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 Nora Smith at 202/789-2200 or by e-mail at govwash@asce.org. Read past articles from This Week in Washington at www.asce.org/pressroom/news/grwk/index.cfm.

Inside This Week:

• ASCE Urges Support for Federal Research Into Wind Hazards
• Key Senators Seek Infrastructure Spending Boost to Aid Economy
• State Government Relations Update

1. ASCE Urges Support for Federal Research Into Wind Hazards

Congress needs to provide significant research funding to help reduce the significant annual toll in casualties and property damage from hurricanes, tornadoes and other violent windstorms; explained Dr. Steven McCabe on behalf of ASCE in testimony before the environment, technology and standards subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives Science Committee on October 11.

"ASCE has long recognized the need for better research into predicting and mitigating the damage from major wind events," said Dr. McCabe. "All 50 states are vulnerable to the hazards of windstorms. In 1998, hurricanes, tornadoes and other wind related storms caused at least 186 fatalities and more than $5.5 billion in damages."

Dr. McCabe is chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Kansas.

Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-MI), chair of the subcommittee, agreed that increased federal support for research into high-wind storms is critical. "We must invest in research to increase our ability to predict and model severe weather events," Ehlers said.

Each year, severe weather claims about 1,500 lives and causes roughly $16 billion in damages. In addition, approximately $2 trillion, or roughly 25 percent of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product is influenced by weather and climate.

To read Dr. McCabe's testimony, please visit the ASCE Web site at: /pdf/mccabe_oct.pdf.

2. Key Senators Seek Infrastructure Spending Boost to Aid Economy

Eleven members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, led by Chairman Jim Jeffords, (I-Vt). and Ranking Member Bob Smith, (R-NH), sent a letter to Senate leaders on October 9 outlining programs within the jurisdiction of the committee that could be included in an economic stimulus package.

In a joint letter to Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD), the Senate majority leader, and Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS), the minority leader; 11 senators urged Congress to consider increased spending on drinking-water, wastewater and transportation projects as a means of spurring economic growth.

"We believe that if carefully crafted to avoid long-term budget deficits, appropriate infrastructure investment can translate into a direct investment in our people, our communities and our future as a nation," the senators said.

The letter was signed by Sens. Jeffords, Smith, R, Harry Reid, (D-NV), John Warner, (R-VA), Bob Graham, (D-FL), Hilary Rodham Clinton, (D-NY), James Inhofe, (R-OK), Jon Corzine, (D-NJ), Michael Crapo, (R-ID), Lincoln Chafee, (R-RI), Arlen Specter, (R-PA).

3. State Government Relations Update

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

State Legislative Update
The following bills were recently introduced in state legislatures across the country. If you have questions about particular legislation, please contact Austin Fulk. These bills affect the civil engineering profession, but ASCE National has not taken a position on them unless otherwise noted.

California
The legislature recently passed S.B. 136, which extends the titling provisions relating to the Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors to a new sunset date of July 1, 2004.

North Carolina
ASCE wishes to thank the many engineers across North Carolina who have already written, emailed, and called their elected officials opposing H.B. 623. This bill contains provisions extending the scope of practice of landscape architecture to include a number of tasks traditionally performed only by civil engineers. Your efforts are paying off, as the House Rules Committee on Tuesday, October 9 again delayed taking action on the bill to examine a possible compromise on the issue. ASCE will continue to keep you updated on developments relating to this bill.

Pennsylvania
H.B. 910 would exempt professionals, including engineers, from tort liability for volunteering their services in a professional capacity at the request of a government body during a declared emergency.

S.B. 1086 creates the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority and authorizes it to offer loans for infrastructure development. The loans would be at a lower interest rate for counties with unemployment rates above the state average. The Authority would be permitted to initially issue $150 million in bonds to fund infrastructure projects with the ability to issue another $300 million in bonds subject to voter approval.