For the Week Ending September 29, 2000
This weekly report is written by the American Society of Civil Engineers? Government Relations staff. If you have questions or comments about any items in this report, please contact Brian Pallasch, Michael Charles, Martin Hight, Austin Fulk, or Liz Hermsen by e-mail or at 202/789-2200.
Inside This Week:
1. FREE BREAKFAST IN SEATTLE
Will you be attending the 2000 Civil Engineering Conference and Exposition in Seattle? On Thursday, October 19 from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., members of ASCE?s Key Contact Program are invited to learn more about the accomplishments of the 106th Congress and how to make the most of the Key Contact Program. Representative Norm Dicks (D-WA) has been invited to be the keynote speaker. Representative Dicks is the Ranking Minority Member of the House Appropriations Interior subcommittee and also sits on the Military Construction and Defense subcommittees.
ASCE?s Key Contact Program provides members with the opportunity to help shape public policy in areas that affect the civil engineering profession. This breakfast is offered free of charge to Key Contact Program members by the ASCE Government Relations Department. Advance registration is required. Please contact Liz Hermsen, ASCE Manager of Grassroots Programs at (202) 789-2200 or lhermsen@asce.org to reserve your seat or to learn more about the Key Contact Program.
2. SMALL WATERSHED DAMS REHABILITATION BILL HELD UP
Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) is currently holding up a bill that would authorize a program to help small watershed dam rehabilitation or decommissioning, as appropriate. H.R. 728, ?The Small Watershed Rehabilitation Amendments of 2000,? would address necessary rehabilitation or decommissioning of the nation?s 10,452 small watershed dams.
However, Senator Harkin is proposing an amendment to H.R. 728 that would make a decommissioning study mandatory for every dam rehabilitation request. This is an unnecessary amendment that will significantly increase the cost of rehabilitating these aging dams. H.R. 728 already addresses the issue of decommissioning by listing it as a possible "rehabilitation method." Proponents of H.R. 728, including ASCE, strongly support decommissioning as an option, if appropriate, but the requirement for a study will merely bog down the process.
H.R. 728 would provide up to 65 percent of total costs to local organizations for the rehabilitation of structural measures of certain small watershed dams or decommissioning of the dams if the sponsoring organizations requested it. By the year 2020, more than 85 percent of all dams in the United States will be more than 50 years old, the typical useful life span. Some dams were originally constructed in rural areas but have since had homes and businesses built downstream from them. Consequently, these dams need to be rebuilt, rehabilitated, or properly decommissioned to meet current dam safety standards, which are much more stringent since loss of life and property are possible if the dams should suddenly fail.
If you are concerned about this bill, please call, fax, or e-mail your Senator today. Tell her/him to ask Senator Harkin to withdraw his amendment and support passage of H.R. 728, ?The Small Watershed Rehabilitation Amendments of 2000.? Information about who your Senator is and how to contact her/him can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.senate.gov. You may also call the main U.S. Capitol switchboard at 202/224-3121 and ask to be connected to your Senator?s office. If the Senator is not available, ask to speak to the staff person who handles agriculture issues. If you send e-mail, please be sure to include your full postal address and contact information so that the offices will know where to send a response and, most importantly, identify you as a constituent. Most offices currently will not respond by e-mail but, if you include your address, will respond by postal mail. Please be sure to send us a copy of your correspondence or let us know if you made a phone call. ASCE?s Government Relations Department e-mail address is govwash@asce.org, fax number is 202/289-6797, and phone number is (202) 789-2200.
3. HOUSE CLEARS ENERGY, WATER FUNDING BILL
On September 28, the House of Representatives passed, by a 301-118 margin, a $23.6 billion bill to fund energy and water projects in Fiscal Year 2001. Republicans and some Democrats criticized the House Appropriations Committee for allegedly giving in to the President's budget request while failing to achieve the fiscal discipline outlined in this year's budget resolution.
Earlier in the week, conferees from the House and Senate added about $1.8 billion to the House-approved $21.7 billion spending bill. This year's numbers would exceed the current appropriation for energy and water projects by $2.4 billion, a spending level $890 million beyond the President's request for 2001.
Meanwhile, President Clinton has said he will veto the energy and water funding bill if Congress keeps an amendment that would prohibit the Corps of Engineers from allowing the Missouri River to increase its flow and possibly flood next spring.
