For the first time, NASBP and the Surety & Fidelity Association of America (SFAA) hosted a joint Legislative Fly-in on June 5-6. The program for the two-day event included an infrastructure panel discussion of Hill staff representing three U.S. House Committees–Small Business, Ways and Means, and Transportation and Infrastructure Committees.

The panelists were Naveen Parmar, Policy Director and General Counsel for the Small Business Committee (Majority); Jon Bosworth, Senior Legislative Assistant for U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, OR-D 3rd (Bosworth serves on the Ways and Means Committee); Kristine O’Brien, Director of Member Services for the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (Majority); and Nick Christensen, Director of Member Services for the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (Minority). Each panelist offered his or her Committee’s perspective concerning what reforms might be expected in a House infrastructure spending package. The moderator, NASBP’s Director of Government Relations, Larry LeClair, asked the panelists a series of questions, including will Congress pass a large infrastructure package; will public-private partnerships (P3s) play a role in helping to restore the country’s infrastructure; and, finally, how will Congress find the means to pay for an infrastructure package?

While the panelists’ responses varied, they all agreed that the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is one of the most bipartisan panels on Capitol Hill. The members who serve on this Committee are committed to working in a bipartisan manner to solve the nation’s infrastructure needs. The panelists presented several alternatives to fund an infrastructure spending package rather than simply raising the federal gas tax, which over 30 states have done. They proposed that alternative funding sources might include increasing the passenger facility charge (PFC) for airline travel and a user fee based on the number of miles a person drives in a year—commonly referred to as a vehicle miles traveled, or VMT. While it is certainly hard to predict what the House infrastructure package might include, the Senate appears to be satisfied with a straight-up reauthorization of the 2015 Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, which is authorized through Fiscal Year 2020.

Following the panel discussion, Fly-in attendees met with their House and Senate members of Congress, which totaled nearly 70 Capitol Hill visits. Attendees raised major issues while ensuring that Hill offices understood the role the federal Miller Act plays in protecting project owners, subcontractors, and suppliers in the event the prime contractor fails to perform. In addition to raising the Miller Act protections, attendees made the Hill offices aware of H.R. 224, legislation sponsored by House Small Business Committee Chair, Nydia Velázquez, D-NY 7th, and exempts the Miller Act from threshold increases for inflation. The panel raised additional points such as the inclusion of bonds on P3 agreements, especially when federal loans and or grant funds are offered to states and localities for infrastructure development. While P3s are a different delivery method than the traditional design-bid-build method to procure construction, surety bonds should be included in the same fashion as other public works projects.

Meetings with SBA and GSA Staff
Unique to this year’s Fly-in, NASBP secured meetings with representatives from the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). For additional details concerning the GSA meeting, please see Mark McCallum’s column, “Comments from the CEO.”

Fly-in attendees, including Josh Etemadi and Edin Zukanovic of Construction Bonds, Inc. and Eileen Frank of JP West Inc., were fortunate to meet with the Acting SBA Administrator, Christopher M. Pilkerton, and William Manger, Associate Administrator for SBA’s Office of Capital Access. During the meeting, attendees discussed the recent enhancements to the Bond Guarantee Program (BGP), access to working capital for small contractors, and greater involvement with local SBA Offices to understand the BGP. This meeting afforded NASBP members an excellent opportunity to express their support of the Program and to formally recognize the Program’s Director, Peter Gibbs, for his tireless work to enhance the Program. See photo in NASBP President John Bustard’s column in this issue.