ACECL April 2022 ENewsletter

April 29, 2022

2022 PLATINUM ANNUAL SPONSORS!

ACECL BOARD OF GOVERNORS

The ACECL Board of Governors will meet on May 6, 2022

ACECL’s Capitol Calculus

SB 483, Senator Cathey’s licensing reciprocity bill, was voluntarily deferred for the third time in Senate Commerce this week. Professional licensing boards like the medical examiners, nurse practitioners, CPAs, and of course the engineers and surveyors continue to cite major concerns with the legislation. After a contentious back and forth debate with a representative from the medical examiners, Senator Cathey said that he would defer his bill another week to work with the opposition. Although all proposed amendments have been declined up to this point, ACECL, LES and LAPELS are meeting with Senator Cathey next Monday to see if we can agree on an amendment that would remove LAPELS and other high impact licensing boards from the legislation.

I am going to hold off on another “call to action” on SB 483 until we meet with Senator Cathey next Monday. Following that meeting, I will send an update on the how ACECL plans to move forward assuming SB 483 will be heard in committee again next Wednesday. I do want to extend a big THANK YOU to our members for reaching out the Senate Commerce Committee expressing your opposition to SB 483. Committee member Senator Abraham mentioned during the hearing that he received a bunch of emails in opposition to the bill from engineers so I wanted to let you know that you are being heard.

With most of our attention turned to the professional licensing bills heard in committee this week, Representative Gadberry’s incidental practice of engineering bill, HB 305, was approved on the House Floor by a vote of 98-1. The bill is now pending Senate Commerce and should be heard within the next two weeks.

INFRASTRUCTURE NEWS

FEDERAL

Coalition Letter Sent to USDOT Urging Prioritized IIJA Implementation

ACEC developed a Coalition Letter with ARTBA and AGC to USDOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg urging him to prioritize projects that seek to ease supply chain problems in the recently announced availability of nearly $4 billion in discretionary funds authorized through IIJA.

This was a near-term action item generated from the meeting ACEC recently hosted with ARTBA, AGC, AIA and ASCE. The letter attracted broad support from many organizations, including the US Chamber, the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Trucking Association and many others. There will be additional action items going forward as we work with these partners and others, but this initial joint effort is particularly timely right now given the state of the economy.

DOT Temporary Waiver of New Buy America Rules on Construction Materials

As you know, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act includes new Buy America requirements on iron, steel, manufactured goods, and construction materials used in federally funded infrastructure projects. U.S. DOT is proposing a temporary public interest waiver for construction materials for a period of 180 days, beginning on May 14 when the new rules are required to go into effect.

According to the notice, during the time period of the proposed transitional waiver, "DOT expects states, industry, and other partners to begin the compliance process. DOT, using feedback from this proposed waiver and continued engagement through the waiver period, will work to ensure the creation of robust enforcement and compliance mechanisms. Suppliers and other stakeholders are encouraged to inform DOT of currently sufficient domestic availability of categories of construction materials to help DOT shorten the transitional waiver or narrow its applicability to rapidly encourage domestic sourcing."

The DOT notice includes references to the initial OMB implementation guidance on Buy America requirements and the definition of "construction materials" that are covered. It notes that the new rules will apply to materials used in transit capital improvement and expansion projects, and that the impact on highway projects could also be significant, including wood or timber elements in bridges, bridges with non-ferrous metal elements and polymer products, and glass for retro-reflectivity in pavement markings and in fiber optics involved in utility relocations, just as a few examples.

GAO Report on State DOT Contracting for Engineering Services

Last week, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on State DOT use and oversight of engineering consultants. The report was mandated in the FY'20 appropriations bill for USDOT, a provision that was inserted at the request of one of the public employee's unions. You may recall that ACEC pushed back against the initial version during the Appropriations Committee's consideration of the bill, which was heavily skewed toward unfair cost comparisons, and we were able to modify the language sufficiently to achieve a more balanced study.

Click here to access the report.

Overall GAO's report appears fairly benign, finding that State DOT use of engineering firms has grown in recent years and the use of outside consultants generally poses low risk to federal-aid projects. The report looked at cost comparisons of in-house staff versus the firms, noting differences in data and methodologies from union studies and ACEC's contracting out study performed by NYU in 2016. (Steve Hall and I were interviewed by GAO early in their study process and provided information and feedback on the report.) GAO doesn't appear to take a side on the cost question, but cited two State DOTs – Utah and California – which identified cost benefits in hiring outside firms. GAO noted that it is difficult to do an accurate comparison of costs, particularly when looking at agency overhead expenses, and noted that other more important factors from the State DOT perspective drive the decision to hire firms, including access to specialized expertise and flexibility in managing variations in workload, which is consistent with our own academic work on this subject. The updated date on State DOT contracting is very helpful.

ENR wrote an article about the report, including quotes from ACEC and AASHTO representatives noting the effective and essential partnership between the public and private sector in delivering transportation programs.

All in all, a good outcome for ACEC.

LUNCHEON INFORMATION

New Orleans Chapter Luncheon

Thursday, May 5, 2022

Metairie Country Club

Speakers:

Ghassan Korban, P.E.

Executive Director

Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans

Topic:

Updates on the Sewerage & Water Board

2022 DEEP SOUTH CONVENTION

Hotel Booking Link

ACEC/PAC SPRING SWEEPSTAKES

CLICK HERE FOR SPRING SWEEPSTAKES FILLABLE FORM

MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

May 3-4, 2022 - Emerging Leaders Institute, Session 1
May 5, 2022 - New Orleans Chapter Luncheon, Metairie Country Club
May 6, 2022 - ACECL Board of Governors
May 9-13, 2022 - AASHTO Annual Meeting, New Orleans
May 13, 2022 - HR Forum Monthly Meeting
May 18, 2022 - ACECL Transportation Committee Meeting
May 21-25, 2022 - ACEC Annual Convention & Legislative Meetings, Washington, DC

AFFILIATE SPOTLIGHT

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