Sponsors (2)
The bill expands Buy America coverage to yellow organic pigments—benefiting domestic pigment makers and clarifying procurement rules—while risking higher costs, supply-chain disruptions, and additional administrative burdens for governments and suppliers.
State and local governments can treat yellow organic pigments used in road, highway, and airport surface-marking paint as domestic construction materials, making it easier for infrastructure projects to meet Build America, Buy America requirements.
U.S. manufacturers that produce yellow organic pigments entirely domestically gain a procurement advantage on federally funded infrastructure contracts that require domestic materials.
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) must update Made in America guidance within 90 days, giving procurement officers and suppliers faster clarity about compliance and reducing uncertainty.
Taxpayers, state and local governments may face higher material and project costs if domestically sourced yellow pigments are more expensive or scarce compared with alternatives.
Small manufacturers and construction suppliers that rely on foreign intermediate inputs or overseas chemical synthesis risk exclusion from qualifying procurement, disrupting supply chains and causing procurement delays.
Producers of non-water-based formulas and purchasers will face extended compliance costs and administrative burdens because the two-year phase-in requires origin verification and adjustment.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Designates yellow organic pigments in road, highway, and airport surface-marking paints as Buy America construction materials, requiring U.S. production and phased implementation.
Introduced February 10, 2026 by Elissa Slotkin · Last progress February 10, 2026
Classifies certain yellow organic pigments used in paints for road, highway, and airport surface markings as "construction materials" under Buy America rules, so they must be produced in the United States. Immediately on enactment the rule applies to yellow organic pigments used in water-based paints for these markings; two years later it expands to cover yellow organic pigments in all paint formulas for such surface markings. The law also defines "produced in the United States" for these pigments to mean that every manufacturing step through the chemical reaction that makes the synthesized pigment occurs in the U.S., and it directs the OMB Director to update related guidance within 90 days.