On March 1, 2011, ASCE Met Section members and others in the New York City engineering community were treated to a discussion of government involvement and advocacy, its importance to the civil engineering profession and the activities that the National organization has been pursuing on our member's behalf. Mr. Pallasch, who is the Managing Director for ASCE National's Government Relations and Infrastructure Initiatives, and leads ASCE's lobbying efforts, spoke for over an hour and answered questions on a wide range of topics that included:
- Advocacy programs initiated by Government Relations such as the Key Contact Program, which forwards legislative alerts to registered members, the Click-and-Connect website that permits members to easily advocate for specific issues to national and local representatives, the National Infrastructure Report Card, and the annual Congressional Fly-in scheduled to occur at the end of March 2011.
- A call for more active involvement in political activities by ASCE members and all civil engineers. This involvement could range from attending local meet-and-greets with legislators to contacting legislators regarding issues important to the profession to actively seeking political office.
- Outreach to the political community by lobbying for legislation that will assure the continued service of our nation's infrastructure. These include re-authorization of the Surface Transportation Act, improvement of the nation's water resources, FAA funding re-authorization, the Clean Water Act re-authorization, dam safety legislation, and the creation of a National Infrastructure Bank to invest in regional or national transportation projects.
- Outreach to the business and political community through the sponsorship of a Vision Summit for Infrastructure scheduled for April 2011.
Brian Pallasch (left) with Met Section President Anthony Cioffi (center) and Government Affairs Committee Chair Carol Patterson (right).