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The Build Local, Hire Local Act would, in part, help rebuild the nation’s crumbling infrastructure.
By Forum Staff
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) on Thursday reintroduced the Build Local, Hire Local Act, which they said would make bold reforms to federal infrastructure programs that would help create family-supporting jobs, rebuild the nation’s crumbling infrastructure, and reconnect communities that have been historically harmed by systemic inequalities in federal infrastructure policy.
According to Gillibrand and Bass, the legislation would:
Create high-quality local construction jobs for people who need them most through targeted hiring practices that use registered apprenticeships and coordinate with state and local workforce development boards.
Rebuild our infrastructure with new opportunities for small and disadvantaged businesses.
Encourage the use of best-value contracting, registered apprenticeships, and neutrality in union organizing to ensure projects place a premium not just on the bottom line but also on the quality of jobs, safety, equity, climate resiliency, and environmental justice.
Dedicate investment to struggling areas and connect communities to greater opportunity through new performance measures and data on accessibility to transportation and a new $25 billion Connect Communities Grant Program to redevelop marginalized communities.
Provide pathways to careers in construction, specialty trades, and other infrastructure jobs through a new $5 billion Building American Infrastructure and Careers Program to support training partnerships led by unions, community organizations, and education and training providers.
Improve labor standards and working conditions and strengthen worker power by using Davis-Bacon and Service Contract Act wage protections, exposing bad actors in contract bids, requiring the use of workforce diversity programs, creating transparency in pay, employment status, and wage rates, ending forced arbitration, and ensuring that funds are not used for union-busting.
Protect and expand domestic manufacturing by establishing a new Buy America Bureau that would help build American supply chains and bring transparency and coordination to the Buy America waiver process, and by encouraging the use of U.S. Employment Plans that prioritize existing and new American manufacturing and service jobs when building the nation’s infrastructure.
Ensure that the communities where infrastructure projects are taking place are the first to benefit from the job and training opportunities that those projects provide.
“As our country focuses on rebuilding our economy and infrastructure, we have to invest in policies to build a more equitable future and to tear down physical and economic barriers in our communities. The Build Local, Hire Local Act will ensure that underrepresented and underserved communities can access federal infrastructure opportunities that create jobs and spur economic growth,” Gillibrand said. “It will also make sure that we are hiring from those same communities to get the job done, with better wages and better working conditions.”
Bass added, “It’s a common-sense step for our government to make it easier for companies to generate jobs in the very counties and states where their transportation projects are located. Communities shouldn’t have to wait for infrastructure projects to be finished to benefit from the investment. That’s exactly what this bill helps address.”
