Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act (IIJA)
BACKGROUND
The approved final version of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) was signed by the President on November 15, 2021, and is now known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and public law 117-58. On March 15, the President signed the Fiscal Year (FY22) Omnibus Appropriations Bill, which signaled the first year of approved infrastructure funding.
The BIL will make available more than $1 trillion in funding for infrastructure programs across the transportation, energy, and water sectors, through a combination of grants, loans, and tax incentives. Of the total spending plan, roughly $550 billion is new federal funding not previously authorized and the BIL also reauthorizes the existing highway, public transportation, and rail programs for five years.
The BIL investments are authorized over five years and organized within high-level infrastructure categories. NOTE: There are more detailed breakdowns within each of these categories and the full text can be viewed at www.congress.gov while searching either HR 3684 or Public Law 117-58.
IIJA / BIL - Funding At a GLance
Funding Breakdown
The BIL investments are authorized over five years and organized within the above high-level categories. Depending upon how a presenter combines categories, funding numbers can appear to vary, however, the overall allocation of $550 billion in new funds should be consistent.
Funding for Non-Federal Agencies
Several of the categories, and more prominently sub-categories, are structured to provide funding through discretionary grant or loan programs. There are some new funding programs and local agencies will benefit from digging into the details to understand potential funding level authorizations and the anticipated requirements tied to the discretionary approvals.
Funding Allocation Process
Funding Allocation Process
No major adjustments were introduced via the BIL to assist local agencies with direct federal funding. Thus, the primary allocation methods will be formulaic distribution to the states, grants, and loans. However, new programs (including pilot programs) are expected to be administered through grants and loans. Funding distribution is projected to be roughly 60% formulaic and 40% through grants / loans.