By Emily Gartenberg
In the 1980s, the Reagan Administration created a set of guidelines, called the Uniform Guidance, which dictate how local and state governments can use federal grant funding. Under this guidance, cities and states are deterred from putting policies in place that create family-sustaining jobs for working people like targeted hiring, setting incentives or requirements for good wages and benefits, or workforce development programs.
These guidelines are major roadblocks in local and state governments’ ability to implement policies that support their communities. But in California and nationally, the tides are turning.
In February, the California Legislature took a stand–led by Sen. Maria Elena Durazo–in urging the federal government to update these restrictive guidelines by passing Senate Joint Resolution 5. By passing this resolution, California’s state leaders are calling for much-needed flexibility in how the state can spend federal funds to best support local residents.
This resolution comes at a critical time in a long-standing national campaign to modernize the Uniform Guidance. After years of advocacy from members of the Local Opportunities Coalition, including Jobs to Move America, and state leaders like the California Legislature, the federal office that oversees the Uniform Guidance has proposed major improvements to the guidelines. It will be unveiling the updated guidance at an event this Thursday, and we anticipate many of the changes we have advocated for will be included.
These changes encourage cities and states to take job quality, racial equity, and community benefits into account when using federal funds. The updates include provisions that allow recipients to incentivize the creation of quality jobs in their contracts, promote greater racial and gender equity in spending, and remove the ban on geographic preferences (which had prevented states and cities from requiring local hire and sourcing).
But the work doesn’t stop here. Once the proposed changes are finalized, it’s up to California’s leaders to embed these tools across the state’s work for all federal and state-funded projects.
Last week, we asked state leaders to do just that. Along with a coalition of community, environmental and labor groups, we took over the public comment portion of the California Workforce Development Board’s meeting to demand the state attach strong labor standards to the billions the state stands to receive from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), and CHIPS and Science Act.
This is a pivotal time for action: without strong conditions on federal funding, this huge raft of money will go to creating low-quality jobs for workers. We’re basically letting money slip through our fingers.
We must seize this opportunity to ensure this historic federal investment uplifts workers and their communities.