NOVEMBER 2006 GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS
UPDATE
IN THIS ISSUE …
1. The Changing Face of Congress
2. Final Push for H. Res. 518 --- THIS IS
IT!
3. Brooks Act Memo From
Army Corps of Engineers
4. Position Paper on FEMA Map Modernization
5. Update on COFPAES lawsuit
6. Interview with Former Congressman Jack
Brooks, Author of the Brooks Act
________________________________________________________________________
The Changing Face of Congress. As a result of the November 7 election, Congress will
have a new look. The 110th Congress will be controlled by Democrats
in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Many of our friends in Congress
won their elections, however, a good friend of our’s
in the Senate, Senator George Allen of Virginia lost his reelection bid. Senator
Allen was a co-sponsor of the Senate Resolution honoring National Surveyor’s
Week.
Although
nothing is official until January, here is a list of the prospective Committee
Chairmen for Congressional Committees that affect surveyors:
In the
Senate, the Majority Leader is expected to be Harry Reid of Nevada. The
Chairman of the Appropriations Committee is expected to be Robert Byrd of West
Virginia. The Chairman of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee
(which controls RESPA issues) is expected to be Christopher Dodd of
Connecticut. The Chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee
is expected to be Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, and the Chairman of the Energy and
Natural Resources Committee (which controls USGS issues) is expected to be Jeff
Bingaman of New Mexico. The Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions Committee is expected to be Edward Kennedy, while the Chairman of the
Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee is expected to be John Kerry,
both of Massachusetts. The Chairman of the Homeland Security and Government
Affairs Committee is expected to be Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.
In the
House of Representatives, the Speaker of the House is expected to be Nancy
Pelosi and the Majority Leader is Steny Hoyer. The
Chairman of the Appropriations Committee is expected to be David Obey of Wisconsin;
the Chairman of the Education and Workforce Committee is expected to be George
Miller of California. The Chairman of the Government Reform Committee is expected
to be Henry Waxman of California; the Chairman of the Homeland Security
Committee is expected to be Bennie Thompson of Mississippi; the Chairman of the
Resources Committee is expected to be Nick Rahall of West Virginia; the
Chairman of the Science Committee is expected to be Bart Gordon of Tennessee
and the Chairperson of the Small Business Committee is expected to be Nydia
Velazquez of New York.
There are
also many new Members of Congress in both the House and the Senate. ACSM is
working on getting introductory meetings with the new Members to discuss our
issues with them.
Final
Push for H. Res. 518 --- THIS IS IT! After almost two years of hard work we are coming down to
the wire for getting our National Surveyor’s Week bill through the House of
Representatives this year. Congress will be working in December and will take
up H. Res. 518, the National Surveyor’s Week Resolution if we can get a total
of 50 co-sponsors on the bill. We were recently told by Rep. Adam Putnam’s
office (the sponsor of the resolution) that we have 38 co-sponsors. We need
everybody’s help for the final push. Please call or fax your Representative and
ask them to co-sponsor H. Res. 518, the National Surveyor’s Week Resolution
which is sponsored by Rep. Adam Putnam, and Rep. Bennie Thompson is the
original co-sponsor. If you participated in Lobby Day, please review your list
of contacts and follow-up with the staff you met with and ask them to get their
boss to co-sponsor the resolution. A link to the current co-sponsors is below;
check the link frequently because the list hasn’t been updated. Thank you for
your help!
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:HE00518:@@@P
Brooks Act Memo from Army Corp of Engineers. The Army Corp of Engineers recently released a
Directive reinforcing its policy of using the Brooks Act for the procurement of
A/E services. The Directive lays out FAR Part 36.601-4, which is the relevant
law relating to this issue. The full Directive can be found here:
http://www.wbdg.org/ccb/ARMYCOE/COEECB/ecb_2006_12.pdf
Position Paper of FEMA Map Modernization Program. ACSM recently completed a position paper regarding FEMA’s Map Modernization Program, which should be posted on
the ACSM website soon. As you may know, ACSM has worked for several years with
a number of relevant groups and associations to obtain federal funding for FEMA’s Map Modernization Program. Unfortunately, the Map
Modernization program is not going in the direction we hoped it would. The digitized
maps being produced by FEMA are not accurate and, according to its recent
midcourse adjustment report, FEMA plans to make several changes to the program,
including updating maps in many parts of the country.
Our
position paper will be used when we meet with Members of Congress and FEMA
representatives on this issue. Look for the position paper on the ACSM website
soon.
Update
on the COFPAES lawsuit. As you may know, last year COFPAES filed a lawsuit in federal court against
the FAR Council regarding its application of the Brooks Act to the procurement
of mapping services. As a result of the COFPAES lawsuit, the federal government
filed a Motion to Dismiss the lawsuit. A Federal judge
recently denied the government’s Motion to Dismiss at
this point. For now, the lawsuit continues.
Interview with Former Congressman Jack Brooks, Author of the
Brooks Act.
Speaking of
the Brooks Act, if you go to the COFPAES website, www.cofpaes.org, you will find an interview
conducted by NSPE with former Congressman Jack Brooks, the author of the Brooks
Act. It’s an insightful interview in which the Congressman discusses his
thoughts on his groundbreaking legislation.