4. INTERIOR AND TRANSPORTATION SPENDING BILLS ARE PRECARIOUS
Negotiations between House and Senate appropriators and the White House on the Fiscal Year 2001 Interior appropriations bill remained stalled on September 28 after talks on administration-opposed policy riders and public lands language failed to yield resolution. Conferees were close to an agreement on devoting a six-year fund to land conservation and maintenance but a special request from coastal state Senators for increased coastal assistance funding may have temporarily upset the efforts. Besides the difficult dispute over which programs could be funded by the land conservation fund, from which $1.6 billion is available for FY 2001, and at what levels, several other policy issues continue to divide the conferees.
Nonetheless, lawmakers reached a tentative agreement on September 28 on issues that had stalled the Fiscal Year 2001 Transportation appropriations legislation. One sticking point had been a provision that would penalize states that do not adopt a drunk driving standard of .08 percent blood alcohol content (BAC). The Senate-passed version of the bill contained the provision while the House version did not. Under the agreement reached by House and Senate conferees, states would have two years to adopt the new .08 percent BAC standard or face losing a portion of their highway funds. States that do not comply would lose two percent of their funds in the third year, four percent in the fourth year, six percent in the fifth year, and eight percent in the sixth. Thirty-three states have a .10 percent BAC standard; seventeen states and the District of Columbia have already adopted the .08 percent BAC standard.
5. SENATE SETS VOTE ON H-1B VISAS
On October 3, the Senate is expected to overwhelmingly approve S. 2045. The bill is the final version of legislation to raise the caps on H-1B visas, temporary work visas for high-tech workers. The bill would raise the annual cap from the current 115,000 (which was raised in June) to 195,000. Senate Democrats appear ready to give up their efforts to include broader immigration language in the bill to avoid offending high tech industry. ASCE opposes the increase. To view ASCE?s policy statement, go to the web site.
6. HOUSE KILLS BILL TO EASE SUPERFUND LIABILITY FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
On September 26, House Democrats narrowly managed to kill a bill that would have provided certain small businesses relief from Superfund liability. The bill, H.R. 5175 -- introduced earlier in September by Rep. Michael Oxley (R-Ohio), chairman of the Commerce Finance and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee, and Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), chairman of the Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee -- would have exempted small businesses that dumped trash at Superfund sites from cleanup costs when they contributed only a small amount of hazardous waste to a particular site.
The bill was considered under a special House procedure known as "suspension of the rules," a process that limits debate and requires a two-thirds majority of members voting for passage. The final vote was 34 votes short of passage: 253-161, with 46 Democrats voting for the bill and three Republicans voting against it. Twenty members, including 12 Republicans, did not vote.
Democrats and environmental groups criticized the bill, arguing that it would provide relief for large corporations with small subsidiaries. They also said the bill, which bypassed the standard hearing and committee review process, should have followed normal congressional procedure to allow all sides to debate the merits of the liability plan.
7. PENSION REFORM REMAINS UNCERTAIN
Passage of the Retirement Security and Savings Act of 2000, H.R. 1102, remains uncertain as efforts to win Senate passage face a crowded floor schedule in the final days of the session. The bill passed the House of Representatives on July 19 with an overwhelming majority.
The legislation would increase the annual contribution limit to deductible Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) from the current $2,000 to $5,000; increase contribution, benefit and deduction limits to defined contribution plans, including 401(k), 403(b), Section 457, salary deduction SEP and SIMPLE plans; allow $5,000 ?catch up? contribution to 401(k) type plans and IRAs for workers age 50 and above; reduce defined contribution vesting requirements for employer matching contributions from five to three years; improve pension portability by facilitating the transfer of earned benefits among and between defined contribution plans and IRAs; simplify complex minimum, non-discrimination and top-heavy rules; and mandate additional disclosure of plan amendments that will result in significant reductions in benefits.
8. SENATE PASSES FEDERAL RESEARCH INVESTMENT ACT
On Friday, September 22, the Senate passed S. 2046, the ?Federal Research Investment Act? by unanimous consent. The bill, sponsored by Senator Bill Frist (R-TN), is similar to the so-called doubling bills (S. 296/H.R. 3161) long supported by the engineering and science community. S. 2064 calls for sustained increases in funding of civilian research and development (R&D) administered by 16 agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and National Institute of Standards and Technology. It authorizes civilian R&D spending to gradually increase as a percentage of federal discretionary spending over the next five years to put the nation on course to spend 10 percent of discretionary funds on civilian research by 2011.
