Council Applauds Gov. Newsom’s Unveiling of Bold New Infrastructure Package for California’s Future

As an expected $180 billion from the federal infrastructure and climate bills is poised to head to California, the state must seize this opportunity and ensure that those dollars don’t go to waste.

Luckily, Governor Gavin Newsom today (May 19) unveiled a package of legislation and an executive order with the goal of streamlining the approvals and environmental review processes for new infrastructure. It would also prohibit legal challenges against certain vital projects in the realm of water, transportation, clean energy, semiconductor, and microelectronics from lasting more than nine months. The administration believes the changes could shorten the construction timeline for some projects by more than three years in addition to saving hundreds of millions of dollars.  

“We applaud the Governor for putting this bold proposal forward and will strongly support the passage of these provisions,” said Jim Wunderman, President & CEO of the Bay Area Council. “This proposal is critical to helping meet California’s infrastructure needs for the future in water, transportation, clean energy and more. The package sets the stage for economic growth and vitality for decades to come in the Golden State.”

California also hopes to compete for additional grants from the federal government to complete green energy projects and showing the state can deliver on large projects is critical to being awarded funding. The Council hopes to see this package be approved by the Legislature and implemented as soon as possible.