The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), also known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), was signed into law on November 15, 2021. This federal legislation will bring $1.2 trillion to states and cities over the next 5 years to repair and build roads and bridges, public transportation, the broadband network, and water infrastructure, among many other critical infrastructure projects. Each state will receive billions of dollars in funding over the next 5 years through mandatory and competitive grants, loans, and bonds.
These funding opportunities offer a once in a generation opportunity to address community priorities for developing, strengthening, and building resilient infrastructure for the 21st century. At the same time, infrastructure dollars allocated to states and local communities may also be used to promote economic opportunity by creating good jobs. A number of obstacles—some rooted in history and others just the result of everyday struggles for workers—have often stood between local communities and the benefits of public infrastructure investment. The policies and programs described in this document are intended to help reconnect many workers to the good career jobs that infrastructure projects provide.
This guide provides an overview of local and targeted hiring policies, answers key questions for states and cities looking to implement these policies, and offers success stories from around the country.
Please also review this Q&A on hiring preferences from the USDOT, which we encourage you to use alongside this guide in meetings with contracting agencies. This document explains in detail the types of hiring preferences that can be used under the BIL.It also explicitly states that DOT is prioritizing projects that use local and other economic hiring in their discretionary grant applications.
Additionally, the USDOT provides background resources as well as state specific fact sheets describing how each state may benefit from federal infrastructure dollars. These are important resources providing information on the amount of federal infrastructure money each state will receive over the next 5 years through formula funding, as well as discretionary grants states and cities can apply for.
If you have questions while preparing for a meeting with state officials, please contact one of the organizations that sponsored this guide (contact info is on the last page of the guide).
