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Facing a May 31 deadline, Congress once again passed a short-term funding patch to avoid imminent insolvency of the Highway Trust Fund. Since September 30, 2014, when the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act expired, Congress has relied on short-term funding laws, commonly known as patches, to finance our nation’s surface transportation infrastructure.

On April 30, NSPE submitted a public comment to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) commending the agency for recognizing the critical role of professional engineers in the recently released notice of proposed rulemaking in response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster of 2010.

On April 21, NSPE submitted a public comment in fervent opposition to a proposed rule that would weaken certain requirements for a professional engineer as part of the licensing process of deepwater ports.

Representative Sam Graves (R-MO) recently introduced H.R. 1666, the Design-Build Efficiency and Jobs Act of 2015. This legislation reintroduces the Congressman’s bill from the 113th Congress, H.R. 2750, the Design-Build Efficiency and Jobs Act of 2013. NSPE endorsed H.R. 2750 and its public statement can be read here.

The most serious push to overhaul the No Child Left Behind Act since it was enacted into law in 2002 saw an important victory for engineering education in K-12 today. In a close 12-10 vote, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee approved the Franken Title II Amendment, which is dedicated to improving STEM instruction and student achievement. This amendment incorporates aspects of the Educating Tomorrow’s Engineers Act, which NSPE has been a leading advocate of.

Representative Paul Tonko (NY-20) with lead cosponsors Representative David McKinley, P.E. (WV-1) and Representative Joe Kennedy (MA-4) has introduced the Educating Tomorrow's Engineers Act. This bipartisan legislation, H.R. 823, which emphasizes the importance of the E in STEM, aims to increase student achievement and interest in engineering and to align K-12  curricula with the skills needed in the 21st century workforce. To this end, H.R.

In an effort to prevent professional engineers from being placed at serious legal risk, NSPE has filed a “friend of the court” brief before the Virginia Supreme Court in support of an appeal of a lower court decision that, if affirmed, would require a professional engineer to independently test and verify the accuracy of a product manufacturer’s representation to satisfy the professional standard of care.

On March 19, NSPE participated in the 2015 Society of Women Engineers Capitol Hill Day to discuss issues of importance to professional engineers, such as the Educating Tomorrow’s Engineers Act (H.R. 823) and the looming deadline for federal infrastructure funding.