In 2008, a coalition of community members, faith leaders, workers, and labor leaders passed the nation’s first Construction Careers Policy. This policy approach aimed to increase workplace standards in publicly-funded construction projects and increase access to quality construction careers for communities struggling under the weight of poverty and chronic unemployment. The policy met these goals by coupling a Project Labor Agreement with a targeted hire program.
Six years and six victories later, the success of the Construction Careers Coalition represents a new way forward in public investment and accountability. This report will outline the successful Construction Careers approach, the groundbreaking victories of this partnership, and the benefits to workers, community members, and taxpayers.
In order for its economy to remain competitive, New Jersey needs a state-of-the-art transportation network and must be willing to make the investments this requires. With the funding needed to restore this essential but deteriorating lifeline about tapped out, policymakers must act with urgency to reverse a steady decline. After years of avoiding this problem – settling at best for temporary, inadequate measures – New Jersey needs bold action to fix its transportation system.
To maintain and improve the state’s roads, bridges and mass transit systems, as well as to begin projects critical to our future, New Jersey should increase funding for the state Transportation Trust Fund – which has stagnated for a decade – by 25 percent for the next 10 years, up to $20 billion over the decade from $16 billion. To do so, the most sensible option is to extend the state’s 7 percent sales tax to gasoline. Based on current gas prices of approximately $3.50 per gallon, the imposition of the sales tax would be the equivalent of a 24.5-cent-per-gallon increase.
This would not only help put the Transportation Trust Fund on solid footing, but it would also prevent the resources generated from the present gas tax from losing their purchasing power over time, jeopardizing the very transportation system the money is supposed to preserve.
Fixing New Jersey’s crumbling roads and bridges is vital to energizing the state’s lagging recovery from the Great Recession. Without a sound transportation system that allows businesses to cheaply and efficiently move their goods to market and eases the commute of working men and women, New Jersey’s economy will continue to trail its neighbors. Rather than contemplating a massive new tax cut, state policymakers should invest in this key to our state’s future.
We have a lot of ground to make up: The average commute in New Jersey is 20 percent longer than the national average. The American Society of Civil Engineers gives New Jersey a “D” for the quality of its roads and bridges. It estimates that the 66 percent of roads in “poor or mediocre” condition cost the average driver $601 in added repairs annually. Thirty-six percent of the state’s 6,554 bridges were categorized as “structurally deficient” (651 bridges, or 10 percent) or “functionally obsolete” (1,717 bridges, or 26 percent). And while New Jersey remains a vital connection for truck traffic between Washington and Boston, our interstate highways and local roads are straining under the load.
If New Jersey is to rebound from the ravages of the Great Recession, it must exploit its enormous advantages: its proximity to New York and Philadelphia; scores of pleasant and vibrant communities with convenient transit to the cities and excellent public schools; two globally recognized research universities; and a workforce with a higher proportion of scientists, engineers and researchers than any other state. Instead of advertising these powerful attractions, the state has in recent years cancelled a new rail tunnel to New York; attacked the quality of its own public schools; underfunded its colleges and universities; and failed to protect and maintain its investments in roads, bridges and public transit.
Utilities around the country are facing serious challenges, including an aging infrastructure and a need to transition to cleaner energy sources. These challenges are particularly evident at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), the nation’s largest municipally owned utility. The LADWP can begin to meet these challenges by adopting an innovative and ambitious energy efficiency policy with new programs that save customers money, reduce greenhouse gas pollution, and create good jobs. In doing so, the LADWP will take a significant step towards modeling a transition all utilities must make, from being entities concerned solely with the rapid acquisition and dispersal of natural resources to agencies proactively engaged with energy planning and management.