NSPE’s Advocacy Center includes a resource designed to make it easier for members to schedule meetings with their U.S. Representative.

NSPE is inviting members to share feedback on advocacy priorities and policy issues affecting engineering practice. Responses will help provide additional insight into issues affecting Professional Engineers, with new questions posted periodically.

Professional engineers across the country continue to make their voices heard with members of Congress, and the results are already visible. This fall, NSPE members met with congressional staff in district offices nationwide, and the photos tell the story. Engineers are sitting down with decision makers, sharing firsthand knowledge of infrastructure, public safety, licensure, and the technical standards communities rely on every day.

The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) remains in a period of uncertainty even after the end of the 43-day federal government shutdown. The agency, created under the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments to investigate major chemical accidents and identify root causes, continues to operate on a temporary basis following passage of a new continuing resolution.

The National STEM Week Act (S.1070), introduced in March of 2025, aims to create an annual nationwide recognition week dedicated to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Sponsored by Senators Joni Ernst (IA) and Amy Klobuchar (MN), the bill highlights the essential role of early STEM engagement in preparing students for future technical careers and strengthening the nation’s long-term workforce.

A new interim final rule from the Department of Transportation (DOT) has reshaped how states, local agencies, and contractors navigate federally assisted infrastructure work. Issued October 3 and made effective immediately under the Administrative Procedure Act’s “good cause” provision, the rule removes long-standing presumptions of social disadvantage in the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise and Airport Concession (DBE) programs and replaces them with individualized determinations.

Federal student loan changes enacted in 2025 are prompting widespread questions across many professions, including engineering. National media have focused first on nursing programs, but the conversation now includes architecture, engineering, and other technical fields that have historically fallen outside a narrow federal category known as “professional degrees.”

Governor Tina Kotek has signed Oregon’s $5.7 billion transportation funding package, completing the work lawmakers began during the Labor Day special session. The new law locks in a decade of investment aimed at stabilizing the state’s transportation system, addressing the Oregon Department of Transportation’s projected budget gap, and reversing years of deferred maintenance on roads and bridges.

Florida lawmakers appear ready to revisit sweeping changes to professional licensing only months after the 2025 session ended with a major restructuring effort failing to advance. Earlier this year, HB 1461 proposed folding multiple independent licensing boards into the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR), the agency that already administers licensing for dozens of fields across the state.

Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo convened a special session in mid-November 2025 to finish unresolved work from earlier this year. While the formal agenda focused on a limited set of fiscal and administrative items, recent filings and agency actions continue to signal executive branch interest in restructuring how Nevada’s professional licensing boards operate.