MALSCE Government Affairs Update – May 2023

MALSCE Government Affairs Update – May 2023

by Abbie Goodman, MALSCE Chief of External Affairs

Engineers & Land Surveyors @ the State House + Water's Worth It Day

From left: BSCES President Mike Cunningham, MAWEA leader Mickey Nowak, MWWA Exec. Director Jennifer Pederson, MALSCE External Affairs Chief Abbie Goodman, State Representative Sean Garballey, ACEC/MA President Colleen Moore, ACEC/MA VP Gerry Preble, MALSCE President Ken Conte, TECET Chair Ko Ishikura, MALSCE Legislative Affairs Chair/MALSCE Past-President Scott Cameron at the State House on May 11. 

On Thursday, May 11, 2023, ACEC/MA, BSCES, and MALSCE members gathered at the Massachusetts State House for our Annual Engineers and Land Surveyors Day at the State House along with leaders from other engineering and design-related associations. 

These organizations co-sponsored the day:

• American Council of Engineering Companies of Massachusetts (ACEC/MA)
• Boston Society of Civil Engineers Section/ASCE (BSCES)
• Massachusetts Association of Land Surveyors and Civil Engineers (MALSCE)
• Massachusetts Water Works Association (MWWA)
• Massachusetts Water Environment Association (MAWEA)
• Massachusetts Highway Association
• MMA Policy Committee on Public Works, Transportation and Public Utilities
• MMA Policy Committee on Energy and the Environment
• The Engineering Center Education Trust

We arranged for meetings with our members’  Massachusetts State Representatives and State Senators based on where our members live and vote. 

This important advocacy isn’t limited to only one day a year, so even if you were unable to attend,  we encourage you to set up local meetings. Legislators need to hear from constituents about the challenges facing our water and transportation infrastructure and how they can help.

You can meet with your State Senator and your State Representative during their district office hours, usually held at least once a month in a local library, community center or another municipal location.

Legislative Offices: 

To find contact information for your legislators, to ask about local office hours, and so you might email them to set up a local time to meet in the next month or so, see this state site: https://malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator

Here are the Issue Briefing Sheets we used on May 11 for your meetings; we distributed these to all legislative offices on May 11, but your local contact will help to deliver the messages on these:

Issue Briefing Sheets – pdfs:

• Summary of all 5 briefing sheets
• Wipes Labeling can Save Ratepayers $; Keep Waters Clean
• Water Infrastructure Investment Creates Jobs
• PFAS - Communities Face Many Challenges
• Transportation Infrastructure
• Maximizing Private Sector Innovation

      More information on this page.   

      Please plan to join us for advocacy at the State House next year. 

Legislature FY2024 Budget Update:

The Senate Ways and Means Committee issued its $55.8 billion state budget bill on May 9, leaving room for about $575 million in future investments in tax relief, which the Senate budget chief said will be hitting the chamber floor for debate soon.

The timing of this release continues the fall back into the typical timetable used to develop the Commonwealth’s budget after Governor Healey was given additional time to file her first budget.

The Legislature and Administration had previously agreed to base the FY24 budget development on the belief that state tax revenues are expected to rise 1.6% over the next fiscal year, or 4.1% when accounting for the $1 billion the administration expects to bring in from millionaires tax. To date, both Governor Healey and the House of Representatives used this expected revenue figure to develop their versions of the budget. Last week, however, the Department of Revenue announced that the state collected $4.782 billion in taxes in April, which is $1.435 billion or 23.1% below the most recent monthly benchmark projection. Ultimately, with only two months left in the fiscal year, the state so far has collected $703 million less than expected in tax revenues. Since the announcement, Governor Healey has attempted to portray a continued sense of optimism, saying that FY24 budget proposals should already factor in an economic slow down and that “we have the money there to make the investments in our people.” Senate leadership has not made any statements on how April’s revenue numbers will impact Senate budget debate or any tax reform proposal.

 With the release of the Senate Ways and Means budget, Senate members had until the afternoon of Friday, May 12 to file amendments and a combination floor/remote debate is scheduled to begin the week of May 22, 2023.

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Division of Occupational Licensure: Board of Registration of Professional Engineers and Professional Land Surveyors

• On April 20, EOHED Secretary Yvonne Hao promoted Division of Occupational Licensure Commissioner Layla D'Emilia to Undersecretary of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation, which oversees the Division and several other agencies. They have not yet announced a new commissioner.
• Sarah R. Wilkinson is the new Commissioner. She has served as Deputy Commissioner for the past few years. Her appointment is expected to be announced later this week. Greer Spatz is the Division’s new General Counsel, as Clinton Dick was promoted to General Counsel of the Office of  Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation.
• Next Board of Registration public meeting is listed as: May 25, 2023, on Teams. The Board of Registration plans to continue virtual meetings for now, as the Governor and Legislature have extended the law allowing virtual public meetings like this to continue through March 31, 2025. To connect to the meeting, go to this page and scroll down to the meeting listing to download the agenda with connection instructions.

• Status of May 4, 2023 Board meeting: this was a rescheduled meeting due to the cancelled April 20, 2023 Board meeting.  Here are the public meeting minutes from this May 4 meeting. These are the approved March Board Meeting Minutes.
• Status of April 20, 2023 Board meeting: This meeting was cancelled due to a posting glitch at the Division of Professional Licensure: the public meeting agenda was not posted on the website 48 hours in advance as required by law. I am able to provide the March Board Meeting Draft minutes which have not yet been approved.

Updated Highlights of the 3/23/2023 Board of Registration Meeting.

• The Division of Occupational Licensure is now required to record meetings.
• The board approved the February 16, 2023 meeting minutes. Draft February Public Session meeting minutes.

• NCEES Enforcement Exchange: Ten individuals with Massachusetts licenses appeared on the NCEES Enforcement Exchange list in the past month due to infractions in other states. Individuals are supposed to self-report to all boards in states where they are registered when this happens. Division staff is reviewing to see whether people have done the required self-reporting.

• Joint Professional Practice document:  Awaiting Action on this draft from Board of Registration of Architects during their April 11 board meeting on this draft version: https://files.engineers.org/file/Updated-Draft-AR-EN-Prof-Practice-Guide-January-2023-002.pdf
  • [Note from Abbie Goodman not yet announced by PE and PLS Board]: The Board of Registration of Architects voted to accept the draft on April 11, so this document will return to the PE and LS Board for another vote. Once the final document is approved by both boards, the document will then be reviewed by Division of Professional Licensure staff before it is issued to the public.
  • Eventually, the Board of Registration is eager for ACEC/MA, BSCES, and MALSCE to assist in widely distributing this document to design professionals, state officials and municipal officials statewide.

• Draft Continuing Professional Competency Regulations are still in the Executive Office of Housing and Community Development. From there they would go to Executive Office of Administration and Finance.