Government and industry leaders from across Southern California, including Orange County, are urging Congress to beat a June 30 deadline to pass legislation ensuring that revenues are available to fund vital transportation infrastructure projects for our region. At jeopardy are 2.9 million jobs across the nation.
Among those at Thursday’s press conference was Lucy Dunn, President and CEO of the Orange County Business Council. Said Dunn: “Great leaders from business, government and labor are joining together with a unified voice to ask congress to please get the job done now. We need certainty in planning, infrastructure funding, reforms, and innovation that are important to a 21st century global economy with a state-of-the-art transportation system.”
In August 2005, President Bush signed the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), a bill that authorizes how surface transportation projects are funded. This legislation expired September 30, 2009. The bill has been renewed nine times, at the 2005 funding level, over the nearly three years.
The press conference, held at the Southern California Association of Government’s headquarters in Los Angeles, is available for viewing online at http://www.scag.ca.gov/scagtv