Unlike S. 296/H.R. 3161, the bill is based on a percentage of discretionary spending and not simple doubling over 10 years. Also unlike S. 296/H.R.3161, the bill only authorizes specific levels for the first five years through 2005. Fiscal Years 2006-2011 will be authorized based on budget projections for those years as they become available.
Similar to S. 296/H.R. 3161, the bill does not cap the funding of any specific agency, so would not prevent NIH or NSF funding from doubling in a shorter time period. It also does not authorize specific agencies or programs, so does not preclude congressional authorizers from exercising their important oversight and authorization roles after the bill is enacted. The bill also includes the reauthorization of the Next Generation Internet Act.
Prospects for final House approval are uncertain. House Science Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) has expressed concerns about the size and scope of the legislation. The engineering and science community in Washington, including ASCE, is working hard to achieve House approval.
9. SENATE APPROVES WATER RESOURCES BILL; HOUSE ACTION STALLED
The Senate on September 24 approved, with a vote of 85-1, the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2000 (S. 2796). The bill provides $1.4 billion for Corps of Engineers work on the Florida Everglades and $3.9 billion for other construction projects and feasibility studies.
WRDA's Everglades provisions authorize $1.4 billion for 10 full projects, four pilot projects and more planning. It culminates years of talks among state and federal officials, environmentalists, agriculture groups, Indian tribes and virtually everyone else affected by the Everglades. The restoration is expected to take nearly 40 years and cost nearly $8 billion. The state of Florida will pay half the cost of operating and maintaining the Everglades projects once they are completed. States typically pay one hundred percent of all O&M costs arising from WRDA projects.
Chances for passage of a WRDA bill in the House this year are extremely unlikely, however. The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee remains divided over whether to require states to make contractors hired with WRDA funds to pay prevailing union wages to their employees under the federal Davis-Bacon Act.
10. GLENN COMMISSION REPORT
The National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century has released its report outlining a $5 billion plan to improve math and science education. The Commission, lead by former Senator and astronaut John Glenn, released its report on September 27. The report can be found at http://www.ed.gov/americacounts/glenn/toc.html.
11. STATE LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
ASCE continues to provide updates on state legislation affecting civil engineers as state legislative sessions progress. For more information on the following bill(s), or any other state legislative matters, please contact Austin Fulk, ASCE?s Manager of State Government Relations, at (202) 789-2200 or via email at afulk@asce.org.
Ballot Initiatives in Massachusetts The Boston Society of Civil Engineers is actively opposing Question 6, which is appearing on the Massachusetts general election ballot. If passed, Question 6 would require the state to use tax credits to reimburse commuters 100 percent of their cost of tolls and automobile excise taxes paid annually. Not only would this initiative drain funds that could be used for transportation infrastructure building and maintenance, but it would force non-drivers to subsidize automobile drivers. Currently, vehicle excise fees and tolls act to fund road building and maintenance costs by acting as user fees, with those who use roads the most paying the most for them. Lowering the direct cost of driving by shifting its cost to the entire state's population would also likely increase traffic congestion and increase air pollution. BSCE is also opposing Question 4, which would cut the state's income tax, because of the potential negative effect on funds available for infrastructure spending.
Land Surveyors in California California's S.B. 1563 was recently signed by Governor Gray Davis and enacted into law. The measure requires the state's Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors to issue regulations increasing the educational and/or work experience needed for admission to the first division of the licensure examination. The requirements could be met through either two years of post-secondary education in land surveying, two years of experience in land surveying, or a combination of one year of each.
Design-Build in California A.B. 2296, dealing with design-build, was also recently enacted in California. The measure allows seven named counties to use design-build procurement for projects costing more than $10 million. For projects between $10 million and $20 million, projects must be awarded to the lowest responsible design-build bidder. For projects costing over $20 million, either the low bid or best value method may be used. The bill sunsets in 2006.
Interior Designer Regulation in New Jersey New Jersey's A.B. 2768, which was introduced September 25, would establish a committee of the New Jersey State Board of Architects to regulate the interior design profession by establishing educational and experience requirements to be certified.
Tort Reform in Pennsylvania Unfortunately, Pennsylvania's H.B. 2070, which would have granted immunity from liability to engineers who volunteered their assistance in a professional capacity during declared disaster emergencies, appears to have died for the year. The bill was amended and passed by the House Judiciary Committee, but was "tabled" by the entire House. "Tabling" is a parliamentary method of avoiding voting on legislation and effectively defeating it. While the bill appears to be dead for this session, it is hoped that it will be revived next year.
