Friday, January 23, 2009                                                                       Archive  |   Client Login

Last week the House Appropriations Committee put forward the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act and on the 21st the committee met to debate, amend, and rewrite the bill. On the 22nd the committee approved $358B of the $825B. One of the major provisions of the House bill is accountability and transparency, which involves setting up a website for publishing the projects funded by the bill including how a project is to be awarded. All bids, where possible, must be competitive and when they cannot be due to previous rules must be published in a special public section of the website.

It is important for all businesses to insist the funds are spent wisely, and we believe that the bill’s transparency and accountability section sets important requirements that would help ensure they are. The requirements should also include full public disclosure, project management, and oversight. You can help ensure this happens by contacting your Representative and insisting that your tax dollars be used responsibly and that the rules for winning project bids are public and clear.

To contact your Representative go to house.gov and either enter your Representative’s name or your home or business’ zip code, and then follow the links to their websites. On their website you can create and send an email - click here to see a sample request you can use.

To help you gain a deeper knowledge about the process that each state will use to funnel funds to the American Recovery & Reinvestment projects, Onvia has developed the Economic Stimulus Toolkit. The Economic Stimulus Toolkit is for any business who wants to get prepared now to pursue these projects once funded.

It has been great to hear from so many of you in recent weeks, it is my commitment to continue to bring you first hand insight into the government stimulus initiative. Please continue to send me your questions and I will answer them directly or address them in a future Stimulus Advisory, mike@onvia.com.

Mike Pickett
Onvia President

How Stimulus Affects You

With our first glimpse into how the government wants to use $825 billion to juice the economy, it's clear that some of the money will quickly and directly affect most Americans lives, while other spending is intended to produce either longer-term, less tangible benefits or is targeted at narrow segments of the population -- like the unemployed.

Although the sum is huge, the money isn't intended to turn the economy around, but to keep it from falling even further into decay.

The article contains the funding breakdown overview.

CNNMoney, January 21, 2009

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/106461/How-Stimulus-Affects-You

House Committee Advances Stimulus Bill

An $825 billion economic stimulus package sought by Democrats cleared a key hurdle on Wednesday as a House of Representatives panel approved major portions of the spending initiatives in the plan that President Barack Obama wants enacted by mid-February.

The House Appropriations Committee, by a partisan vote of 35-22, approved $358 billion in spending that would be included in the huge measure.

Reuters, January 22, 2009

http://www.cnbc.com/id/28788964


House Plan for Infrastructure Disappoints Advocates for Major Projects

Less than one-third of the $825 billion plan that was introduced Thursday in the House would go to infrastructure, and much of that would go to high-tech projects, rather than traditional concrete-and-steel building and repair work. The rest would go to tax cuts and aid to help states pay for health care and education. At a time when the American Society of Civil Engineers has estimated that $1.6 trillion is needed to improve the nation’s crumbling infrastructure, the proposal calls for spending $30 billion on roads and, to the consternation of transit advocates, only $10 billion on transit and rail.

(The House bill, though, was only the opening salvo in the push to pass a bill quickly, and some senators are already talking about adding money for more transit programs.)

The requirement that the money be spent quickly, in order to get it coursing through the parched economy, means that many ambitious projects that require more planning will have to give way to smaller ones considered “shovel ready.” The plan also calls for using existing federal formulas to send transportation money quickly to the states, giving policy makers in Washington little say as to where or how the money should be spent.

New York Times, Michael Cooper, January 19, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/us/politics/20publicworks.html?th&emc=th

Architects Encouraged by Initial Stimulus Draft, but Says More Needs to be Done

AIA Calls for Balance between Advancing “Shovel Ready” Projects with Need for Long Term Design and Planning As Congress begins considering the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) expresses encouragement of the initial draft version of the bill released yesterday by the House Appropriations Committee – but believes that Congress needs to do more to ensure that the stimulus achieves its goals of job creation and a 21st century infrastructure.

The draft proposal advocates for energy-efficient upgrades for a cross-section of buildings, which account for nearly half of all U.S. energy use, including schools, homes, federal and private sector buildings, and healthcare facilities.

Recently, the AIA sent detailed recommendations to Congress and the transition team outlining specific measures for the design of 21st century schools, green commercial, residential and institutional buildings, historic preservation projects, transit and mixed use development projects that will lead to the creation of 1.6 million jobs in the construction industry.

In order to achieve the President-elect’s stated goal of energy-efficient upgrades for 75% of all federal buildings, the AIA believes that there needs to be more money than the proposed $6 billion that have been allocated in the proposed bill. There should also be more incentives to green commercial office buildings that will lead to the creation of more private sector jobs, as well achieve greater energy savings.

AIA, January 16, 2009

http://www.aia.org/press2_template.cfm?pagename=release_011609

Bloomberg Pushes Infrastructure Investment

Saying that the temporary state of the city is "shaken, but not broken," Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Thursday outlined his administration’s economic recovery strategy, including a $10-billion investment in infrastructure-related capital projects this fiscal year. The infrastructure projects are part of a nine-point plan Bloomberg said would "help us retain and create as many jobs as possible now and 400,000 jobs over the next six years, in all five boroughs," focusing on entrepreneurship and green businesses.

