Several California highway projects could be delayed indefinitely after President Donald Trump last week signed an executive order — titled “Unleashing American Energy” — aimed at rolling back pair President Joe Biden-era infrastructure laws, which Trump has termed the “Green New Deal.”

“In recent years, burdensome and ideologically motivated regulations have impeded the development of (energy and natural resources), limited the generation of reliable and affordable electricity, reduced job creation, and inflicted high energy costs upon our citizens,” Trump’s executive order read in part.

The order comes as part of a broader push by the Trump administration to pause federal spending until many Biden-era changes can be undone.

While Trump’s intention was, among other things, to kill California’s electric vehicle mandate, it had the added affect of prompting the Federal Highway Administration to shut down the computer system where states can enter into highway project agreements and seek reimbursement for existing projects.

“This effectively shuts down the $61 billion per year agency, temporarily and until further notice,” wrote Jeff Davis of the Independent, in an article for the nonpartisan think tank Eno Center for Transportation.

While Trump’s Office of Management and Budget has since issued an addendum clarifying that the directive only applies to federal funds appropriated by the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), that still leaves several California highway projects in limbo, and has both state and federal lawmakers concerned.

Rep. John Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove, told The Bee in a statement that “for all of Donald Trump’s talk of making our government more efficient, the administration’s confusing executive order is proof that the current White House fails to execute even the most basic acts of governing.”

Garamendi said that nearly every infrastructure project in the Bay Area is at risk of coming to a halt, that federal funding is critical for maintaining highways including I-80, SR-37 and SR-4. The congressman is a senior member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which studies and writes legislation on such policies.

“This mess is exactly what the next four years will be like under Trump — confusion, inefficiency, and a lack of results delivered to the American people,” he said.

Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Roseville, told The Bee in an email statement that he has secured more than $20 million in funding for 10 projects to improve roads and reduce pollution in the Sacramento region.

“My office is in constant touch with local and state officials to advocate for local interests and concerns. I’m excited for the coming year because we’ll have a major opportunity with the reauthorization of the Surface Transportation Act to build on this progress and deliver even more results for local drivers,” Kiley said. He’s also a member of the House transportation committee.

Are infrastructure projects in trouble?

At the state level, Sen. Dave Cortese, D-San Jose, who chairs the state Senate Transportation Committee, warned that many state projects risk running afoul of Trump’s order.

“That’s going to be difficult for us in terms of infrastructure,” he said.

Cortese pointed out that the Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom have worked together to pass infrastructure packages in the last couple sessions, packages heavily reliant on matching federal funds.

“As those federal contributions go away, it really leaves us holding the bag,” he said.

Cortese added that “Ultimately, it’s going to mean making do with less.”

In an email to The Bee, the Eno Center’s Davis wrote that the IIJA provided $351 billion to the Federal Highway Administration over five years. Out of that, existing case law explicitly bars $273 billion, or 78%, of that money from being withheld.

Of the rest, $27.5 billion was for the bridge formula program and $5 billion was for the EV charging formula program, Davis wrote, adding that while Trump may try to hold up the EV charging money, that likely would be blocked by the courts.

A formula program is a category of non-competitive grants whose awards are determined by a formula set by Congress.

“However, if the president wants to drag his feet on competitive grant programs (where DOT selects individual projects itself based on applications), there isn’t much to stop him from doing so,” Davis wrote.

He added that the federal Department of Transportation is unlikely to grant any awards to environmental-leaning programs “for a long time,” and that any Biden-era grants that failed to make it to a signed agreement by noon on Jan. 20 are likely in trouble as well.

“Without a signed grant agreement, all you have is a press release, and those are not enforceable in court,” Davis wrote.

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