HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 5
56th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2023
INTRODUCED BY
Joy Garratt and Bill Tallman
A JOINT MEMORIAL
URGING THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO PASS H.R. 3339, THE NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE BANK ACT OF 2021, TO CREATE A NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE BANK TO FINANCE URGENTLY NEEDED INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS.
WHEREAS, the American society of civil engineers stated in its 2021 report card for America's infrastructure that the United States received a grade of C- regarding the current state of its infrastructure and that approximately five trillion dollars ($5,000,000,000,000) would be needed to restore the nation's infrastructure to a state of good repair; and
WHEREAS, China spends eight percent of its gross domestic product on infrastructure; Europe spends five percent; and the United States spends less than two percent; and
WHEREAS, the American society of civil engineers' 2021 infrastructure report card states that over thirty percent of New Mexico's roads are in poor condition, and each driver in the state spends more than seven hundred fifty dollars ($750) annually in costs due to driving on roads in need of repairs; five and five-tenths percent of the state's bridges are rated structurally deficient; and two hundred nineteen dams are rated as having high-hazard potential; and
WHEREAS, the cost to bring New Mexico's drinking water infrastructure to a state of good repair is approximately two billion four hundred million dollars ($2,400,000,000); and
WHEREAS, the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provides only three hundred fifty million dollars ($350,000,000) for New Mexico; and
WHEREAS, twenty-two percent of New Mexico's students lack internet service at home and twenty-eight percent do not have access to their own computers, and the situation is worse in tribal communities; and
WHEREAS, the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act does not provide funding for projects in New Mexico to replace aging pipelines, desalinate ground water or transfer water to the southwest of the United States from regions with a surplus; and
WHEREAS, the New Mexico renewable energy transmission authority has reported that New Mexico is rapidly approaching the point at which the state will lack the energy transmission capacity necessary to transport newly produced renewable energy, and there is no funding in the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to update and expand the electric grid; and
WHEREAS, a new national infrastructure bank would exchange existing United States department of the treasury debt for preferred stock in the bank and would require no new federal debt; and
WHEREAS, a new national infrastructure bank would pay interest of two percentage points above the United States department of the treasury yield to investors, with all transactions being federally insured, and the interest would be included in the United States budget and not go through appropriations; and
WHEREAS, a national infrastructure bank is modeled on previous banks, which have helped to build much of the United States' infrastructure, initiated by the first United States department of the treasury secretary Alexander Hamilton and continued under Presidents George Washington, James Madison, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt; the latter of whom used the national infrastructure bank to bring the United States out of the great depression and win World War II; and
WHEREAS, a new national infrastructure bank would perform as a traditional commercial bank and be able to provide financing in the form of long-term loans at United States department of the treasury rates for infrastructure projects only; and
WHEREAS, a new national infrastructure bank would loan five trillion dollars ($5,000,000,000,000) to states, cities, counties, authorities and multistate entities to address the infrastructure crisis of the nation; and
WHEREAS, a new national infrastructure bank would report all banking transactions to the United States congress on a regular basis; and
WHEREAS, United States representative Danny K. Davis introduced H.R. 3339, the National Infrastructure Bank Act of 2021, to create a new five-trillion-dollar ($5,000,000,000,000) national infrastructure bank authorized to invest in infrastructure projects only; and
WHEREAS, congresswomen Melanie Stansbury and Teresa Leger Fernandez formally signed on as co-sponsors of H.R. 3339; and
WHEREAS, a new national infrastructure bank would require no new federal spending and be capitalized by repurposing existing United States department of the treasury debt, as has been done previously in United States history; and
WHEREAS, a new national infrastructure bank could create twenty-five million new high-paying jobs, entitle project workers to be paid no less than locally prevailing wages and fringe benefits pursuant to the federal Davis-Bacon Act, ensure project labor agreements and include buy American provisions; and
WHEREAS, many city and county councils, labor unions and other organizations have issued endorsements, with twenty-one state legislatures having introduced or passed resolutions of support; and
WHEREAS, endorsements also include the national congress of Black women, the national association of counties, the Rio Arriba board of county commissioners, the United States high speed rail association, the national Latino farmers and ranchers trade association, the American sustainable business council, the national association of minority contractors, the national federation of federal employees and many more organizations;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the United States congress be urged to pass H.R. 3339, the National Infrastructure Bank Act of 2021, to create a national infrastructure bank to finance urgently needed infrastructure projects; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the New Mexico congressional delegation and to the members of the United States congress.
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