Michigan pigment maker could benefit from highway bill provision

WASHINGTON - A Michigan manufacturer stands to become the U.S. government's preferred supplier of yellow pigment used in road and highway markings across the country if a provision in the House's sweeping surface transportation reauthorization bill becomes law.

Section 1328 - on Page 270 of the 1,005-page text released Sunday - would require the transportation secretary to study the "feasibility" of including yellow paint, as well as the pigment that goes into making water-based paint, among the construction materials subject to Buy America requirements enacted in the 2021 infrastructure law.

If the secretary determines there's enough domestic capacity to meet the needs of all road and highway surface markings in the U.S., the secretary "shall" recommend that the White House budget director should update the Buy America law's guidance to include yellow paint and pigments.

The provision, based on bipartisan legislation introduced by members of the Michigan delegation, would mean a windfall for Muskegon pigment manufacturer Sun Chemical, currently the sole domestic manufacturer of the yellow pigment for roads and other U.S. surfaces.

Sun Chemical makes about 4% of the yellow pigment used in U.S. road markings, with the rest imported from countries like China and India, the company and its supporters say. Adding their product to the list of items covered under Buy America rules would shift that market share dramatically.

House Transportation and Infrastructure members Hillary Scholten, D-Mich., and Tom Barrett, R-Mich., introduced the stand-alone bill last year as surface transportation reauthorization talks were just getting underway.

"If we are serious about rebuilding America's infrastructure, we need to start with rebuilding American manufacturing," Barrett said in a statement at the time. "This common-sense bill ensures that taxpayer dollars are reinvested in American jobs and not sent overseas."

Their bill would have bypassed any Transportation Department study and moved straight to including "yellow organic pigments" in the Buy America definition of construction materials, while adding airport surface markings to the requirement as well as roads and highways.

Barrett, a freshman who won a tight race to succeed now-Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., in the 7th Congressional District, is a top Democratic target in November. Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates Barrett's race a Toss-up.

Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., who leads the House select China committee, later signed on to the bill, as did Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., who is running for the open Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich.

"We have a bill going through Congress ... that would say when America paints its roads with yellow paint, the pigment needs to be made in America," Sun Chemical legislative affairs specialist Erick Couch told a local outlet, WZZM-TV, earlier this year.

Slotkin introduced a similar version in the Senate earlier this year, with backing from Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, who said the legislation could aid Ohio manufacturers. Sun Chemical has an office in Cincinnati. Husted is facing off against former Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, in November.

The yellow-paint effort has its critics, including the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, a nonprofit that advocates for free-market policies. The group highlighted the highway bill provision in a blog post Monday.

"Unfortunately, not even the paint used on roads is safe from the rampant cronyism and protectionism seen across the federal government," they wrote.

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