Embracing IBEW Policy with EVITP Debut Legislation

With a public event at the Tuskegee Airmen Bus Depot in Manhattan featuring New York Local 3 members, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer announced new legislation on May 4 that targets $73 billion to electrify the nation’s mass transit bus fleet.

     "Today, there are approximately 70,000 mass transit buses and 85,000 cutaway vehicles and transit vans in America,” said a summary document released          by Schumer and his co-sponsor Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio. “Approximately 2% of those buses are zero-emission vehicles. The federal government can              and should be in the business of aiding transit agencies in shifting their bus fleets to zero emissions."

Passage of the legislation would mean a victory for air quality by making significant progress against the high-emissions transportation sector, high-road labor standards, as well as recognition for the EVITP program, a national charging network certification for electricians that the IBEW and President Biden have championed with lawmakers.