LI jobs seen in construction legislation

Long Island's hard-hit construction industry has certainly reached a low point, but it could be on the mend with new legislation pending that would bring money and jobs to the region, state and federal lawmakers said Friday.

Most of official Long Island -- U.S. representatives, state and local officials and top business executives -- were on hand at the Fox Hollow Inn in Woodbury, where Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) talked about bills in Congress and the State Legislature aimed at funding construction projects.

Marc Herbst, executive director of the Long Island Contractors Association, which sponsored the meeting, said about 12,000 construction jobs have been lost on the Island in the last two years alone. Herbst said there has been little state or federal funding for construction projects since the national recession began in the fall of 2008. Herbst said, however, that Congress and the State Legislature have showed signs that lawmakers recognize the need for such funding.

Schumer said he is optimistic legislation will pass Congress this spring that will pay for public transit and highway projects and create jobs across the country. Transportation legislation passed a key hurdle in the Senate last week with bipartisan support. The House, loaded with legislators elected with tea party support, has balked at most federal spending plans. But House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) last week said he would take up the Senate's version of a transportation bill, a move Democrats viewed as a victory.

Schumer said he is urging the state to use some of the $65 million it would get from the legislation for needed repairs on the Long Island Expressway and Hempstead Turnpike, the subject of a recent Newsday series pointing out dangerous intersections.

"It looks for the first time in years that we should get a good, robust highway bill," Schumer said.

Skelos said state Republicans and the Democratic governor, Andrew M. Cuomo, worked together last year on an on-time budget and a tax cap. He predicted similar bipartisan action on transportation funding.