Watters Campaigns for Sustainable Water Infrastructure Investment Act

Tim Watters, 2014 Chairman of the Associated Equipment Distributors (AED) and President of Hoffman Equipment, is working hard to educate people about the importance of infrastructure investment. Watters is doing everything he can to encourage elected officials to take action and address long term needs for infrastructure funding across the country.
One of these measures is the proposed Sustainable Water Infrastructure Investment Act.

The act would eliminate the volume cap on private activity bonds for water and sewage projects, which would be expected to increase private investments in the construction segment. It is anticipated that the passage of this act could generate as much as $6 billion in demand and could produce up to 1,000 jobs over the next 10 years.

“We are excited about this bi-partisan effort to address aging water infrastructure,” says Watters. “This bill will bring economic growth to the nation, create jobs in the construction industry and improve services around the country.”
The Sustainable Water Infrastructure Investment Act would bring small changes to the tax code in order to bring water infrastructure regulations in line with other infrastructure spending. An AED commissioned study shows that every dollar invested in water infrastructure generates $2.03 in tax savings over 20 years.

Another infrastructure crisis facing the country is the projected budget shortage of the Highway Trust Fund (HTF). The Congressional Budget Office originally projected the HTF would have ran out of money this summer, causing significant delays and work stoppages during the busy construction season. Congress recently passed a short-term package that would fund the HTF through next May, but a long-term solution is still needed.

At a recent press conference, organized by Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-California), Watters said the looming crisis threatens 4,000 jobs at construction equipment dealerships across the country and 700,000 jobs in the broader construction industry.

“Every morning hundreds of thousands of hard-working men and women in the construction industry get up, go to work and build America’s transportation infrastructure. If they didn’t do their jobs, this country would come to a grinding halt,” Watters said.

Watters says that Boxer is someone who is working to address the problem, but he encourages people across the country to get in touch with their representatives to demand action. Watters demanded of legislators, “Do what we sent you here to do. Legislate. Govern. Give us a highway bill. And give us the infrastructure the U.S. economy needs to function.”