2019 Directory

13 Government Advocacy Committee BY MARK KUCERA, AIA Committee Members: Mark Kucera, AIA, Chair Charlie Van Over, AIA Lyle Murtha, AIA Colleen Nelson, AIA Michael Potter, AIA Cornelius Kinsey, AIA Working to Broaden Support T he AIA Wyoming Advocacy Committee continues to meet periodically via conference call as required to address topics as they arise. In 2014 the Advocacy Committee attempted to have legislation in- troduced which would have defined the requirements of residency as it pertained to Architects. However, those efforts were unsuccessful during the 2015 Legislative Session. With renewed approval by the AIA membership at the fall meeting in 2018, the Advocacy Committee made another attempt at developing a definition for residency requirements, using work completed during the 2015 legislative session as a start point. The committee also took a more comprehensive approach to explain our purpose to legislators and engineering organizations. Wyo- ming State Statutes list residency as one of the criteria to be considered in the selection of professional service providers by state agencies but did not define or list requirements for a determination of residency. During the 2019 legislative session, 503 different pieces of legislation were initiated. Of those, 11 were identified by the GAC as having a potential impact on our profession. Four pieces of legislation that were passed into law and may have some impact on our profession include House Bills 52, 65, and 152, along with Senate File 74. House Bill 52 requires procurement of furniture and movable equipment for public works and contracts be done by competitive bid based upon specifications written for products that are available fromWyoming resi- dent suppliers. House Bill 52 became House Enrolled Act (HEA) No. 40. House Bill 65 raised the threshold for when a state agency must perform a formal publicly advertised solicitation process for procurement of professional architectural, engineering or land surveying services. This bill also increases the amount required for construction contracts when bid bonds, along with performance and payment bonds, are required. House Bill 65 became House Enrolled Act (HEA) No. 78. House Bill 152 requires that any person preparing or designing archi- tectural or engineering design drawings that call for excavation to make reasonable efforts to determine the nature, location and depth of un- derground facilities and make that information a part of the drawings. House Bill 152 became House Enrolled Act (HEA) No. 42. Senate File 74 was initiated by the Government Advocacy Committee and started as a definition of the term “resident,” as it applies to professional design services. It underwent significant amendments by various legislators during different readings and gave non-monetary preference to resident design firms for state-funded projects. Senate file 74 became Senate Enrolled Act (SEA) No. 70. State legislators were involved in forming a “contracts workgroup” to help develop three different bills for future introduction. The work- group consists of 15 different entities, one of which was the Government Advocacy Committee representing AIA Wyoming. The bills drafted by LSO are summarized follows. 20LSO-037 would amend a variety of provisions governing pro- curement by governmental entities including establishing a separate procurement section under the State Construction Department. 20LSO-039 would amend the Professional Services procurement act by modifying the “resident firm” definition and criteria and specifies the duties and responsibilities of the State Construction Department. 20LSO-041 would amend public works construction contracting statutes by conforming bonding value thresholds, modifying wage reporting requirements, modifying contractor retainage, modifying final settlement processes and requirements. After the AIA Wyoming association leaders shared this information with AIA Wyoming membership, members voiced concerns about the proposed change in retainage on construction contracts included in 20LSO-041. The association’s leaders then shared the members’ con- cerns with legislators. Efforts to resolve this item are ongoing. With the hope of strengthening advocacy efforts through alliances, periodic informal meetings between the executive directors of the American Council of Engineering Companies of Wyoming and AIA Wyoming continue. This Committee welcomes any requests for additional information or questions from anyone regarding these topics or related items. b House in session Senate in session