Engineering Inc. - November/December 2004 - 13

face pressure during his second tion in the $300-billion range, likely to
embrace a higher federal term to prevent jobs from mov- but an agreement
in Congress gas tax to pump billions more ing overseas. remains elusive
due to compet- i n t o America's road projects, A lot of people are
concerned i n g state concerns over their t h o u g h many in the business
about it, including Republican re s p e c t i ve share of the federal
community, including ACEC, c o n s t i t u e n t s , says Max Saw- funding
pie. The failure to enact want one. i c k y, an economist at the a highway
bill in 2004 will hurt Bush made significant strides E c o n o m i c
Policy Institute, a e n g i n e e r s , land surveyors and in one area of
chief concern to l i b e r a l - l e a n i n g think tank in t h e i r
state DOT clients, who the engineering industry: reform- Washington, D.C.
cannot plan future projects with- ing the Fair Labor Standards Act. The
engineering industry has B u s h's Labor Department An overwhelming found
Bush sympathetic to eas- updated the 65-year-old act to ing regulations to
conduct busi- make it easier for engineering number of our ness. During his
first term, the firms to properly classify employ- members indicated
president reduced the obligation e e s as exempt or non-exempt they want a
presi- o f industrial plants to install from the act's minimum wage s t r o
n g e r a n d often expen- and overtime standards. The new dent who
supports sive emissions controls when rules also will protect firms from a
pro-growth expanding operations. He eased deep pocket lawsuits that have l
a w s that hindered developers b e c o m e increasingly popular agenda for
small f r o m building on their land, among trial attorneys. business. They
and made it easier for businesses Firms also worry about plain- believe
George to comply with regulations for tiffs who seeking culprits for
cleaning the environment. v a r i o u s types of pollution W. Bush has
been One regulatory topic yet to be often file lawsuits that unfairly and
remains the resolved is in Bush's highway bill; finger them. Though Bush
tried PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES right person for it would speed
environmental d u r i n g his first term to curb reviews of road and
transit proj- h u g e settlements from class- the job. ects by having
state and federal a c t i o n lawsuits, congressional Jack Faris agencies
perform their studies Democrats thwarted his efforts. National Federation
of concurrently, rather than sequen- Business leaders will assuredly
Independent Business t i a l l y, a policy supported by press Bush to try
again. A C E C and other industry out some assurances about future We are
very active on the not find the political will to organizations. spending.
issue of legal reform and the need m a k e these cuts permanent, The
goal...is to shorten the I see a lot fewer projects for us to make our
legal system faster, w h i c h would cost the federal approximate nine to
10 years it to go after than there would be fairer and more balanced, says
treasury $2.3 trillion during the t a k e s to complete a highway normally,
says Gordon Lutes, U . S . Chamber of Commerce next decade. improvement
project from start chairman of transportation issues spokeswoman Linda
Rozett. Congress has been rightly to finish, says Matt Jeanneret, f o r
the San Diego chapter of This administration has been criticized for the
huge spending spokesman for the 5,000-mem- ACEC's California state organi-
good for the industry in some binge they've been on since the ber American
Road and Trans- zation. There's been a lag while key areas, notably the
new cor- surpluses of the late 1990s, says portation Builders Association.
everyone waits to see who steps p o r a t e tax package that will Rudolph
Penner, an Urban Insti- But Bush initially proposed forward with some
money. extend new deductions to A/E tute economist and former chief o n l
y $256 billion during the Adds one engineering execu- firms, as well as
the rules govern- o f the Congressional Budget n e x t six years for the
nation's tive who asked he not be named: ing overtime, says Dave Ray-
Office. They're now showing highways and transit projects It's a big topic
with all the pro- m o n d , ACEC's president. that they've gotten a little
bit of far less than the $375 billion his fessional organizations. I had
to Where we clearly have work to religion. own Transportation Department l
e t some people go because I do, however, is convincing this Though some
Bush advisers says is needed to maintain and d i d n't have enough work
for president and the Congress have said that exporting labor to slightly
improve America's trans- them. If the [transportation bill] o f the need
for more public low-cost countries reduces busi- p o r t a t i o n system.
The White had passed, would I have been investment in infrastructure. We n
e s s costs and improves the House has since given indica- able to keep
them? Probably. c a n't build a strong economy without it. d o m e s t i c
economy, Bush will tions that it will accept legisla- Moreover, Bush
appears un- N o v e m b e r l December 2004 ENGINEERING INC. 1 3
Engineering Inc. - November/December 2004

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