Implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

While IIJA took a historic step in addressing our nation’s infrastructure challenges, there are still notable areas where Congress must act to ensure America does not fall further behind. With the surface transportation authorization set to expire in September 2026, Congress must act in the 119th Congress to build upon this key legislation in the next surface transportation reauthorization bill. Below are the specific issues NSSGA continues to work on within this topic.

Support Investment in Our Nation's Infrastructure

At all stages of implementation, we encourage every federal agency to efficiently execute and deliver IIJA’s investment to project planners. Below are the specific issues NSSGA is advocating for within this topic:

  • Highway Trust Fund Solvency: While we applauded Congress for providing five more years of solvency for the Highway Trust Fund, Congress must look beyond that timeframe to ensure long-term solvency. To avoid a devastating shortfall, the next surface transportation reauthorization bill must incorporate visionary and evolutionary revenue increases. NSSGA supports sustainable revenue sources to adequately fund needed investments and create financial certainty, including vehicle-miles-traveled (VMTs), bonding measures, registration fees for electric vehicles, national registration fee and the raising and indexing of the federal gas tax, which has been unchanged for over 30 years. As discussions about the Highway Trust Fund unfold, we at NSSGA advocate for a comprehensive consideration of all potential funding methods. It’s crucial to explore sustainable and stable funding sources while explicitly avoiding reliance on yearly appropriations, which could jeopardize the consistency and effectiveness of infrastructure investments.
  • Material Neutrality: NSSGA strongly believes Congress should maintain a material-neutral approach and not legislate market share. NSSGA opposes attempts by competing materials to utilize legislation like the National Defense Authorization Act, the Farm Bill and appropriations bills to promote market share by establishing material-specific deployment programs. When executing federal investments, material choice decisions should be left to engineers and construction professionals who have the expertise and local knowledge to plan and successfully execute projects.
  • Buy American Exclusion Implementation: In August 2023, OMB issued final guidance and an amendment to the Code of Federal Regulations implementing the Build America, Buy America Act (BABAA). The OMB guidance recognizes the Section 70917(c) exemption of “cement and cementitious materials, aggregates such as stone, sand, or gravel, or aggregate binding agents or additives,” as well as wet concrete and asphalt. Implementation challenges continue to persist, as State DOTs and other procurement authorities work to develop compliant procurement regimes. Reasonable guidance from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) on BABAA certification forms and processes is needed to remove certification form confusion, inconsistency and delay. Moreover, FHWA guidance is needed to clarify BABAA compliance at the APL/QPLs level. OMB’s intention to regularly convene “inter-agency workgroups” to ensure “that federal agencies implement BABAA in a consistent, uniform, efficient and transparent manner” should include participation by State DOTs to hasten consistent BABAA implementation across all states.
  • Rail Service Reform: The nation’s supply chain and rail networks are currently failing the aggregates and industrial sand industries. We support pragmatic, durable and commonsense solutions to resolve these issues. We support the reforms being examined by the Surface Transportation Board (STB) that would increase competition (particularly to smaller, rural, and underserved communities) and transparency to improve rail service. We support Congressional legislative efforts to reauthorize the STB, providing the agency with the tools to level the playing field between shippers and carriers.

 

Implement Infrastructure Legislation Efficiently and Effectively

NSSGA applauded Congress for passing the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) in the 117th Congress. The aggregates industry is working to deliver the billions of tons of construction materials needed to build, repair and maintain the roads, bridges, tunnels, rail, transit, ports, energy facilities (including solar and wind), water conveyance systems, broadband capacity and public works project funded through IIJA. At all stages of implementation, we encourage every federal agency to efficiently execute and deliver IIJA’s investment to project planners. The following are the specific issues NSSGA is advocating for within this topic to maximize the taxpayer’s return on this vital investment.

  • Oppose Partisan Mandates and Handcuffing Policies: Whether investing in rural community roads or a new urban transit system, federal infrastructure investment should benefit all Americans. We oppose new administration policies or proposed rulemakings that add additional requirements to either the implementation of the IIJA or the Federal-Aid highway programs functions. Utilizing existing formulas and funding structures is the best way to ensure the promises of IIJA are delivered to every community efficiently. While distributing funds, the administration must continue to provide state and local governments with the flexibility to address and prioritize their unique transportation needs — as Congress intended — and keep partisan mandates that Congress rejected out of the implementing guidelines.
  • Execute Permitting Reform: IIJA included critical policy provisions to ensure taxpayer dollars flow expeditiously to the array of vital infrastructure projects, without sacrificing applicable regulatory standards. IIJA made key steps in permitting reform by codifying One Federal Decision, expanding categorical exclusions, expediting interagency reviews, and granting greater flexibility around utility relocation. NSSGA encourages Congress to pass comprehensive permitting reform that clarifies and streamlines regulatory processes and gives the aggregates industry and our customers the certainty needed when making land use decisions.
  • ROCKS Act Working Group: NSSGA strongly supported the inclusion of Section 11526 in IIJA, which established a working group to examine and produce policies that ensure our nation has sustainable access to quality and proximate aggregate resources. This provision was similar to the bipartisan legislation, Rebuilding Our Communities by Keeping Aggregates Sustainable (ROCKS) Act, which was championed by Rep. Greg Stanton (AZ), Rep. Troy Balderson (OH), Sen. Mark Kelly (AZ) and Sen. Rob Portman (OH). While states like Arizona and Minnesota have acted to institute policies that ensure proper planning to maintain sustainable aggregate supplies, the federal government must also be involved in this planning. This will reduce construction costs and improve environmental outcomes, as the industry works to source materials needed to build the infrastructure funded under IIJA. NSSGA looks forward to working with FHWA, as they form the working group established under Section 11526.
  • Complete Annual Spending Bills: Completion of the 12 annual appropriations bills is critical, as it provides significant investment to infrastructure through discretionary programs and supports the work of agencies that are essential to our nation’s businesses. Multiple short-term and stop-gap measures diminish the investments Congress previously allocated and waste taxpayer dollars, as state and local agencies are unable to reliably plan and successfully execute projects.

 

NSSGA Statements on IIJA