Jobs to Move America is fighting alongside the NY Renews coalition to pass the Climate and Community Investment Act (CCIA), which would invest $15 billion in new green infrastructure — from electric buses and charging systems for our transit systems to solar panels and wind turbines.
The CCIA would raise $15 billion from a fee on polluters. Under the bill, a newly-created authority would spend that money to build a renewable economy through large-scale green infrastructure projects, community resiliency, and energy bill rebates for low-income consumers. The bill also works to ensure a just transition for fossil fuel workers and their communities.
The CCIA makes sure that every single public dollar our state and local governments spend on new clean infrastructure supports the creation of good, family-sustaining jobs — all by changing the way New York does business.
When the new authority invests in new climate infrastructure, it will use JMA’s policy tools: the Local Employment Plan and the U.S. Employment Plan. These tools build good job creation and equity into the public purchasing process. The USEP requires manufacturers and companies bidding for public contracts to build or supply our infrastructure will submit information about a range of factors, including:
- How many good jobs paying high, family-sustaining wages the investment will create in New York State and,
- their plan for hiring workers who face barriers to employment, including people in frontline communities, people returning from incarceration, veterans, women, and people of color.
The CCIA builds accountability and transparency into the process by making sure that the commitments bidders make are contractually enforceable. The bill also includes other strong labor requirements, like prevailing wage and apprenticeship programs.
The result? The 150,000 jobs created by the CCIA will be good jobs, with good wages, that help communities thrive. By using our policy tools, the CCIA will create and sustain over 150,000 good, green jobs over the first decade in communities that need them most.