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Federal Economic Stimulus Update

To understand and prepare our region to take advantage of whatever opportunity the federal economic stimulus legislation creates, the Tampa Bay Partnership has been monitoring this legislation, convening our regional leaders to discuss this issue and participating in state and federal conversations on this topic.  In January we issued a position statement on this topic. 

We still have a week or so before this legislation is final, as the House and the Senate will need to work out the differences of their versions.  However, as we all continue to follow this debate and watch for signs of economic relief coming to Tampa Bay, we wanted to share some themes that are starting to emerge in this debate and some great resources on this topic.  

Four things you should know today about the current legislation...

Realistic expectations
Although the total federal economic stimulus package is approaching the trillion dollar level, this does not mean that all of the wish lists will be filled.  In fact, once the dollars begin to be allocated to the state, region and county level, this number becomes extremely smaller.  For example, on the billions of dollars this bill is considering for transportation, Florida realistically may only get about $1 billion of that total which will be divided up by our seven FDOT districts.  We have tracked over $3 billion of transportation infrastructure requests from the counties that make up District 7, the local share of the state dollars will not likely come close to the request. 

Project prioritization
When economic stimulus was first discussed in late 2008, each municipality, institution and public agency that could qualify for these funds created a list of the projects based on need.  Now, as this legislation is shaping, it is clear that all of these entities need to revisit their lists and prioritize their needs as well as their projects that could realistically fit into the draft parameters of start time, completion time and federal compliance.  Currently, this legislation includes strict oversight language that will quickly re-capture funds that have not been spent within the timeline and redistribute them to other projects or states.

Maintenance of effort
The current legislation has amendments to prevent states from using stimulus funds to replace existing state dollars by requiring states to maintain their current level of funding, described as "maintenance of effort.”  If the state does not do this, the federal agency overseeing that money would be empowered to re-capture those funds and redistribute them elsewhere.  If this provision remains in the legislation, it will greatly impact the budget debate in Tallahassee since budget cuts would not only impact state programs but also the state's ability to draw down federal stimulus funding.

Federal compliance
In the current versions of the stimulus legislation, there are no provisions to waive any federal compliance regulations.  This means that projects still need to meet federal  standards, such as having an approved environmental impact statement before starting construction.  Since most federal processes take time and resources to receive approval, this may severely limit which projects can truly utilize the stimulus funds within the timeline the legislation ultimately requires.

Because this is such a fluid process, we would appreciate your thoughts and insights.  I invite you to contact me or Katie Franco at 813-872-2814, kfranco@tampabay.org.

Sincerely,

Stuart Rogel
srogel@tampabay.org