NRMCA Priorities Included in Bipartisan Budget Act

Last week, the House and Senate agreed to and passed a two-year bipartisan budget deal. This bill, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, included one of NRMCA’s lobbying priorities – a game-changing federal cost share reform increase to incentivize states to invest in resiliency. The provision provides $90 billion for post-disaster assistance, including a provision to increase the portion of post-disaster costs that the federal government will cover, but only if the state has made investments in resiliency.

These investments include policies for which NRMCA has aggressively advocated, including formulation of a mitigation plan, encouraging the adoption and enforcement of the latest building codes, and tax incentives for reducing risk. NRMCA has led the ready mixed concrete industry in establishing a federal definition of resilient construction, and that definition has been applied in multiple federal agencies and departments, including the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Commerce, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

 In particular, NRMCA has been leading the fight to pass legislation establishing a tax credit for post-disaster construction that meets a high standard of resiliency. This legislation encourages the use of similar tax credits by states and localities. All told, the strings attached to this additional federal money will promote resilient construction and the increased use of concrete in federal, state and local projects. In addition, the bill included $12 billion to HUD for pre-disaster mitigation.

Everything that was included in this bill will provide additional windows of opportunity for NRMCA to build upon and continue to prioritize use of resilient construction in federal projects.

For more information, contact Andrew Tyrrell at atyrrell@nrmca.org.