Engineering Inc - November/December 2017 - 8

LEGISLATIVEACTION

8

ENGINEERING INC.

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2017

BLOOMBERG / CONTRIBUTOR / GETTY IMAGES

T

he Council continues to work with congressional lawmakers and administration
officials to advance a robust infrastructure investment plan, likely to move forward
in early 2018. Key House and Senate committee leaders are waiting for the
administration to release additional details of its $1 trillion federal infrastructure
plan, which is expected to come after consideration of a tax reform bill.
In testimony submitted to the House Transportation
Funds would
and Infrastructure Committee, ACEC called for a bold
include
infrastructure package that includes robust funding for
core federal programs; innovative financing mechanisms to promote
$100 billion
additional private investment; a long-term sustainable solution for the
for local
Highway Trust Fund; and measures to promote utilization of private
prioritization
sector engineering and design capabilities.
grants to be
The Trump administration's proposal is expected to recommend
awarded to
$200 billion in federal funding over 10 years across a range of eligible
projects
with a
infrastructure classes, including highways, rail and transit systems,
aviation, drinking water and wastewater, and rural broadband. Funds
very high state/
would include $100 billion for local prioritization grants to be
local/private
awarded to projects with a very high state/local/private cost share and
cost share
innovative performance criteria that accounts for long-term operations
and maintenance. An "asset recycling" incentive would be one piece of this funding pot,
whereby state and local agencies are awarded bonus payments for executing long-term leases
of publicly held assets to private investors and operators, with the proceeds reinvested in other
infrastructure projects.
The administration's plan will also likely include $50 billion targeted to infrastructure needs in
rural communities, to be apportioned by a formula that negatively weighs population and density.
ACEC also continues to provide advice and feedback to senior administration officials on
regulatory actions to facilitate project delivery while still retaining key environment and resource
protections. The White House Council on Environmental Quality is already taking steps to implement changes laid out in an executive order issued in August that promotes a unified National
Environmental Policy Act decision-making timeline for projects, with the goal of reducing average
approval times to two years.

ACEC helped to win critical
changes in the new North
American Electric Reliability
Corp. (NERC) supply chain
cybersecurity standard.
After more than a year of
negotiations, NERC dropped
proposed contract language
that would have created
unreasonable liability for
engineering firms in the event of
a breach of utility cybersecurity.
Original contract language
recommended by the
Department of Energy included
prescriptive provisions that
pushed liability down the
supply chain to vendors such
as engineering firms. The new
rule incorporates a risk-based
approach for minimizing
cybersecurity breaches that
limits prospective liability for A/E
firms.
NERC filed the new standard
with the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission in
September and approval is
expected soon.

ANDREW BROOKES / GETTY IMAGES

ACEC Continues
Strong Advocacy
for Infrastructure
Investment Plan

ACEC Nets Firm
Liability Limits
in New NERC
Supply Chain
Cybersecurity
Standard
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Engineering Inc - November/December 2017
