Florida Senate - 2023                                    SM 1562
       
       
        
       By Senator Torres
       
       
       
       
       
       25-01700-23                                           20231562__
    1                           Senate Memorial                         
    2         A memorial to the Congress of the United States,
    3         urging Congress to pass H.R. 490, which creates a
    4         Federal Infrastructure Bank to finance urgently needed
    5         infrastructure projects.
    6  
    7         WHEREAS, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the
    8  United States a grade of C- in its America’s Infrastructure
    9  Report Card 2021 and reported that more than $4.5 trillion would
   10  be needed to restore the nation’s infrastructure to a state of
   11  good repair, yet less than half of that amount is currently
   12  funded and the remainder is inadequately funded, and
   13         WHEREAS, new 21st century projects are also unfunded, and
   14         WHEREAS, 13 percent of Florida’s roads are in poor
   15  condition, costing each Florida driver roughly $425 per year to
   16  drive in this state, and 15 percent of Florida’s bridges are at
   17  least 50 years old, with 2.9 percent of the state’s bridges
   18  rated as structurally deficient, and
   19         WHEREAS, Florida has serious water infrastructure problems,
   20  and the state’s drinking water needs are estimated to total
   21  $21.9 billion, wastewater needs are estimated to total $18.4
   22  billion, and stormwater management needs are estimated to total
   23  $1.1 billion, and
   24         WHEREAS, the National Low Income Housing Coalition reports
   25  a shortage of 384,743 affordable rental dwellings available for
   26  extremely low-income renters, and Florida International
   27  University in its report titled “Miami’s Housing Affordability
   28  Crisis” has documented that 6 in 10 employed adult residents of
   29  Greater Miami spend more than 30 percent of their income on
   30  housing, which is the highest rate of any large metropolitan
   31  area in the nation, and
   32         WHEREAS, on January 24, 2023, H.R. 490, otherwise known as
   33  the Federal Infrastructure Bank Act of 2023, was introduced in
   34  Congress, and the act would create a new infrastructure bank to
   35  invest in infrastructure projects, and
   36         WHEREAS, the Federal Infrastructure Bank Act of 2023 would
   37  provide equity investments, direct loans, indirect loans, and
   38  loan guarantees to eligible entities for the planning,
   39  predevelopment, design, construction, operations, or maintenance
   40  of revenue-producing infrastructure projects in this country,
   41  with sufficient revenue sources and guarantees to support the
   42  interest and principal payments of the bank, and
   43         WHEREAS, the Federal Infrastructure Bank Act of 2023 would
   44  help finance Florida’s infrastructure in partnership with the
   45  state, counties, and other local governments, and
   46         WHEREAS, the Federal Infrastructure Bank Act of 2023 would
   47  build infrastructure, create jobs in rural and urban
   48  communities, help end poverty, bring broadband connectivity into
   49  every corner of this state regardless of cost, fix all roads not
   50  covered by Congress, and finance new rail lines, including high
   51  speed rail, connecting Florida both north-south and east-west to
   52  the rest of the nation, and
   53         WHEREAS, the Federal Infrastructure Bank is modeled on
   54  previous banks that helped build much of this nation’s
   55  infrastructure under Presidents George Washington, James
   56  Madison, Abraham Lincoln, and, more recently, Franklin D.
   57  Roosevelt, who helped bring this country out of the Great
   58  Depression and win World War II, and
   59         WHEREAS, the Federal Infrastructure Bank Act of 2023 would
   60  enable people who lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic
   61  to be trained and hired for jobs to build this necessary
   62  infrastructure, NOW, THEREFORE,
   63  
   64  Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   65  
   66         That the Congress of the United States is urged to pass
   67  H.R. 490, the Federal Infrastructure Bank Act of 2023, to create
   68  a Federal Infrastructure Bank to finance urgently needed
   69  infrastructure projects.
   70         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State dispatch
   71  copies of this memorial to the President of the United States,
   72  to the President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of
   73  the United States House of Representatives, and to each member
   74  of the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.