Engineering Inc. - May/June 2019 - 9

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en. Steve Daines, R-Mont., introduced the Senate version
of the Main Street Tax Certainty Act, which would make
the Section 199A 20 percent passthrough tax deduction
permanent. Reps. Jason Smith, R-Mo., and Henry
Cuellar, D-Texas, introduced identical legislation in the House.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA)
lowered the corporate tax rate from
35 percent to 21 percent, which provides
significant tax relief for engineering firms
organized as C corporations, including
personal services corporations. The law
also created the Section 199A 20 percent
tax deduction for passthrough firms,
including S corporations, partnerships
Sen. Steve Daines,
R-Mont.
and sole proprietorships.
The 21 percent corporate rate is permanent, but the Section
199A deduction is one of many provisions in the TCJA that
expire at the end of 2025. ACEC joined over 100 other
organizations in sending a letter of support for the Main Street
Tax Certainty Act to the leaders of the House and Senate
tax-writing committees.

ACEC Leads Effort to Counter
'Transparency' Legislation
ACEC joined other professional services groups from the
technology, cybersecurity and construction industries on an
open letter to governors, state lawmakers, state IT leaders and
procurement officials that outlined their shared concerns over
legislation under consideration in multiple states to impose
computer monitoring requirements on contractors doing work
for state agencies.
The legislation, which is being pushed by a company
called TransparentBusiness, has raised significant privacy and
compliance concerns among members of ACEC state organizations, whose members already operate under federal and state
regulations and agency policies that govern and manage contract
negotiation, oversight and deliverables.
The technology mandated through this legislation would
automatically collect data on all work performed by a contractor
on a computer, including tracking total keystrokes and mouse
event frequency and recording screenshots at least once every
three minutes.
Because many services provided by A/E firms go well beyond
computer keystrokes, ACEC state chapters have effectively
argued that this proposed mandate has little relevance to how
the industry operates. The Council has also raised serious cybersecurity concerns over the software mandates covered in the
proposed legislation.
ACEC's efforts were featured in a recent Bloomberg Law
article, "States Want to Snoop on Contractors, but Plans Are
Stalling," written by Andrew Wallender and Sara Merken.

ISSUES ON THE MOVE

WHAT'S NEXT

Department of Labor overtime
rule

Final rule expected this
summer

Wastewater funding

Likely to be included in larger
infrastructure package later in
the year

New wetlands rule

Possible final rule this summer

JULISCALZI / ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES

Legislation Introduced to Make
Passthrough Deduction Permanent

ACEC Comments on
Revised Wetlands Rule

CEC submitted written comments to the
Department of the Army and the Environmental
Protection Agency in April in response to a
proposal to revise the definition of "waters of the
United States" (WOTUS).
ACEC's comments noted that the proposed revision
favorably addresses nearly every issue it had raised
previously concerning the 2015 WOTUS rule. ACEC stated
that the revised definition was a positive step toward
pragmatically balancing federal and state jurisdiction with
economic needs and the public
interest of achieving the goals of
the Clean Water Act.
"America's engineering
industry is keenly aware of the
need to design a sustainable
built environment, consistent
with responsible environmental
protections," says ACEC
For
President and CEO Linda Bauer
legislative
Darr. "The 2015 WOTUS rule
news, visit
went too far in expanding the
ACEC's Last
definition of wetlands subject
Word blog
to federal jurisdiction and
at www.
would have caused needless
acec.org.
complications in the permitting
process. The current revision
is a welcome change and a
promising course correction."

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More
News

MAY / JUNE 2019

ENGINEERING INC.

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Engineering Inc. - May/June 2019

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