Among the capital projects in fiscal 2009 are digging the number 7 train extension to Hudson Yards, building five new public libraries and opening the first section of the High Line, a park developed from a defunct elevated railway line in Manhattan. "For the past year, we’ve been pushing Washington to focus the federal stimulus on ‘ready to build’ infrastructure," said Bloomberg. "In all fairness, they’ve finally come around." He said his administration looks forward to working with Congress and President-elect Barack Obama, "not just on the stimulus package, but on re-thinking the entire way we fund infrastructure projects in this country."

GlobeSt.com, January 21, 2009

http://www.globest.com/news/1328_1328/newyork/176352-1.html


Waiting on relief: Obama's stimulus plan excites engineers, utilities

When President-elect Barack Obama takes office Jan. 20, he's planning to move forward swiftly with an economic-stimulus plan that has infrastructure, schools, energy and health care at its core.

Some of that plan echoes what Gov. Ed Rendell has been proposing in Pennsylvania: Invest in massive infrastructure and public-works projects to create new jobs and pump money into the economy.

Obama's plan aims to head off a deepening recession by investing public money into industries that could drive the national economy in coming decades.

Central Penn Business Journal

http://www.centralpennbusiness.com/print_article.asp?aID=69962

Is the federal stimulus plan a road to recovery?

President Barack Obama called his presidential campaign one of hope -- and now many in the construction industry have placed a lot of hope in the possibility of an economic stimulus plan that allocates money to infrastructure and other projects.

"There are companies just hanging on with hope ... before they have to do something drastic," said George McKenzie, vice president and principal engineer at NTH Consultants Ltd. in Lansing.

The Associated General Contractors of America has heard similar things from its members. During the release of its construction-employment and business forecast for 2009, AGC CEO Stephen Sandherr said two-thirds of members surveyed anticipate laying off some of their work force this year. But 85 percent of members would either cancel planned layoffs or hire new employees if the economic stimulus package puts state construction projects back in the works.

Business Review Western Michigan, by Olivia Pulsinelli, January 21, 2009

http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2009/01/is_the_federal_stimulus_plan_a.html

Towns prepare wish lists for stimulus funds

Bruce Washington, Cook's director of capital planning, said the county has 46 "shovel-ready" construction projects at various stages of development that would cost $366 million.

Precisely how those projects would be funded, and whether the federal government would help, have been discussed during recent meetings looking at County Board President Todd Stroger's proposed budget. He is asking the board to approve borrowing about $285 million to pay for capital improvements and equipment purchases, but the bond deal has yet to be approved.

"We should not be voting on the bonds for capital until we know the full extent of the money availability through federal and state stimulus plans," Commissioner Larry Suffredin (D-Evanston) said. That's because the county cannot seek federal or state money once it approves bonds for specific projects, he said.

Among the larger projects on the county's wish list:

• A plan to build new jail intake and medical treatment units is $87 million short in funding.

• Other jail projects: $5.2 million to renovate jail space to include a women's justice service center and $6 million to install video cameras at the jail and outlying courthouses.

• The county still needs $35 million to complete an expansion of the garage at Stroger Hospital. The county also is looking for $4 million to expand a laboratory for its public health system.

• The county highway department has compiled a list of 42 projects that need more than $225 million to move forward. Among the projects are $7 million to rebuild Western Avenue, $5 million for Ashland Avenue and $4 million for Narragansett Avenue.

• Ongoing projects on IDOT's wish list:

• The elimination of slow zones for Chicago Transit Authority trains as part of a plan to improve tracks, stations and yards and improve mass transit at $1.2 billion.

• A plan for rail improvements that includes creating vehicle overpasses and underpasses at 25 locations in the city and suburbs and six railroad bridges to separate freight trains from passenger trains

Chicago Tribune, Jon Hilkevitch, January 21, 2009

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-shovel-ready-city-zonejan21,0,2261991.story

Will a government spending spree solve our economic problems?

Keynesian fiscal policy — out of fashion with economists and policy makers for decades — has enjoyed a stunning revival under President Barack Obama's economic policy team. The size of the stimulus package is estimated to be $825 billion and is likely to increase as it makes its way through Congress. The final package will almost certainly include a mix of spending on energy, infrastructure, health care, tax cuts and direct payments to the unemployed and disadvantaged.

The Keynesian theory is simple. John Maynard Keynes taught us that economic downturns are caused by inadequate aggregate demand. His prescription to solve this economic affliction is for government to provide the demand the private sector won't. Recent discussions, covered extensively in the media, have focused on the infrastructure spending component of Obama's plan — such policy is right out of the renowned Great Depression-era economist's playbook. Here in Wisconsin, Gov. Jim Doyle has created a protracted laundry list of infrastructure projects he'd like to see the Feds fund for us.

Sheboygan Press, Scott Niederjohn, January 21, 2009

http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/20090121/SHE06/901210430/1109