The State of Hawaii is expected to receive $2.8 billion as part of the recently approved $1 trillion federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Hawaii’s congressional delegation voted in favor of the bipartisan measure.
"The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is historic and will improve Hawaii’s roads, bridges and access to broadband,” U.S. Rep. Kaiali'i Kahele (D-Hilo) wrote a Nov. 8 Facebook post. “I look forward to delivering on the president’s full agenda by adding the Build Back Better Act to these investments."
U.S. Rep. Ed Case (D-Kaneohe) said the bill would be a necessary investment in climate change and the social safety net.
“Late tonight I joined a majority of my U.S. House colleagues in voting for final passage of the historic $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan, our largest-ever investment in America’s roads and bridges, water infrastructure, climate resilience projects, internet access and much more,” Case said, according to Big Island Video News. “For our Hawaii, this means over $2 billion in federal investment in our own crumbling infrastructure and in the thousands of jobs and economic generation it will yield. We are on course to pass this equally historic bill out of the House and send it to the Senate the week of November 15th, subject to Congressional Budget Office confirmation of the measure’s revenues and expenses.”
Hawaii will use the funds to improve roads, bridges and water systems, with at least $339 million earmarked for fixing or replacing deficient or outdated bridges.
President Joe Biden (D) signed the bill into law on Nov. 15.
“It puts us on a path to win the economic competition of the 21st century that we face with China and other large countries and the rest of the world,” Biden said, according to Big Island Video News. Biden called the legislation a “once-in-a-generation investment that’s going to create millions of jobs modernizing our infrastructure.”