President-elect Chris Woodland led a delegation to Washington, D.C. this week for the second ACEC-WV Legislative Fly-In to meet with West Virginia’s congressional delegation. It was held on Tuesday, June 24, at the National ACEC Residence located on Capitol Hill. Joining him were Billy Varney, Tim Kirk, Wes Hevener, Dave Verno, Travis Long and Cherilyn Woodland. ACEC-WV members received a briefing by Steve Hall, ACEC Executive Vice President, on industry issues including reauthorization of the federal-aid highway bill, restoring Research and Development (R&D) exemptions in the tax bill and infrastructure funding.
“Today has been very lively in the Senate,” Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-WV, told ACEC-WV and National ACEC staff. “The Senate is debating the President’s tax bill and many elements of House’s tax proposal will remain in the Senate version. The Senate Parliamentarian is going to rule that several measures in the Republican domestic policy bill cannot be included in the legislation in their current form. I wanted to address environmental permitting reform but we will try to do this at the end of the year,” she said.
Sen. Capito, chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, told members that her committee has conducted one hearing on the highway reauthorization bill. “House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves said he would like to have a highway bill by the end of the year, even though the current bill doesn’t expire until September 20, 2026,” she reported. “We need to find $40 billion in new money just to keep status quo with the 2021 bill. We need information from ACEC-WV on how money can go further and wider. I want to write a really good bill.”
The 2021 highway formula was written to help states with the highest percentage of deficient bridges get additional federal funding. Adam Tomilson, Republican Staff Director for the Senate EPW Committee, told members that West Virginia receives the highest share of bridge formula dollars. He stated he hopes this will a part of the new bill.
“I’m glad the House reinstituted the R&D provision in the tax bill,” stated Rep. Miller told members. “Being a businessperson, I know you can’t operate when tax policy is changed every two to four years. You have to have stability in order to invest in emerging technology and expansion and to train and retain personnel. Rep. Miller, who is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, asked members what could be done to induce students to consider an engineering career.
Sen. Capito and Rep. Miller both agreed that Congress will restore funding for US EPA’s state revolving funding for water and sewer projects. The president’s budget reduces funding by 90 percent compared to last year’s funding. “Every state benefits from the SRF programs for water and sewer and I think both the Senate and House will restore funding,” stated Sen. Capito. West Virginia’s SRF funding would be reduced from $38 million this year to less than $4 million in the proposed budget.
“It was great to have such an informal discussion with our congressional leaders on issues impacting West Virginia engineers,” said President-Elect Woodland. “Sen. Capito and Rep. Miller have the unique opportunity to direct policy in Washington and this is a tremendous benefit for West Virginia’s engineering industry. Sen. Jim Justice and Rep. Riley Moore were scheduled to attend our event at ACEC’s Residence, but they ended up with last-minute meetings that precluded them from attending. Both offered to meet with us here in West Virginia. We are appreciative that James Hampson, Rep. Moore’s chief of staff, was able to join us,” he said.
President-elect Woodland notes the fly-in is an effort to make sure that ACEC-WV has a voice in Washington and plans to make this an annual event. He is also asking members to support the ACEC political action committee so ACEC can continue to address industry issues at the national level. See below on how to make a PAC contribution.
National ACEC’s leadership and legislative staff joined our members at the ACEC-WV fly-in. Steve Hall, Dave Bender, Katharine Mottley, Nando Gomez, Brad Saull, Jordan Baugh and Danny Winslow participated. They all do a great job in representing the engineering community in Washington.