2011-12 Priority Legislative Items:

1.      Create a leaner, more efficient State Government with efficiencies found through increased utilization of the private sector

2.      Passage of joint and several liability reform, replacing it with a system of proportionate liability

3.      Passage of “certificate of merit” protections for design professionals in order to insure that civil claims against engineering companies are deemed meritorious before the action can be filed

4.      Preserve critical State funding streams to preserve and grow engineering jobs in North Carolina.  These funding streams include:

·         NC Rural Center Grants Programs

·         State matching dollars for EPA-funded State Revolving Funds

o   NCDENR-PWS Drinking Water

o   NCDENR-DWQ CG&L Wastewater

·         NC Clean Water Management Trust Fund

·         Highway Trust Fund

·         Gap funding for NC Turnpike Authority

·         Funding for capital projects for Universities, Community Colleges and State Facilities (new construction and/or repair & renovation)

·         Funding for K-12 capital projects (new construction and/or repair & renovation)

·         NC Parks and Recreation Trust Fund

·         NC Housing Finance Agency

Other advocacy issues:

Environmental

·         Support legislative and administrative rules that use reclaimed water as a resource.

·         Oppose legislative and administrative rules that would remove the P.E. certification requirement for onsite septic systems of less than 3,000 gpd.

·         Support the application of risk-based standards for remediation of groundwater for all waste management programs administered by DENR.

·         Support legislative and administrative rules that regulate non-point sources of water pollution on a basin-by-basin basis.

Transportation

·         Support the creation and adoption of new transportation funding mechanisms, including but not limited to continuing to support local option revenue sources that also allow those local governments to procure their own contracts for new transportation infrastructure initiatives, the immediate removal of the cap on the gas tax, and those recommended by the 21st Century Transportation Commission.

·         Support the continued phase-out of all non-transportation-related transfers from the Highway Trust Fund.

·         Support investment in the North Carolina Mobility Fund and expanded use of Public/Private Partnerships.

·         Support continued “gap funding” for projects to be undertaken by the North Carolina Turnpike Authority.

·         Support continued investment in high-speed rail in North Carolina.

·         Support efforts to expand uses of local-option taxes to include all modes of transportation.

Economic Development

·         Support the creation of a “Building Trust Fund” for capital improvements, which could be seeded through the selling off of unnecessary State property and/or assets

·         Support a dedicated source of funding for the One North Carolina Fund and maintaining an availability of $20 million to keep NC competitive in the national and global marketplace.

·         Support continuing to fully fund enrollment growth in the University of North Carolina System and the Community College System.

·         Support increased investment in repairs & renovations to existing State-owned facilities, including but not limited to the University System and Community Colleges.

Professional

·         Support securing legislative authorization for additional participation by registered professional engineers on state boards and commissions.

·         Oppose any new taxes on professional services, specifically those targeted to the engineering industry.

·         Support the use and/or continued use of the Qualifications based Selection for the procurement of all professional services by all government entities in North Carolina and opposing any attempts to bypass Qualifications Based Selection for the procurement of professional services, regardless of the project delivery method.

·         Support the strengthening of and/or enforcing of the provisions of North Carolina’s Umstead Act, which precludes state government from using tax dollars to:

o   directly or indirectly sell goods in competition with N.C. citizens;

o   render services to the public that are ordinarily provided by private businesses;

o   lease space in a state owned or operated building for purposes of selling goods or rendering services in competition with private business;

o   contract with anyone to sell goods or render services in competition with private business.

·         Support the passage of legislation that would provide clarification that professional engineers shall continue to be allowed to represent clients before quasi-judicial bodies throughout this state.

·         Support limiting the use of "reverse auction" for procurement of engineers and architects to those projects that have no public dollars involved in the project, including those dollars that are in the form of public incentives and/or a result of a public/private partnership.

·         Support legislation to correct previous language regarding the use of existing plans for State Construction projects, clarifying that the State Construction may use existing plans where feasible instead of mandating that they shall use the plans where feasible.

·         Support efforts to reduce employer costs associated with employee health insurance and workers’ compensation insurance

·         Support phasing in a reduction of the corporate income tax rate to 5.9 percent and reduce the highest marginal personal income tax rate to at least 7.75 percent.