Engineering Inc - May/June 2018 - 14

CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS BEMOAN LACK OF
CONSISTENT TRANSPORTATION FUNDING

Agreeing on the need for federal transportation
funding reform, four U.S. representatives said that
the current structure of the Highway Trust Fund is
unsustainable.
"We clearly have to modernize the Trust Fund
and find an innovative way to transition to today's
vehicles," said Elizabeth Esty, D-Conn., who suggested readjusting the new lower corporate tax rate
and collecting repatriated money to fund an infrastructure bank.
John Faso, R-N.Y., said a user-fee system would
be the most equitable way to pay for transportation
and emphasized that any program must include
those not paying gas taxes.

"Electric vehicles are not paying, and it is just
not fair. Everyone has skin in this game," he said.
Rob Woodall, R-Ga., touted his state's recent
infrastructure successes including a $16.3 billion
I-95 rebuild. "I honestly have not seen a big drive
to create new revenue at the federal level," he said.
"Lots of discussion, but not much after that."
Oregon Democrat Rep. Earl Blumenauer said he
was just plain tired of just talk. "We are not stepping up. We need fewer studies, fewer hearings and
more action," Blumenauer said. "The simple fact is
you cannot base surface transportation on gallons
of fuel consumed. The bottom of the Trust Fund
paradigm is about to fall out."

ACEC/PAC CELEBRATES RECORD FUNDRAISING

ACEC/PAC set a record for total dollars raised during the 2018 Annual
Convention and Legislative Summit-$284,500. As a result, ACEC/PAC
has surpassed $460,000 in year-to-date receipts, keeping the PAC ahead of
last year's record setting pace.
From the more than 1,300 tickets sold for the Spring Sweepstakes,
Harry Hughes of Owl Creek Engineering, Thermopolis, Wyoming, won
the grand prize of $10,000; Michael Jelen of VHB, Silver Spring, Maryland, and James Longest of Beam, Longest and Neff, Indianapolis, each
won $5,000; and Lee Cammack of J-U-B Engineers, Kaysville, Utah,
and Tamre Passmore of NOVA Engineering, Kennesaw, Georgia, won
$2,500 each.
There were ten $1,000 winners: David Bills of Bills Engineering, Honolulu; Roseline Bougher of A.D. Marble, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania;
Harvey Floyd of KCI Technologies, Sparks Glencoe, Maryland; Chris
Magaldi of Thomas & Hutton, Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina; Janice
Marsters of Hart Crowser, Honolulu; John Nelson of Wright-Pierce,
Topsham, Maine; Michael Planer of PES Structural Engineers, Atlanta;
Thomas Sprehe of KCI Technologies, Sparks Glencoe, Maryland; Dick
Wells of Kleinfelder, Greensboro, North Carolina; and Karen Wood of
HMB Professional Engineers, Frankfort, Kentucky.
ACEC/PAC, Parsons PAC and Kevin Peterson of P2S co-sponsored a
fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif.
14

ENGINEERING INC.

MAY / JUNE 2018

Former Politico reporter and
Axios co-founder Mike Allen
(right) leads a discussion on
the politics of infrastructure
featuring U.S. Reps. (from
left) John Faso, R-N.Y.;
Elizabeth Esty, D-Conn.; Rob
Woodall, R-Ga.; and
Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore.

Congressman Bob Gibbs
(center) meets with members
of ACEC/Ohio during the
Convention. From left:
Matt Johnson, Palmer
Engineering; Beth Easterday,
executive director, ACEC/Ohio;
Congressman Gibbs; Jim
Kleingers, The Kleingers
Group; and Rich Iafelice,
CT Consultants.

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