If ever there was a piece of legislation that we could all rally around, it would be something called the "West Virginia Buy America Act," right?
Well, not exactly.
Consider HB 4263, which has passed the House of Delegates and is currently being considered in the state Senate. The legislation requires that all construction materials used for any public building or public works project that uses state money come from the United States.
The bill dramatically expands on a law that has been in effect for years, requiring only that domestic steel, aluminum and glass be used in state projects.
Advocates for the bill, primarily the United Steel Workers union and labor-friendly House of Delegates members, believe that buying American–everything American for state projects–will be good for the economy and reward U.S. companies that abide by workplace safety and environmental laws.
On a philosophical level, the argument makes some sense. Buying American products keeps people in this country working, while lessening our dependence on imports. Plus, it just feels good to buy something from Indiana instead of India.
The problem here is the practical application.
The world, as Thomas Friedman famously wrote, is flat. The economy, no longer constrained by borders, technological limitations and restrictive trade laws, is global. And West Virginia is part of that global economy.
Last year, West Virginia exported a record $9 billion dollars worth of coal, plastics, machinery, medical supplies, automotive parts and aluminum. West Virginia can’t expect other counties to buy our products if we’re going to stop buying theirs.
Additionally, so many products are made outside the United States now that it would be difficult for any building or public works project to be totally American. For example, the New York Times reports that certain kinds of compact fluorescent light bulbs are made almost exclusively in China and Mexico.
The West Virginia Buy America Act does have a waiver provision allowing contractors to use foreign products if, for example, the American-made item is "unreasonable," if there is not enough of the material available.
But the contractor would have to file with the state for that wavier, providing detailed information on why the exemption should be granted.
This could be a significant bureaucratic mess: what criteria will be used to determine if the waiver should be granted? How long will it take to get a waiver? Will the criteria change when administrations change? Who in the state will have the expertise to determine whether the contractor should get a specific product from America or another country? What if the product made here is of inferior quality?
West Virginia contractors are understandably beside themselves over this bill. Their job is to bid on projects based on specifications and try to make a profit. It’s unfair and unrealistic to expect them to live by the provisions of the legislation, while keeping projects on time and on budget.
Perhaps there’s a compromise here. The contractors say the existing law requiring that a few fundamental construction materials come from this country has worked well. Maybe that can be slowly expanded to include more American-made goods, without triggering a trade war or generating a mess of red tape.