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> Chairman's Message
General Assembly Update - 2010
By David T. D. Warriner, P.E.
Chairman, VSPE Legislative Committee
Download 2010 wrap-up report from Lobbyist
This year was a different
year for the Joint Legislative Committee (JLC).
In an effort to reduce costs, and because VSAIA was chairing the
JLC in 2010, we met at VSAIA headquarters for initial meetings and used
tele-conferencing for many issues. Also
in our agreement with the lobbyists at Williams-Mullen, we had agreed to
only have them involved in bills that we actively supported or actively
opposed. Bills that in the
past were monitored by our lobbyist, were now mostly monitored by VSAIA
staff Duncan Abernathy, Director of Government & Industry Affairs.
Although it did save costs, I am not sure that there weren’t some
minor opportunities to improve bills or defeat/support elements of bills
that passed or died during the Assembly this year.
Our number one objective
this year at the General Assembly was to get our limited liability bill
passed. It was introduced in
both the House (HB 797) and Senate (SB 104).
After initial success in committee, we finally started getting
opposition from the trial lawyers. We
were able to successfully reject all their proposed amendments.
They thought this was a tort reform/cap type bill, but we explained
that its intent was contractual liability limitation, not to protect gross
negligence.
The bills passed with a
minor adjustment to match DPOR language on interior designers.
It was signed by the Governor and will become effective July 1,
2010.
Listed below is a brief
synopsis of other bills that we were actively engaged in.
SB
506 - Political Contributions During Procurement Process
When first introduced,
this bill would apply to any gift over $50 to anyone in the political
arena and applied to gifts from anyone in “upper” management at your
company. Due to our group and
many others, the bill was drastically modified.
The final version only
applies to the Governor, his PAC, and the Governor’s cabinet.
It also only applies to public procurement, PPTA or PPEA contracts
over $5 million dollars.
This version of the bill
passed both the House and Senate and awaits the Governor’s signature,
amendments, or veto.
HB
1265 Professional Corporation Board of Directors
This bill had a technical
amendment to add “member” in an addition to “shareholder” as far
as the makeup of a board of directors.
It also added language to include certified interior designers as
professional services. It
passed and is awaiting Governor’s action.
It was our opinion that
although this was mostly a technical amendment to clarify legalities
associated with a professional corporation laws, it is a step in the
process of interior designers becoming licensed sometime in the future.
This bill rekindled
discussion about the makeup of the APELSCIDLA Board and whether we should
try and push legislative changes. Consensus
was to wait and see who takes over from Jay DeBoer.
SB
276 and HB 438 - Dam Safety
These were two bills that
pertained to regulated dams. In
both instances the bills reduce the spillway design criteria as it relates
to a design storm event. There
is also language addressing criteria used for determining the hazard
classification of a dam.
In both cases the bills
require DCR to adopt the proposed changes into the State’s dam safety
regulations.
Both bills went through
significant discussion and changes during the process.
It was a classic example of “rubber meets the road” between
regulatory language that sounds good and the real costs associated with
compliance. As with similar
regulations in many other areas of our profession, the State agency
interpretations can lead to requirements that are subject to cost-benefit
impacts. You also have the big
picture solution in conflict with the small picture project.
Our fear is there will be many more bills in the future that will
tweak and change regulations because of individual situations.
There were other bills
that were either defeated or carried over until next year.
Many of these had to do with energy mandates, green building
requirements and tax credits. There
was one particular bill (SB 34) that could have significant impact on our
profession. It had to do with
worker classification. The
bill tried to shift more people to the employee classification versus
independent contractor. Although
the intent was directed at low wage jobs, it would have applied to all and
potentially affected many A/E firms and their hiring of independent
contractors as project consultants, inspectors, specialty designers, etc.
Hopefully if it comes back next year, it will be better written to
target the intended group of workers and exclude those situations that are
proper and mutually beneficial.
Among other bills that
were monitored without active involvement by the JLC were several AOSE and
septic system bills that were handled by ACEC/VA individually.
There was also a bill that increased the threshold for competitive
contracts from $30,000 and above to $50,000 and above for construction
projects.
There is also the budget
bill that may or may not have items of interest in it.
We did not involve ourselves in that process as our influence is
very limited.
There are still numerous
bills in the Governor’s office awaiting his action.
The General Assembly will come back into session on April 21st
to deal with any vetos or amendments from the Governor.
After their action, all legislation will be official for the year.
We should then get a summary report from Williams-Mullen on all the
legislation that the JLC was involved in.
I will forward this report to the VSPE Board.
Do not hesitate to contact me (dwarriner@brockenbrough.com) or Leigh Dicks (LeighDicks@VSPE.org) if you have any questions or concerns.
To obtain information about legislation introduced in the 2010 Session, click on the hyperlink below (the main home page for Legislative Services):
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