P-4

By Ned Statchen

CSEA-SEIU Local 2001 members Travis Woodward and I, along with other Union leaders representing Engineers and other Transportation Professionals from around the country were in Washington recently for the 15th Annual Conference of the National Association of State Highway and Transportation Unions (NASHTU).  NASHTU is a coalition of 38 unions and affiliates from 20 states and the District of Columbia representing hundreds of thousands of state and local transportation department employees from throughout the United States.  CSEA has been a member of NASHTU all 15 years and helped to start the organization in 1998.  Most DOT work is 80% federally funded so we need to have a voice in the Transportation budget.

CSEA SEIU Local 2001 and NASHTU were urging members of Congress to oppose any outsourcing mandates that are attached to the upcoming surface transportation authorization.  These mandates, if enacted, can shrink our, and all union membership and infringe upon a state DOT’s ability to choose how best to deliver its transportation program.

In addition, NASHTU is also advocating two important concepts that are designed to protect public safety and tax dollars as states undertake federally-funded transportation improvement programs.  The first proposal would require public employees to perform the construction inspection on federally funded state and local transportation projects.  Public inspectors ensure that construction and seismic standards are met, that projects meet safety requirements and the materials used will stand the test of time.

NASHTU wants to ensure that transportation projects are built cost effectively by requiring state and local transportation departments to perform a cost comparison analysis for federally funded projects prior to outsourcing work.  This is similar to our own state bill but instituting this common sense pro vision in the Transportation reauthorization will ensure that federal transportation dollars are spent most effectively.

We also urged Congress to support an increase in sustainable revenue for the Highway Trust Fund.  The HTF provides federal funding for highway and transit programs and receives its funding mostly from fuel excise taxes which have not been raised since 1993 and have become less effective with improvements in fuel efficiency and public transportation.  The HTF is scheduled to run out of cash this August unless Congress acts to provide new revenue.  U.S. DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx has estimated that 700,000 construction jobs are at risk if nothing is done to address the shortfall.

Representatives Michael Capuano of Massachusetts, Earl Blumenauer of Oregon and Eleanor Holmes Norton of DC, accepted our invitation to address our conference and take questions and feedback from the people who actually build and maintain the roads and bridges, not the lobbyists they’re used to hearing from.  But I think what is most effective is our lobby day when NASHTU members take our message right to the offices of the members of Congress and their Transportation staffers in the states they live.  On this trip we had meetings with Transportation staff from the offices of Reps. Elisabeth Esty and Rosa DeLauro, and Senator Chis Murphy.  At the end of the day, we had a successful reception right in the Rayburn Congressional Office Building where several other members of Congress and staff came to express their support and appreciation for the work we do.  At the reception, I spoke with Representative Scott Perry, a Republican from Pennsylvania and filled him in on who NASHTU is and expose some of the falsehoods of Privatization and 3-Ps.  I also spoke with staff from the Congressional Transportation Committee and got their opinions on the Administration’s Transportation Budget proposal that had come out that day.

On Monday, a small group from NASHTU including myself, went to the U.S. Department of Transportation and had a meeting with acting Deputy Secretary Victor Mendez who is also the Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration.  In his office he told us the Administration is planning to release their budget proposal in the very near future, which turned out to be the next day.  We discussed specific language in several sections of the transportation budget concerning incentives for state DOTs to outsource work to consulting engineers.  He said we should review these areas of the new budget proposal when it comes out and get back to his staff with our comments.

The work that NASHTU and its members do is incredibly important.  In the current MAP-21 Transportation budget, Representative Hanna of New York had put in language that state DOTs had to have a certain percent set aside requiring work be performed by private sector CEs on all federally funded projects.  NASHTU members moved quickly contacting legislators and staff and were successful in having that language removed from MAP-21.  Unfortunately we hear he may have plans to try something similar with the next budget, trying to include a proposal that would give states additional transportation funds if they met some consultant percentage for all engineering work done.  I think it’s safe to assume the money would come from the State’s that don’t meet this requirement.

The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) is a massive lobbying firm in Washington DC that pushes this type of agenda every day.  We need to have a voice in Washington to speak up and tell our side of the story and point out the mistruths that are presented on privatization.  I would never have imagined being have to have a meeting with the 2nd ranking Transportation Official in the country, but NASHTU was able to make that happen so we could voice our concerns about outsourcing.  It’s not just for our benefit but for better government that can retain control of our own DOTs before we lose all power to the Consultants and they can charge the taxpayers whatever they see fit.