Associations Urge Jobs Legislation

Several design and construction-affiliated associations have written an open letter to President Obama and congressional leaders urging them pass job-producing legislation.

Design and construction-based associations including the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) have asked the White House and Congressional leaders to put aside partisan differences and enact legislation that will return this sector to its role as one of the biggest job-producing engines of the American economy.

In an open letter to President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker John Boehner and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, 45 industry representatives asked the President and Congress to work together to achieve three goals to spur immediate job creation:

• Pass surface transportation, aviation, water resources, and clean water and drinking water infrastructure authorization bills. Enactment of these authorizations, the letter states, will immediately provide programmatic and fiscal certainty that will help job creators in every state put people back to work.

• Pass and sign appropriations bills for the remainder of fiscal year 2012 as soon as possible. The signatories to the letter state that failure to pass authorization bills undermines business confidence and damages the economy by providing little or no certainty to public agencies or those who perform work for them.

• Jumpstart new privately funded construction with pro-growth tax policies that will boost economic expansion.

The signatories to the letter commended the President and Congress for repealing both the three-percent withholding mandate on government contractors and expanded the Form 1099 information-reporting requirements. However, much more needs to be done to return the sector to its former prominence as an engine of the economy.

“Rather than blame each other for a sluggish economy, the two political parties can enact legislation that will jumpstart the economy just as the presidential election cycle begins in earnest,” said AIA President Clark Manus, FAIA.

The design and construction industry accounts for 5.7 percent of the Gross Domestic Product, employing more than seven million Americans who design, construct and maintain the infrastructure on which our economy depends. When unemployment in this sector is high, the letter states, “the impact is felt in every community across the nation.”

“The pent-up potential for employment can quickly turn into action that will not only benefit the economy, but have a direct impact on the health and welfare of communities and the public,” said Nancy Somerville, Hon. ASLA, Hon. AIA, and executive vice president and CEO of the American Society of Landscape Architects. “Urban infrastructure, public health, energy, transportation — America must lead on these and other issues, and Congress holds the keys to freeing the creativity and innovation that is central to our national identity and has been stalled by uncertainty.”

In addition to the ASLA and AIA, leaders from associations including the America Subcontractors Association and the Associated General Contractors Association were among the letter signers.