2009 legislative session: Engineering opportunities

The New York State legislature reconvened on January 7, with Governor Paterson's first State of the State Address since assuming office last year. In my opinion, this will prove to be one of the most challenging years any New York governor has had to face in the state's history. The economy and Wall Street are in crisis mode. The state's tax revenues continue to decline. We are faced with a $ 2 billion deficit to close the 2008-09 fiscal year that ends March 31. The budget deficit for 2009-10 is projected to be $12 billion to $13 billion. However, with these problems come new opportunities for the New York State engineering community. This is the first time in recent memory that improvements to our infrastructure are top concerns for elected officials on both the state and the federal levels. Our representatives understand the need to invest $350 billion in infrastructure projects throughout the United States. If Congress passes such a stimulus package, New York stands to receive between $6 billion and $10 billion to be invested in the state's aging infrastructure. The American Council of Engineering Companies of New York's (ACEC New York) role, as advocates for the consulting engineering industry, will be to help ensure that these dollars are spent on much needed and delayed infrastructure projects statewide, not put into general funds to keep the state afloat. Accomplishing this will be our number one challenge and our number one priority for the upcoming legislative session. Report supports use of consulting engineers ACEC New York will be working on a number of other issues during this session. The most important is delivering the message to key decision makers at every level of state government that using consulting engineers on public projects saves state taxpayers millions of dollars. The basis for this message is a report prepared by Polytechnic University of NYU that compared the costs of using private engineering firms for the design of public projects versus the costs of using public sector engineers. The study concluded that, based on conservative estimates, the use of outsourced engineers can save the state 14 percent. The analysis focused on issues including direct salaries adjusted for hours of work per week, fringe benefits including medical insurance, pension plans, survivors benefit, workers compensation, unemployment and social security insurance, and overhead. In disseminating this message to the governor's office, the Division of the Budget, the Department of Transportation, and the Assembly and Senate Transportation committees, the association will emphasize that private sector engineers are paid only for the time they work on projects, not for life. Once a project is completed, so are payments by the state. In addition, private sector engineers assume risks in design contracts that would otherwise be borne by the state. Also on the agenda ACEC New York will be advocating for the passage of legislation concerning permissible forms of practice. This legislation has passed the New York State Senate, but not the Assembly, in each of the last two sessions. Qualifications-based selection is another issue we will be working on. It is currently being used in state agencies and in New York City. We will be working to have this excellent procurement process added to key authorities throughout the state. ACEC New York is supporting design-build legislation that will bring new revenues for the state of New York and is backed by New York State Department of Transportation as well as the governor's office. We will also be concentrating on legislation dealing with Wicks Law, practice erosion, design delegation, state of repose, tort reform and damages for delay. With engineering issues at the forefront, the current legislative session could yield the best results ever for ACEC New York's member firms as well as the greater engineering community. Bill McCarthy is a lobbyist with Bolton-St. Johns, Albany, N.Y. a firm that represents ACEC New York.