To require the Secretary of Labor to award grants for promoting industry or sector partnerships to encourage industry growth and competitiveness and to improve worker training, retention, and advancement as part of an infrastructure investment.
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
The BUILDS Act creates a competitive federal grant program to fund industry-sector partnerships that train workers for infrastructure jobs in energy, construction, IT, utilities, and transportation. It authorizes $500 million per year for five years starting in fiscal year 2026, with individual grants up to $2.5 million for new partnerships and $1.5 million for renewals.
Who Benefits and How
Construction, energy, transportation, and utilities companies benefit from access to a trained workforce pipeline. Workers, especially those with barriers to employment, gain access to apprenticeships, credentials, and career pathways. Workforce training providers and community colleges receive funding to deliver training programs.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Federal taxpayers fund the $500 million annual appropriation. The Department of Labor takes on new administrative responsibilities for managing the competitive grant program. Grant recipients must meet detailed application and reporting requirements.
Key Provisions
- Competitive grants of up to $2.5M (implementation) or $1.5M (renewal) for 3-year periods to industry-sector partnerships
- Partnerships must include businesses, labor organizations, education providers, and workforce boards
- Activities include apprenticeships, credentials, career counseling, and supportive services for workers with barriers to employment
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Authorizes $500 million per year for competitive grants to industry-sector partnerships that train workers for infrastructure industries including energy, construction, IT, utilities, and transportation.
Key Policy Areas
Workforce Development, Infrastructure, Education, Labor
Primary Purpose
Authorizes $500 million per year for competitive grants to industry-sector partnerships that train workers for infrastructure industries including energy, construction, IT, utilities, and transportation.
Policy Domains
BUILDS Act - Building U.S. Infrastructure by Leveraging Demands for Skills
Identified Gains
- Infrastructure industry employers
- Workers with barriers to employment
- Workforce training providers
- Labor unions
Identified Costs
- Federal taxpayers
- Department of Labor
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMs. Bonamici (for herself and Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania) introduced …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Grant applicant partnerships, Industry-sector partnerships in energy, construction, transportation, and utilities, Industry-sector partnerships in infrastructure
Positive-direction: Industry-sector partnerships in energy, construction, transportation, and utilities, Industry-sector partnerships in infrastructure, Infrastructure employers needing trained workers, Infrastructure workforce training partnerships
Negative-direction: Grant applicant partnerships
Apprenticeship program sponsors, Workforce development boards, Workforce training providers and community colleges
Labor organizations in infrastructure sectors, Workers with barriers to employment, Workers with barriers to employment (veterans, formerly incarcerated, recovery)
Department of Labor, Department of Labor (administration)
Positive-direction: Department of Labor (administration)
Negative-direction: Department of Labor
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Labor
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
The Secretary of Labor
A partnership that is an industry or sector partnership, or (for implementation grants) a partnership in the process of establishing one
An industry including transportation, energy, water, telecommunications, broadband, construction, and related industries
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology