This Week in Washington

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:

• Leadership Training in Government Relations
• TEA-21, AIR-21 Guarantees Not Included in Clinton's FY 2002 Budget
• Section 127 Legislation Introduced
• Bush's Education Proposal Strong on Math And Science
• Bush Suspends New Regulations Pending Review
• Have You Completed the Infrastructure Survey?
• State Government Update

1. LEADERSHIP TRAINING IN GOVERNMENT RELATIONS
On March 6-7, 2001, ASCE will hold its first annual Leadership Training in Government Relations in Washington, DC. Participants will learn valuable skills that will help their Sections be more effective in dealing with government and the media and will put these skills into practice by meeting with their members of Congress while in Washington. Among the topics that will be covered are sessions on the legislative process and how to run a legislative campaign, how to promote ASCE's priority issues, coalition building, and dealing with and using the media. All ASCE members are invited to attend, and expenses will be paid for some participants. If you would like more information or an application to fund your trip to the training, please e-mail govwash@asce.org and ask for a copy of the application. Applications are due no later than February 2, and will be considered on an as-received basis. The sooner you submit your application, the better your chances are of being accepted.

2. TEA-21, AIR-21 GUARANTEES NOT INCLUDED IN CLINTON'S FY 2002 BUDGET
Before the Clinton Administration turned over the reins to President Bush, it submitted to the U.S. Congress a bare-bones budget framework that does not assume continued funding for infrastructure programs at the levels authorized in the 1998 Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) and the 2000 Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century (AIR-21). The Clinton budgetary baseline does not fully reflect what is anticipated to be an infusion of roughly $5 billion in extra gas tax revenues to the federal treasury over what was expected when TEA-21 was enacted. The scaled-back budgetary documents instead assume the transportation funding levels will continue at Fiscal Year 2001 levels with a small increase to reflect inflation. A Bush transportation official recently warned that the baseline budget probably would not reflect increases mandated for FY 2002 for programs covered by TEA-21 and AIR-21. The Clinton Administration's bare bones document could make it more difficult to get the funding promised for highways, transit, and aviation for FY 2002, said Jack Schenendorf, head of the Bush Transition team's transition policy group, because inserting the proper numbers now could make it appear as though funding for programs was increasing. "We're going to have a real challenge here, no matter who is in the key slots," a transportation industry official said.

3. SECTION 127 LEGISLATION INTRODUCED
Senate Finance Committee Chair, Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Ranking Member Max Baucus (D-MT) have introduced legislation to permanently extend Internal Revenue Code Section 127, employer-provided education assistance, for both graduate and undergraduate courses. The bill, S. 133, would provide employees with tax exemptions for education benefits provided by employers. The exemption, which applies to undergraduate courses only, is set to expire on June 30, 2002. ASCE strongly supports the permanent extension of Section 127 for both undergraduate and graduate coursework.

4. BUSH'S EDUCATION PROPOSAL STRONG ON MATH AND SCIENCE
President Bush's first major push for his Administration will be his education bill. Released on January 22nd, the bill contains many strong math and science provisions supported by ASCE, including university partnerships and improved training and continuing education for teachers. While the proposal does touch on school repair and modernization for military families and Native Americans, it does not address the physical condition of the rest of the nation's public schools. Moderate Democrats on both sides of Capitol Hill have introduced a similar proposal. Recall that the physical condition of America's public schools received a grade of "F" in ASCE's 1998 Report Card for America's Infrastructure.

5. BUSH SUSPENDS NEW REGULATIONS PENDING REVIEW
President Bush has suspended publication of all proposed and final regulations issued in the final days of the Clinton Administration. "Subject to any exceptions the Director or Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget allows for emergency or other urgent situations relating to health and safety, send no proposed or final regulation to the Office of the Federal Register unless and until a department or agency head appointed by the President after noon on January 20, 2001, reviews and approves the regulatory action," says the notice from Chief of Staff Andrew Card.

The effective date for any final regulation already published in the Federal Register but that has not taken effect is to be postponed for 60 days. This would presumably include the new wetlands regulation published in the Federal Register by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on January 17 and originally scheduled to take effect on February 16.

Proposed or final regulations that have been sent to the Federal Register but not published are to be withdrawn for review and approval by new department heads and Cabinet secretaries. This would appear to include the proposed rule on sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) that was signed by former EPA administrator Carol Browner on January 4 but never published in the Federal Register.

6. HAVE YOU COMPLETED THE INFRASTRUCTURE SURVEY?
As our nation gets ready to welcome its new leaders in Washington, ASCE is preparing a new Report Card for America's Infrastructure. The 2001 Report Card for America's Infrastructure will re-assess the 10 infrastructure areas that ASCE graded in its 1998 Report Card (roads, bridges, mass transit, aviation, schools, drinking water, wastewater, dams, solid waste, and hazardous waste), and examine two new categories (waterways and energy transmission). As with the 1998 Report Card ASCE will not only report on the state of our nation's infrastructure, but will also offer viable public policy solutions that can be adopted by the 107th Congress.

