble for a bit, but then the Federal money was able to get out and pay for projects that otherwise would not have happened.

It should be noted that a central problem with the 2009 stimulus was that Wisconsin's state and local governments were in major budget deficits because of the Great Recession, so in many cases, the federal money merely prevented further layoffs and stabilized the economy instead of giving a major economic jolt of job and income growth.

It's the opposite today. Wisconsin has billions of dollars in surplus at the state level, and local governments are getting help for the next couple of years under ARPA. So there are plenty of projects that can use those funds from DC and have plenty of state highway funds left over to take care of additional needs. It also can buy time for the state's Transportation Fund without having to raise the gas tax or other user fees.

The other major change compared to 2009 is that we have a GOP Legislature that doesn't want things to get too good before the 2022 midterms. And that could well play a role in what these funds ultimately end up doing....if they do anythinbg.

Let's take a step back and let you know about Wisconsin statute 84.03, which mentions some budget procedures regarding Federal highway funds. WisDOT is required to send information to the Joint Finance Committee by either December 1 or 30 days after the US DOT’s budget is decided for a certain Federal Fiscal Year. Given that the “Roads, Bridges and Broadband” bill became law on November 15, that deadline should be coming in the next 2-3 weeks.

But if there is a sizable increase (or cut) in what those funds compared to what was in the current state budget, then WisDOT has to explain what will happen to the money.

[(b)]2. The secretary is required to submit a plan under subd. 1. only if the department's most recent estimate of the amount of federal funds that the department will be appropriated under [the WisDOT budget] in the current state fiscal year is less than 95 percent or more than 105 percent of the amount of federal funds shown in the schedule for the appropriations under [the WisDOT budget] in that fiscal year.

And this is where it could get interesting with the GOP-controlled JFC.

(c) After receiving a plan under par. (b) 1., the cochairpersons of the joint committee on finance jointly shall determine whether the plan is complete. If the joint committee on finance meets and either approves or modifies and approves a plan submitted under par. (b) 1. within 14 days after the cochairpersons determine that the plan is complete, the secretary shall implement the plan as approved by the committee. If the joint committee on finance does not meet and either approve or modify and approve a plan submitted under par. (b) 1. within 14 days after the cochairpersons determine that the plan is complete, the secretary shall implement the proposed plan. If the joint committee on finance approves a plan under s. 84.555 for a state fiscal year, the joint committee on finance may modify a plan implemented under this paragraph for that fiscal year.

It looks like the 84.555 part is about adding bonding to pay for projects, which likely won’t be in play here (other than possibly reducing the amount of borrowing), but note that JFC could do a lot of “modifications” with those funds.

One of those WisGOP modifications could be to tell the Evers Administration to tear up the plan and send them another one, which delays usage of the money.

These dopes turned down $1 billion dollars of bonus funds to expand Medicaid earlier this year, so it is certainly within their realm of arrogance/stupidity that they would try to limit Federal assistance that could help us get a lot more roads and bridges completed before the 2022 elections.

Especially since getting more highway projects finished would be a boost for Democrats’ chances, and a fulfillment of Evers’ promises to “Fix the damn Roads” as governor. Messing with or turning down federal highway funds in early 2022 certainly wouldn’t be the first time WisGOP lowlifes have tried to derail a Democratic President’s infrastructure plans.

Side note – Evers should definitely run on getting Amtrak service to Madison as part of Minneapolis-to-Chicago upgrades. Not only is this planned as part of the infrastructure bill’s expanded investment in passenger rail and is now a winning topic with most Wisconsinites, it brings up one of the biggest non-Foxconn blunders of the Walker/Kleefisch era. Especially when Kleefisch claimed Wisconsin didn’t need the rail line because she drove her kids around in a minivan.

All of this is likely to come to a head in the next couple of months, so keep your antennae up for any GOP shenanigans that might keep more roads, bridges and broadband from being put in place next year. And make sure that ALL GOPs are held responsible for any sabotage that they try to pull.