Infrastructure bill will have major benefits in CA — including better pay for firefighters
In his recent Opinion piece, columnist Dan Walters maintains the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill President Biden signed into law won’t make a big difference in the lives of average Californians.
Democrats beg to differ. The bill delivers more than $45 billion in federal funds to California to bolster our clean transportation infrastructure, help ease some of the worst impacts of climate change and speed new projects that will create thousands of good paying blue-collar jobs. That’s a big difference that Californians will notice.
Billions have been dedicated for water recycling systems and groundwater storage, critical to California’s conservation efforts. More funding in the bill will help upgrade our aging dams and canals and perhaps underwrite desalination projects.
The bill also includes big investments to upgrade the electricity grid so it can accommodate renewable energy sources; offers critical funding to help curb greenhouse gas pollution by funding zero-emission buses and ferries; and makes a huge investment in our shared highways, bridges, and other physical infrastructure while also modernizing and upgrading public transit and transportation safety for cyclists and pedestrians. The transportation aid alone is the largest federal investment in transit history and the largest federal investment in passenger rail since the creation of Amtrak in 1971.
The bill provides help to California governments for projects to reduce the risks and damages from eroding shorelines, never-ending wildfires, extreme flooding and other effects of climate change; for example, to bury power lines in rural areas where sparks from old equipment have set off some of California’s most destructive infernos.
Also on tap will be funding to bring the pay of federal wildland firefighters into parity with the state’s far better-paid fire crews, addressing critical shortages of experienced crews in a state where most of the forested wilderness is on federal land.
One small part of the measure has been especially anticipated here in California: a $7.5 billion initiative to build a nationwide network of chargers for electric vehicles. Although 40 percent of the electric vehicles in the nation are sold in California, sales still lag in part because car buyers fear they will be unable to easily recharge on long car trips.
And speaking of making a difference, let’s consider some of the other accomplishments of the Biden-Harris administration in the short year since they were elected.
The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan sent nearly $85 million to San Luis Obispo County and our local cities to help fill critical budget gaps, and provided 163.5 million stimulus checks totaling $390 billion to help struggling families across the nation survive through the pandemic.
The expanded Child Tax Credit has lifted more than 3 million children out of poverty.
70% of adults in this country are now vaccinated against COVID — more than 400 million vaccine doses have been administered. That may help us avoid another COVID wave this winter.
These are real accomplishments that are making a noticeable difference in peoples’ lives.
There’s still more to do to carry out President Biden’s agenda. Congress must pass the Build Back Better Act to deliver historic investments in child care and early childhood education, extend the child tax credit and other support for our hard working families, and provide more powerful action against the existential threat of climate change. Combined, the game-changing policies in Build Back Better and the Bipartisan Infrastructure packages will level the playing field for working people, create good paying jobs for residents of California, combat climate change, and position our economy for stronger growth for years to come.
Rita Casaverde is chair of the San Luis Obispo County Democratic Party. She is an immigrant from Peru who moved to California in 2012 and became a U.S. citizen in 2019.