ASCE Legislative Fly-In Juneau, AK
On February 9th and 10th, five members of ASCE, joined members from AIA, ASID, SEAA in Juneau for a fly-in organized by Alaska Professional Design Council, Legislative Liaison Committee (APDC LLC). We visited with fourteen house representatives and nine senators. One of the main topics were House Bill 24 introduced by Rep. Sam Kito of Juneau. Sam is the president of our Juneau Branch, and introduced this bill to extend requirements to use Qualifications Based Selection for procurement of professional services on all state funded projects. Another task was to inform our legislators of the impacts of the FAST Act on Alaska and encouraged them to support capital spending on infrastructure projects that leverage federal funds. Another topic near to heart for all of us is support for education programs.
The day before our fly-in the State House halted all hearings on any legislation that is not directly related to our budget crisis, making the priorities very clear. The fiscal reality for Alaska also carried into our conversations about infrastructure needs and wants.
Several of the members of our group also attended a meeting of the Alaska licensing board for Architects, Engineers, & Land Surveyors, giving testimony on a proposed change of regulation effecting the requirements to have a structural engineering license for certain structural designs. We also attended a budget briefing with DOT&PF, a subcommittee hearing on University funding, and The State of the Judiciary Address to the joint session of the State Senate and House of Representatives.
Almost half our group attended their first fly-in during these days, it was a well received fly-in and a great expansion of our advocacy network.
Pictured in the photo are from left:
Elizabeth Greer, ASCE Anchorage, Dale Nelson, ASCE Anchorage, Cara Mazurek, ASID Anchorage, Jennifer Gillenwater, Anchorage YMF, Catherine Fritz, AIA Juneau, Tor Anderzen, ASCE Matsu, and Amy Mestas, SEAA & ASCE Anchorage. Missing in the picture are Joe Notkin, AIA Fairbanks and John Stolle, AIA Anchorage
------------------------------
Tor Anderzen P.E., M.ASCE
Senior Aviation Engineer
HDL
Palmer AK
(907)564-2103
------------------------------