Geosynthetics February/March 2024 - 37

GMA NEWS
GMA is dedicated to
our members' success.
GMA actively identifies,
assesses, analyzes
and acts upon market
growth opportunities
and issues that affect
its member companies.
The activities of
the association are
proactive in nature and
center on five areas:
» Engineering support
» Business development
» Education
» Government relations
» Geosynthetics industry
recognition
Fall Lobby Days 2023
G
By Fred C. Chuck and Bryan Gee
MA's Fall 2023 Lobby Days coincided with the end (November 17) of the first
2023 continuing resolution (CR) that was passed in September '23 to prevent a
shutdown of the U.S. federal government. We were anticipating an exciting week in
Washington, D.C., but as we gathered for our preparation meeting the evening before
our day on the Hill, the new speaker of the House, Rep. Mike Johnson, R-LA, managed
to gain enough support to pass another CR through January 19 and February
2, 2024 (two deadlines for different federal programs). This was a welcome relief for
the Geosynthetic Materials Association (GMA), as it meant we were more likely to
have productive meetings with senators and representatives and they would not be
getting called out of our meetings.
Our government relations firm, Whitmer and Worrall (W&W), with the tremendous
efforts of a new crew, were able to establish 18 congressional office meetings
with 10 senators and eight representatives. In addition to the W&W staff, 15 GMA
members (both executive council and general members) and three Erosion Control
Technology Council (ECTC) board members participated. Shortly before this fall flyin,
GMA and ECTC established a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to allow
ECTC to formally join in and utilize the legislative strength that GMA has developed
over the past 18 years.
During those 18 years, GMA has been able to gain direct geosynthetic language
Fred C. Chuck is the
executive director of GMA.
into the three most important infrastructure-related reauthorizations: the Water
Resources Development Act (WRDA), the Highway Trust Fund (FAST Act) and the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization. The WRDA reauthorizes
every two years, with the next cycle scheduled for 2024, and while our language has
remained the same for the past six cycles, we are currently working to further expand
the geosynthetic language.
The FAA reauthorization is currently included in the ongoing CRs to prevent the
Bryan Gee is the director of
education and training for
Tensar International Corp.
and the chair of the GMA
executive council.
Division
Geosynthetics is the official
publication of the Geosynthetic
Materials Association.
>> For more, search GMA at
GeosyntheticsMagazine.com.
GeosyntheticsMagazine.com
37
government shutdown, and we continue to promote the inclusion of research and/or
a center of excellence studying the use of geosynthetics to extend the current 20-year
designs to 40 years. The Fall '23 Lobby Days provided our members the opportunity
to inform congressional offices of several key concerns for the geosynthetic industry,
including the need for expanded clarity on the Build America, Buy America (BABA)
provisions in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), an understanding of
how various departments (including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [EPA],
the U.S. Department of Transportation [USDOT], the Bureau of Indian Affairs [BIA],
the U.S. Department of Interior and others) will implement the provisions and what
will be the compliance process for BABA.
In addition to our lobby efforts on Capitol Hill, several members of the GMA
leadership team used the D.C. visit to meet and establish key relations with the Office
of Infrastructure for the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). G
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Geosynthetics February/March 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Geosynthetics February/March 2024
