ARPA funding: What are the opportunities for ports?
The State of WA received about $4.2 billion from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) that was passed by Congress and signed into law in early March. Before the WA Legislature adjourned, they made several decisions about this money:
· They appropriated $2 billion of it in the general fund Operating Budget.
· They appropriated $1 billion in the Transportation Budget.
· They appropriated $400 million in the Capital Budget.
· The final $800 million is not yet appropriated, but it is contained within the Operating Budget, to be appropriated later.
Where can ports can access some of these funds? Where are the opportunities? It is a bit complicated, but here is what we know:
OPERATING
Of the $2 billion, $1 billion went into a new account (called WA Rescue Plan Transition Account) that can be accessed by the Legislature later. (They describe this money as supplemental to their rainy-day fund just in case emergencies arise during the coming year, such as a stronger than expected wildfire season.)
The remaining $1 billion in the Operating Budget went mainly to social programs unrelated to port activity, such as rental assistance, unemployment insurance relief, public health relating to COVID, childcare initiatives, and schools. Also, a significant amount went to programs in the Department of Commerce, which is referenced under the list of opportunities for ports.
TRANSPORTATION
The $1B in funding directed to the Transportation Budget has two main purposes: 1) to backfill gas tax and other revenue shortfalls (example: toll collections are used to pay for bonds, but through the pandemic there has been a shortfall of that revenue stream. And, obviously, gas tax revenues have been far under projections due to the number of people working from home and driving less. So, part of this infusion has been to backfill that revenue shortage.
2) Funds were directed to advance fish passage barrier removal projects ($400M). Fish passage barrier removal is a multi-billion obligation in our state. However, early guidance from US Treasury suggests that fish passage barriers will NOT be an eligible use of the funds. Therefore, this fund may be a possible opportunity for ports.
CAPITAL
The Legislature passed a $6.3 billion capital construction budget, which the Senate majority describes as “the largest and most aggressive Capital Construction Budget in state history”. Of that, the Capital Budget received $589 million total in federal stimulus funding: $400 million from ARPA directed to investments in water, sewer and broadband infrastructure and $189 million from another source of federal money directed toward “critical” capital projects. Ports did well in this budget. We are working to understand where there are unspent funds that may be appropriated in a Supplemental Budget in January, since not all funds were allocated.
Ports’ Top Five ARPA Opportunities List
1) Broadband
The Capital Budget appropriated $411 million total for Broadband:
· The lion’s share ($326M) went to the WA State Broadband Office for grants
· $60 million to the Public Works Trust Fund for loans and grants, which ports can compete for.
· $25 million was directed to CERB for rural and underserved communities, which ports can also compete for.
These three agencies are working on a memorandum of understanding, so there is state coordination of how the broadband funds are spent. This is a significant opportunity for ports interested in coordinating broadband projects.
2) Cities and Counties received significant funds from ARPA.
About $400 million is being distributed to “non-entitlement cities” – smaller cities and towns. Ports should be talking to their cities and towns about ways to partner on community projects. Your project may be a good fit for some of this money, but you must talk to them to find out. (Guidelines are being drafted to help frame the spending of this money.
3) Port Infrastructure List
WPPA conducted a survey of port projects that could start over the next 12 to 24 months, and we collected a secondary list of potential broadband projects. We know that some projects on this list were funded through the budget process, but many were not.
Now is the time to talk to your legislators about your projects on that list. When the supplemental budget process begins, you want your local legislators to advocate for your project!
The WPPA work continues this list of projects. We are starting another round of meetings with legislators to learn their thinking on how they might want to proceed with unspent funds. Our goal is to put ports in line for appropriation of the unspent funds when they return in January.
4) Department of Commerce programs
The Department of Commerce received a lot of new funding for their many programs. There will be opportunities for ports to engage in several initiatives, such as the small business resiliency effort, the Cluster Acceleration Program, and in the manufacturing economy sector. The Department has a lot of work to do to get their new and expanded initiatives off the ground. Because what they do matters to us, we are working with Chris Green, the Assistant Director at Commerce and their Director’s office to schedule another Tuesday Roundtable. At that time, they will describe what they are working on that would be of interest to ports. They have a lot to say so watch for that Roundtable announcement.
5) Special Session Opportunity
Since the Legislature did not pass a transportation package in the 2021 session, there is an outside chance the Legislature comes back to Olympia for a special session before next January to deal with this. It is highly unusual for the Legislature to return a few months before the next session – they have only come back in the Fall once or twice in the past 25 years. However, the possibility is always there. If they were to return, it would be a great opportunity to talk about unspent funds and the WPPA advocacy team will be prepared to work.
Stay tuned for more information as we continue our meetings with legislators and learn more about opportunities for ports.