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With the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (“IIJA”), America is preparing for a flood of infrastructure spending not seen since the New Deal. Indeed, the IIJA allocates funding to over 350 distinct programs across more than a dozen federal departments and agencies. Attention now turns to the federal agencies, and state and local officials who are responsible for implementing these new programs. To that end, the Biden administration recently released A Guidebook to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Governments, and Other Partners to assist state, local, and tribal leaders to “know what to apply for, who to contact, and how to get ready to rebuild.”
Notably this is only the first version of this guidance and interested parties should continue to monitor the guidance in the coming weeks to stay up to date on the latest deadlines and details. In addition, the Biden administration released an accompanying data file on Build.gov that allows users to quickly sort programs funded under the law by fields like agency, amount, eligible recipient, or program name.
Continue reading “New White House Guidance Details Infrastructure Spending Priorities “
While the introduction of state legislation that would require drug manufacturers to disclose pricing and other information did not slow down in 2018, the number of bills that were made law did slow down. During 2018, 22 state legislatures considered bills seeking to require drug manufacturers to disclose pricing information; however, most of the legislation failed.
Buy American and hire American. The concept is easy, but the implementation can be far more complicated, particularly in the current government contracting world where waivers to those requirements have become common. In an attempt to strengthen the commitment to buying American and hiring American, on January 26, 2018, a bipartisan group of ten Senators sent a 
Hurricane Harvey’s damage to Texas and other areas is virtually unprecedented and is already estimated to be in the tens of billions of dollars. And Hurricane Irma, hurtling towards Florida, could likewise cause catastrophic damage. Though every disaster presents unique recovery challenges, a common theme in disaster relief efforts is the key role of the Federal Emergency Management Administration (“FEMA”) and a federal law known as the Stafford Act. Contractors eager to assist with relief and rebuilding efforts should pay close attention to the legal landscape underpinning the public funding behind disaster relief efforts, particularly given the scrutiny these efforts will receive in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.