An Engaging Legislative Year for TexASCE’s GAC

The TexASCE Government Affairs Committee (GAC) has had an active role this past year engaging in public policy recommendations for not only our state government but also local governments. The GAC began its work this with a successful 2019 ASCE Texas Legislative Drive-In event where committee members scheduled meetings with their legislators, provided feedback on bills, and responded to various decisions through letters and testimony.

Policy issues, public outreach, and government relation activities in which TexASCE participated this past year included the following:

• A letter to members of the Texas Sunset Commission regarding the staff report recommendations on the Texas Board of Professional Geoscientists (TBPG) licensure;
• Providing written comments in collaboration with the Task Committee for Post-Harvey Recommendations and TxEWRI on the draft TWDB State Flood Assessment in September 2018;
• Advocacy for Rebuild Houston Proposition A;
• Preparing ASCE Texas Section members who were interviewed and quoted for various news affiliations:
  1. Travis Attanasio PE was quoted in the Austin American-Statesman on the Kingsland bridge collapse in October 2018;
  2. Brandon Klenzendorf PhD, PE was interviewed on CBS Austin following the Lake Dunlap dam failure in May 2019;
• Authoring an Op-Ed in the Austin American-Statesman in response to Governor Abbot’s State of the State Address;
• Engaging with policy makers of the 86th legislative session by discussing, reviewing, commenting and providing written and oral testimony on several bills presented by legislators. The bills for which the GAC advocated included
  • SB 7 by Senator Creighton – related to funding of flood planning and infrastructure which was signed into law by Governor Abbott
  • SB 8 by Senator Perry – related to flood planning which was signed into law by Governor Abbott
  • HB 137 by Representative Hinojosa – related to dam hazard classification reports which was signed into law by Governor Abbott
  • HB 1059 by Representative Lucio III – related to stormwater infrastructure reporting which passed the legislature and was vetoed by Governor Abbott
  • HB 1010 by Representative Paul – related to flood planning
  • HB 478 by Representative Phelan – related to funding of flood planning and infrastructure
  • SB 396 by Senator Perry – related to flood planning
  • Meeting with the clerk of the Senate Water and Rural Affairs Committee
  • Meeting with the clerk of the House Natural Resources Committee
  • Letter update on North Texas flood risk mitigation for Senator Fallon
• Participating in Infrastructure Week (iWeek) 2019 on TexASCE GAC advocacy
• Leading a webinar on infrastructure education for Texas legislators

The TexASCE GAC has continued plans for growth, advocacy, and involvement in the next year and is seeking additional volunteers to assist in these activities. These goals center around planning for the release of the next Texas Infrastructure Report Card. If you would like to contribute to this goal, or any of the government affairs activities, please reach out to the incoming GAC Chair, Augustine Verrengia, at [email protected].