New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is calling on her peers to reauthorize the Northern Border Regional Commission, a federal partnership with Northeast states to promote economic development.
The Commission was created in 2008 has been reauthorized twice since, in 2014 and in 2018. Its authority is set to expire on September 30th unless it is again reauthorized. It provides grants for economic and community development projects in border regions of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
Senator Gillibrand, a Democrat, says federal economic policies had not met the unique needs of the northern border regions until the commission was created.
“The federal-state partnership provides funding for community development and economic projects and represents key economic development driver for communities across several northern states,” Gillibrand said. “In New York, the commission is authorized to provide support for projects in 28 counties and helps to fund everything from infrastructure and main street revitalization to workforce development. Since 2016 the NBRC has invested in over 70 projects totaling more than $36 million in investment in upstate New York. These are high impact projects that meet the unique needs of upstate communities.”
Speaking on a virtual press conference, Gillibrand adds the commission is limited by an outdated program authorization and limited funding.
“To address this I’m pushing to pass the bipartisan Northern Border Regional Commission Reauthorization Act,” said Gillibrand. “This legislation would reauthorize the commission and increase its capacity to meet the needs of distressed counties in upstate New York. It would give the commission new authorities to support rural housing projects, infrastructure resilience, and programs for the planning, construction and operation of health, nutrition and child care projects. And it would help make sure that the commission better coordinates with other federal agencies for a whole of government approach to economic development. Key provisions from this legislation were included in the bipartisan economic development reauthorization package that was passed out of the Environment and Public Works Committee recently.”
Northern Border Regional Commission Federal Co-Chair Chris Saunders says reauthorization is important for a number of reasons.
“It sets benchmarks for potential funding levels for the commission,” noted Saunders. “It makes a number of operational changes that allow the commission to operate in a more streamlined fashion. It offers some new policy area focus that Congress is interested in the commission working on. And a reauthorization would enshrine in statute funding limits, or upper funding potential limits, for the commission’s work for the coming years. We are looking forward to a reauthorization. I think it’s important to note that we don’t sunset so NBRC will not cease to exist without an authorization. But the authorization is really an important guiding document.”
The Economic Development Reauthorization Act of 2024 passed out of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on March 12th would reauthorize all regional commissions and makes technical changes to their functions. It also creates two new regional commissions for the Mid-Atlantic and Southern New England regions.
