As President Biden’s infrastructure plan continues being discussed by Congress, ASCE has taken a leadership role in providing research and helpful feedback to lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. Our advocacy team has been busy as seen in these highlights:
- ASCE is a founding member of United for Infrastructure, which hosted a series of events promoting investment in sustainable, resilient infrastructure in the United States. President Biden made opening remarks and kicked off a week of infrastructure advocacy and education, and many ASCE members from around the country took part in panels and policy briefings. ASCE was mentioned in the media 619 times during the United for Infrastructure week and reached an audience of more than 571 million.
- The Industry Leaders Council prepared a white paper, Principles for Infrastructure Funding, detailing ASCE policy priorities related to better use of asset management, using technical standards to create more resilient infrastructure, and increase funding for targeted investments. This white paper has been shared with the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
- ASCE’s state report card grades remain on the White House state-by-state fact sheet website.
- We added 13 new ASCE GameChangers to ASCE’s website, highlighting infrastructure innovation.
- ASCE submitted written comments to the Biden administration and took part in a call with the deputy assistant secretary for economic policy at the U.S. Department of Transportation to provide guidance on the American Jobs Plan, including input on ASCE’s definition of infrastructure.
- ASCE is leading an effort to provide recommendations on investments in the nation’s more than 90,000 dams. Currently, the infrastructure proposal does not include specific investment levels for the nation’s dams. We are requesting increased funding for the High Hazard Potential Dam Rehabilitation grant program for flood mapping as well as for the development of emergency action plans.
- ASCE, along with nearly 80 national and state organizations, urged congressional leadership to provide $200 billion in stimulus to help address our nation’s highway and bridge rehabilitation backlog. We also asked Congress to provide the necessary flexibility to states and local communities to make critical investments.
The ASCE Board of Direction had a busy April 2021 meeting, with highlights including:
- A new Strategic Priority Dashboard that allows the board to easily track progress on strategic priorities against key performance indicators, including quarterly reports and year-end projections.
- An update on a membership survey, which among other things showed a three-fold increase in ASCE’s net promoter score, highlighting an unprecedented increase in member satisfaction levels.
- Authorized the dissemination of an Industry Leaders Council safety challenge and report to ASCE organization entities for review and implementation.
- Received updates on the Future World Vision project including the new five-part college course offering, Student Presidential Group initiatives, Region-Institute Presidential Group, and Task Committee on Institute Operating Procedures.
- Received an update from the Committee on America’s Infrastructure and approved updates to eight ASCE public policy statements.
- Reviewed the outcomes from a client summit and authorized the formation of a final task committee to resolve ASCE certification and/or certificate options. The task committee will review the summit results and make a final recommendation on setting the standard for civil engineering excellence for year to come.
- President Jean-Louis Briaud announced that he and his wife Janet are making a $1 million donation to the ASCE Foundation to support student activities. They are hoping this gift to the foundation encourages other to support the ASCE Foundation with a gift. We are grateful to Jean-Louis and Janet for their generous donation and their longstanding dedication, service, and leadership of ASCE and the profession.
The Multi-Region Leadership Conference online format had 387 attendees, including 15 Region 10 leaders from 11 countries. This is in addition to 535 attendees during younger member week, and 962 live and recorded views of an eight-session 2021 Virtual Workshop for Student Chapter Leaders.
The chairs of the top-level Society committees met to share best practices and to discuss opportunities for working together. It was the first gathering of committee leaders in some time, and the success of this forum makes it likely that these will once again become regularly held events.
The next Board meeting is scheduled for July 2021.
To share your views or provide ideas on how ASCE can better serve its members, please email Carl.