Welcome to 2022! The U.S. Congress and Arizona Legislature are back in session and we expect a lot of transportation activity in the upcoming year.

At the state, revenue collections continue to outpace forecasts and we expect very healthy revenue levels going into the setting of next year's state budget. In recent years, lawmakers have prioritized infrastructure with the use of one-time available funding. Through the efforts of the Greater Arizona transportation planning agencies, RTAC has prioritized $50 million worth of transportation projects from across Greater Arizona that we hope will be included in the state budget. HB2396, sponsored by Representative Tim Dunn from Yuma, is attached and lists the prioritized projects. I'm very confident that the Legislature will consider funding other projects as well as evidenced by the attached RTAC Transportation Bill Matrix.which provides an overview and status of all the transportation infrastructure-related bills. There are a couple more weeks to introduce bills so that list is sure to expand and an updated matrix will be provided weekly. We are hopeful that infrastructure investment will reach far beyond those projects included in our bill.

In Washington, the President signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), now also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), in mid-November. The Act will bring substantial increases in transportation funding to Arizona and provide other funding opportunities through new and expanded competitive grant programs. With the wide sweeping expansion of funding, reforms and new programs; implementation of the Act will be rolled out over the upcoming year. The RTAC updates will keep you updated as new guidance, rules, and funding opportunites are announced by the federal government and as ADOT develops their IIJA implementation actions.