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Government Affairs Committee

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Our primary objective is to provide resources to our APWA membership regarding local, state, and national rules and legislation that affect public works.

Hot News!

Congress yesterday cleared legislation extending SAFETEA-LU for seven weeks until December 18, when Congress is expected to recess until after the New Year. The current one-month extension, approved late last month, expires October 31. The President is expected to sign the bill.

Efforts in the Senate to approve a six-month extension stalled earlier this week over procedural objections. The House of Representatives approved a three-month extension in September. The Senate will attempt to obtain floor time next week to consider again a stand-alone six-month extension. The Administration, however, supports a delay of 18 months to allow more time to develop comprehensive authorization legislation.

There is no major authorization proposal currently in the Senate. A $500 billion, six-year draft proposal has been presented in the House, but is held up due to lack of provisions on how to pay for its funding levels. Drafting those provisions is in the jurisdiction of the House Ways and Means Committee, which is yet to reach consensus on revenue mechanisms.

The latest extension was included as part of a Continuing Resolution needed to maintain funding for those federal programs without an approved FY2010 Appropriations. Congress has completed four of the 12 appropriations bills.

SAFETEA-LU expired September 30. APWA is urging Congress and the Administration to take action to pass a multi-year surface transportation authorization that significantly increases investment for state and local programs.

For more information about APWA's priorities for surface transportation authorization, visit http://reinvestintransportation.apwa.net.

Legislative Hot Topics

SHB 1555 - New Requirements for Release of Retainage

Upcoming Meetings

TBA

Committee Members

• Kathy Robertson, PE, Pickets Engineering, LLC, Chair, (425) 417-2048, pickets@att.net
• Dave Mandyke, PE, City of Spokane, Co-Chair, (509) 625-6320, DMandyke@SpokaneCity.org
• Amy Carlson, PE, CH2M Hill, Amy.Carlson@ch2m.com
• Daryl Grigsby, PE, City of Kirkland, DGrigsby@ci.kirkland.wa.us
• Craig Olson, PE, City of Clyde Hill, CraigO@clydehill.org
• Michael Purdy, Michael E. Purdy Associates, mpurdy@mpurdy.com

Links

Federal, State, and Local Government

• US House of Representatives: http://www.house.gov/
• US Senate: http://www.senate.gov/
• Washington State Legislature (proposed legislation): http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/
• Washington State Department of Ecology (rule Making): http://www.ecy.wa.gov/laws-rules/currentactivity.html/
• Washington State Department of Health (rule making): http://www.doh.wa.gov/Rules/default.htm/

APWA Resources

• American Public Works Association (APWA) (national): http://www.apwa.net/Advocacy/
• American Public Works Association (APWA) (national government affairs committee): http://www.apwa.net/Advocacy/GovtAffairsCommittee/
• American Public Works Association (APWA) (monthly Washington Report): http://www.apwa.net/Advocacy/WashingtonReport/
• American Public Works Association (APWA) (national; the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009; state and federal agency resources, guidance, recovery reports and latest news): http://apwarecoveryupdates.blogspot.com/

Associations, Organizations, and Information Sources

• Association of Washington Cities (AWC): http://www.awcnet.org/portal/studionew.asp?Mode=b1&WebID=1&UID=&MenuActionTypeID=81&MenuActionParm=166&OriginPage=/portal/studionew.asp&EDate=
• Washington State Association of Counties: http://www.wacounties.org/wsac/legcenter.asp
• National Association of Counties (NACO): http://www.naco.org/Template.cfm?Section=Issues_and_Interest_Areasp
• Washington Ports Association: http://www.washingtonports.org/member_resources/publications/legislative_reports.asp
• Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) Western Washington Chapter: http://www.abcwestwa.org/Government_Affairs.aspx
• Associated General Contractors (AGC) of Washington: https://www.agcwa.com/GovernmentAffairs/
• Utility Contractors Association of Washington (UCAW): http://www.ucaw.org/legislation.aspx
• Design Build Institute of America (DBIA): http://www.dbia.org/advocacy/
• Construction Management Association of America (CMAA): http://www.cmaanet.org/issues
• Washington Fire Commissioners Association: http://www.wfca.wa.gov/content/Legislative_CurrentReport.asp
• National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO): http://www.nahro.org/legislative/index.cfm
• Washington State School Directors' Association: http://wssda.org/wssda/WebForms/En-Us/LegislativeAndGovernmentalIssues/LegIndex.asp
• Washington Association of School Administrators: http://www.wasa-oly.org/Content/NavigationMenu/GOVERNMENTRELATIONS/TWIOThisWeekinOlympia/default.htm
• American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) (national): http://content.asce.org/gr/
• Pacific Northwest Clean Water Association (PNCWA): http://www.pncwa.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=70078&orgId=pncwa
• Water Environment Federation (WEF): http://www.wef.org/GovernmentAffairs/Legislative/
• American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) Washington: http://acec-wa.org/advocacy/issues.html
• American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) (national): http://www.acec.org/advocacy/keyissues.cfm
• American Water Works Association (AWWA): http://www.awwa.org/Government/Content.cfm?ItemNumber=3821&navItemNumber=1618
• Municipal Research and Services Center of Washington (MRSC): http://mrsc.org/
• ICMA: http://icma.org/main/sc.asp
• Swana Advocacy: http://www.capwiz.com/swana/home/
• Public Affairs Council: http://pac.org/
• State Government Affairs Council (SGAC): http://www.sgac.org/links.asp
• Multistate Associates Inc.: http://www.multistate.com/index.html
• State Surge (on-line source to track legislation and manage legislative events): http://www.statesurge.com/
• Mike Purdy's Public Contracting Blog: http://publiccontracting.blogspot.com

Meeting Minutes

March 17, 2010

June 4, 2010

Year End Activity Report

2008