Friday, February 25, 2011

Advocacy Update: Week 6

by Yvonne Castillo
TSA General Counsel

This week, we covered a variety of legislative issues. We met with stakeholders in high performance design and construction legislation to discuss refining the legislation to make it as fiscally neutral as possible, given the state budget deficit. We also spent some time negotiating on the language in HB 958, by Representative Workman, which would have increased liability exposure for architects in favor of contractors. In the end, we persuaded the sponsor, who was very gracious, to amend the bill to make the outcome equitable for architects. HB 611, by Representative Murphy, proposes to keep state government from competing with the private sector; great bill – but some substitute language was included that created questions for us about the possibility of any steps backwards for architects who provide “project management services.” It appears we’ve got a solution to this issue through legislative intent. 

Lastly, this week, a good bit of brainpower and legwork at the Capitol was spent working with key leadership and lobbyists on the continued negotiations with engineers. We’re hopeful for a positive outcome and pleased to see some progress. Bills continue to be filed at a frantic pace, TSA now has 151 bills on its bill track for monitoring.

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