Of course, ASCE's assessment of our nation's infrastructure would not be complete without your input and your observations on the condition of your community's infrastructure. In order to capture your comments effectively, ASCE's Communications and Government Relations Division is conducting an on-line survey to gather information about the latest issues and concerns surrounding your local infrastructure. The survey results will be used for the release of the 2001 Report Card and as a way to illustrate the problems and the policy solutions presented in ASCE's assessment.



We appreciate your time and expertise in answering these questions. The deadline for responding to the survey is Wednesday, January 31, 2001. If you have any questions or comments, please contact ASCE's Communications and Government Relations Division at govwash@asce.org.

7. STATE GOVERNMENT UPDATE
ASCE provides updates on individual state government matters affecting civil engineers. For more information on the following items, or any other state government relations matters, please contact Austin Fulk, ASCE's Manager of State Government Relations, at (202) 789-2200 or via email at afulk@asce.org.

The following state legislation of interest to ASCE members has been recently introduced:

Alabama:
H.B. 74 would create the Alabama Land Recycling and Economic Redevelopment Act, a voluntary ongoing assessment and remediation program for contaminated property in both urban and rural areas of the state.

Alaska:
H.B. 50 extends the termination date for the Board of Registration for Architects, Engineers, and Land Surveyors from June of 2001 to June of 2005.

H.B. 53 establishes the Alaska Seismic Hazards Safety Commission, which will be charged with gathering and distributing information to the private and public sectors.

H.B. 27 provides for the licensing and registration of individuals who perform home inspections.

Colorado:
S.B. 39 provides for the election of a Regional Transportation District board and charges the board with developing plans for a mass transit system in the city of Denver.

Georgia:
H.B. 140 allows for an exemption for certain eligible engineers from continuing education requirements.

Illinois:
S.B. 13 sets up a system to help manage and mitigate stormwater management in a number of newly urbanized counties in the state.

H.B. 143 exempts information in a bid or proposal for a state contract from the state's Freedom of Information law until the contract has been awarded.

Indiana:
H.B. 1375 requires the state Department of Education to make available to school districts standardized school facilities plans that are ready to be bid for construction.

H.B. 1540 would allow civil engineers employed by the state to form collective bargaining units.

H.B. 1279 allows public agencies to use design-build for public works projects.

H.B. 1011 specifies that a public works contract may not require both retainage bonds and payment and performance bonds.

S.B. 93 requires the registration of soil scientists.

Iowa:
S.F. 7 allows counties and cities to pass ordinances requiring mobile home parks to construct storm shelters for the parks' residents.

Maryland:
H.B. 8 provides tax credits for "green" buildings.

Mississippi:
H.B. 848 requires the licensure of home inspectors.

H.B. 845 and S.B. 2318 create the Local System Road Plan to assist localities with constructing and reconstructing local system roads.

Montana:
M.D. 794 allows funds from the Water Pollution Control State Revolving Fund to be used to pay for construction of solid waste management systems.

M.D. 801 makes it the public policy of the state that contract provisions requiring one party to indemnify another for damages caused by negligence, recklessness, or intentional misconduct are void.

Nebraska:
L.B. 391 authorizes school districts to use design-build for school construction.

New York:
A.B. 1167 allows engineers to incorporate as non-profit corporations.

North Dakota:
S.B. 2186 allows the state Board of Registration to adopt continuing education requirements for engineers.

Oklahoma:
H.B. 1597 makes technical modifications to the State Architecture Act.

Oregon:
H.B. 2107 allows registered geologists to have a lien on land for work done in connection with construction or improvement of buildings on the land.

H.B. 2196 expands the practice of landscape architecture.

H.B. 2239 eliminates the certification exemptions for operators of drinking water systems servicing fewer than 105 connections as well as those directly supervised by a registered professional engineer.

S.B. 14 and S.B. 15 require inventory and rehabilitation of certain public buildings that need seismic retrofitting.

S.B. 275 permits grants, as well as loans, from the newly-renamed Brownfields Redevelopment Fund, and makes remedial actions and removal of hazardous waste fundable activities.

S.B. 348 adds services related to architectural and engineering personal contracts to the list of subjects to be included in model public contracting rules.

South Carolina:
S.B. 56 provides a statute of limitations for actions against a registered land surveyor based on alleged negligence in work performance.

Texas:
H.B. 579 would allow municipalities and counties to use design-build for construction of transportation projects costing $250 million or more.

S.B. 110 would allow the Department of Criminal Justice to use design-build for construction of its facilities.

S.B. 155 would allow municipalities to use design-build for construction of public buildings if the project cost is over $50 million.

Virginia:
H.B. 1873 establishes the Virginia Voluntary Remediation Fund to assist local governments in cleaning up hazardous waste.

H.B. 2020 bans clauses in contracts between engineers and public bodies that require the engineer to indemnify or "hold harmless" the public body for damages.

H.B. 2044 and S.B. 1050 raise the dollar value threshold for using value engineering on a state project from $2 million to $5 million.

S.B. 1024 allows "Reverse Auctioning" as a procurement method.

Washington:
S.B. 5060 expands the circumstances under which design-build contracts may be used.