Janet Kavinoky, Vice President of External Affairs and Corporate Communications at Vulcan Materials Company and an NSSGA member, has testified at the House Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.
In the America Builds: Highways to Move People and Freight hearing, Kavinoky emphasized the importance of a long-term, predictable funding plan for surface transportation infrastructure, as enabled by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).
She highlighted the industry’s key policy priorities, including the need for continued, predictable investment in surface transportation, a long-term solution to ensure highway trust fund viability, maintaining the Build America, Buy America Act (BABAA) exclusion for aggregates, support of core highway programs and the authority of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to administer Federal-aid highway programs.
Throughout her testimony, Kavinoky discussed that long-term funding for the Federal-aid Highway Program is essential for state and local governments and the construction industry to plan and maintain the nation’s infrastructure networks. Additionally, she urged Congress to create a sustainable revenue solution for the Highway Trust Fund, which all users would support to address the looming funding shortfall and avoid the uncertainty of annual appropriations.
“A long-term Federal-aid Highway Program authorisation, with reliable, predictable multi-year funding, is the foundation upon which state and local governments and their partners across the construction industry plan, design, engineer, construct, operate and maintain infrastructure year-over-year,” said Kavinoky.
Kavinoky was the only representative of the aggregates industry among the witnesses. She also spoke about the importance of the BABAA limitation that the industry secured.
“There are areas across the nation that lack the necessary natural resources needed to produce construction materials. For example, the Southeast and Gulf Coast do not have indigenous aggregate reserves, and suitable aggregates are imported to meet market demand,” said Kavinoky. “Congress and FHWA have long recognized these factors and responded to ensure domestic content requirements exclude aggregates materials. Preserving the BABAA limitation is critical to maintaining supplies of construction materials for our nation’s transportation infrastructure.”
She concluded her testimony by urging a return to a more focused surface transportation reauthorisation process rather than a comprehensive infrastructure package to ensure timely and effective legislation.
Through opportunities such as this hearing, NSSGA informs policymakers about the aggregates industry, building relationships that will ensure our industry’s long-term success. NSSGA members operate 9,500 quarries, employ over 100,000 people, and source more than 2.6 billion tons of aggregates each year to sustain our modern way of life and build our nation’s communities.
