Dive Brief:
- The Kansas Contractors Association said state legislators have reduced the road and bridge budget to such a degree that Kansas construction workers are losing their jobs, according to the Kansas City Star.
- Association officials said that $2.1 billion of state infrastructure funds has been diverted elsewhere over the last six years and cited an Associated General Contractors of America report that found Kansas lost the highest percentage of jobs in the nation in January.
- According to the Kansas City Star, Gov. Sam Brownback has signed next year’s state budget, which will cut another $25 million from the state’s transportation account, but the KCA said that state officials will likely strip another $50 million away from roads and highway in the next month.
Dive Insight:
Kansas Contractors Association officials acknowledged that part of Kansas' jobs problem is the fact that it is an oil and gas producing state, hard hit by a softening oil and energy market. North Dakota, Wyoming and Alaska have also lost jobs in that sector’s downturn.
"Yes, we can associate Kansas' drop in employment with oil and gas industry struggles, but we all know there is more to it, at least in our state," KCA Vice President Bob Totten told The Kansas City Star. "We just don’t have as much work here in Kansas, so people have had to lay workers off. Some of our members have worked in Arkansas or Nebraska or Oklahoma because the market for construction is better in those states."
In contrast, other states are aggressively pursuing road and bridge projects and spending billions of dollars in the process. The Indiana Legislature recently approved a $1 billion four-year infrastructure spend for the state with at least $50 million designated for counties with less than 50,000 people. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal also announced a 10-year infrastructure plan estimated at $10 billion.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed what is likely the most ambitious infrastructure plan, at an estimated $100 billion. Cuomo said his strategy of a statewide infrastructure overhaul will create more than 250,000 jobs and address projects as diverse as upstate highways and Manhattan’s Pennsylvania Station.