Orange County Branch Newsletter

March 2022

ASCE OC Government Relations

2022 National Legislative Fly-In

By Steven Anderson, PE, PMP | Government Relations Chair



ASCE’s delegation of 225 members from 48 states flew into Washington DC to attend the 2022 Legislative Fly-in on March 2-3. The delegates included 21 people from California’s Region 9 (including Steven Anderson, in-person and Ian Chamberlain, virtually), where our team got the opportunity to discuss current legislative issues, the omnibus budget bill to get IIJA moving, how the legislature should incentivize agencies to spend money from IIJA, several additional acts to authorize funding, and rejecting the gas tax holiday bill currently sitting in the Senate.

 

The team was able to talk with people around the country to hear about engineering trends that are impacted by their legislatures, and hear how leadership in Washington is working on improving infrastructure and “Building Back Better.” Speakers included ASCE President Dennis Truax, Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, and Dr. Geraldine Richmond (Undersecretary for the Department of Energy).

 

After all of the briefing and learning about the government’s impact on infrastructure, it was time to get to work. ASCE’s Region 9 met with Senator Alex Padilla and ten of California’s Representatives to discuss these issues and provide information to help the legislature staff make informed decisions. In the end, our team learned that messaging backed with data from a legislature’s constituents is the best way to impact and make the change when interacting with a legislature’s staff.


About the Author:

Steven Anderson is a Civil Engineer for David Evans and Associates in Tustin, CA. He now spends his free time with his daughter, Olivia, on a play mat. Steven can be contacted via email at steven.anderson@deainc.com.


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