NASBP Fly-in Records Surge in Number of Group Meetings with Members of Congress

On June 26, NASBP hosted its Annual Legislative Fly-in where over 90 attendees visited over 60 Congressional Offices, which included 24 Senate and 36 House offices to raise awareness of the importance of the surety bond product. This year’s NASBP Legislative Fly-in witnessed a strong surge in the number of Congressional offices visited per state. NASBP members and affiliates from California, Illinois, Hawaii, Kentucky, New York, Maryland, and Minnesota–just to name a few–visited multiple Congressional offices during the afternoon of the NASBP Fly-in. See pictures below.

“NASBP members can tag along with a group to get a better sense or practical experience to how things happen before they decide to fully commit on their own,” said Novica Prekpala, Vice President of Blaise Group NY, LLC., in Mt. Vernon, NY, who was one of seven from New York participating in the Fly-in. “Coordinating Hill visits with other NASBP members from your state is terrific because the discussion easily feeds off of our shared business experiences,” he added.

Jeff Reich, President of Florida Surety Bonds, Inc. in Maitland, FL said, “This was my first Legislative Fly-In, and it was an eye-opening experience. I was able to personally visit with the staff of six Florida legislators. They took the time to sit down with us, to listen to our concerns, and provide us with their insight as to the political process. I felt it was very worthwhile and plan on going back next year.” John Charlton and Keith MacLean joined Reich on these visits.

Enthusiasm to participate in groups in the Fly-in this year may be attributed to the positive outcome from last year’s Fly-in that provided an important springboard for a key issue for the surety industry. H.R. 3534, the “Security in Bonding Act” was a direct result from the 2011 NASBP Legislative Fly-in. At the 2011 NASBP Legislative Fly-in, the issue of individual surety was raised to Representatives Richard Hanna (R-NY) and Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) during their presentations that morning. Shortly thereafter, NASBP met with Representative Hanna to discuss the individual surety issue with the goal of having him introduce legislation to address the issue. As a former developer, Congressman Hanna has said that he saw first-hand the damage that occurred when inadequate bonds were secured for a project. In early December 2011, H.R. 3534 was introduced by Hanna and cosponsored by Congressman Mulvaney, the same Congressmen who spoke at the 2011 NASBP Legislative Fly-in.

Just like last year’s Fly-in, the day started with an Issue Orientation and Policy Briefing program with presentations from key members of Congress. This year, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) and Representatives Brian Higgins (D-NY-27th) and Steve King (R-IA-5th) presented at the event.

U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) addressed the federal budget with a plan to balance the federal budget in five years and reforming the U.S. Tax Code to alleviate the burden and complexity on taxpayers. Senator Paul commented on how government is prevalent in our everyday lives. “The government is involved in everything,” he said adding, “Your government is getting out of control.”

U.S. Representative Brian Higgins (D-NY 27th) in his 4th term in Congress serving the 27th District of New York, talked about how he has worked to grow the economy in NY by building the infrastructure of Buffalo, NY. Representative Higgins, a son of a bricklayer and a retired schoolteacher, described his efforts to support measures to improve access to affordable capital; to lower capital gains rates on investing in a small business; to increase grants and tax credits that help small business owners, minority-, women-, and veteran-owned business owners, grow their operations; and to limit unnecessary regulatory and tax burdens on small businesses. He described a bill that he has proposed that he believes would help the nation’s economy and put more people back to work. “I have a bill that says that we should spend $1.2 trillion dollars rebuilding the roads.” Higgins said that with investment in infrastructure including roads, bridges, sewer and water systems, the nation would have the dual benefit of rebuilding the infrastructure and of putting more people to work. He commented on the poor condition of the nation’s infrastructure. “We have 69,000 structurally deficient bridges in America today–yet every day seven cars drive one bridge that are structurally deficient,” he said. Higgins said he felt it is important that we reinvest in our communities and in our nation.

U.S. Representative Steve King (R-IA 5th) in his 5th term of Congress serving the 5th District of Iowa, talked about the campaign he is running against his opponent. King explained how he is familiar with the construction industry because he started King Construction, an excavation business in 1975. He explained how he is constantly aware of the challenges contractors face today because his son now operates the exacavation business King started. As a member of the House Small Business Committee, he supports policies that will reduce the tax and regulatory burden under which entrepreneurs and small business owners operate. Congressman King supports eliminating federal income tax and replacing it with the “Fair Tax”- a national sales tax that would replace all forms of federal income tax.

NASBP Fly-in attendees also heard from Emily Murphy, Senior Counsel to the House Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee. Murphy, who is an expert on federal contracting matters, assisted with the drafting of legislation that was adopted in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2013, which included important small business reforms, such as raising the contract size of the US Small Business Administration (SBA) Surety Bond Guarantee Program from $2 million to $6.5 million, amending the definition of contract bundling to include procurements for new construction, and the SBA with the authority to oversee the 13 current mentor-protégé agreements throughout the federal government. Murphy has been working with NASBP staff in effort to encourage the Senate to approve the NDAA that passed the House. See the Capitol Hill Update article in this issue for more about the NDAA.

Also, Kirk Bell, Senior Legislative Assistant to U.S. Representative Howard Coble (R-NC 6th), addressed the group mentioning his work with U.S. Representative Howard Coble and NASBP. Bell encouraged the Fly-in attendees to share their concerns about the surety industry during their visits with their members of Congress. “We’re here as public servants for you, don’t hesitate to share your point of view,” Bell said.

In addition, Peter Gibbs, Deputy Director of the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Surety Guarantees (OSG), provided NASBP Fly-in attendees an update on the impressive number of initiatives being undertaken by his office and how these may impact the surety industry.

During that morning program, NASBP staff reviewed talking points and distributed issue briefs to help prepare attendees for their Congressional visits. Some of those issues included: the importance of the surety bond product, Senate support for H.R. 3534, reforms to the SBA Surety Bond Guarantee Program (see the article on the Capitol Hill Update in this issue), contracting reforms that were included in the House National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2013, and the need for legislation to exempt the Federal Miller Act from periodic threshold increases based upon the rate of inflation.

The afternoon of June 26 was dedicated to NASBP members, affiliates, and associates meeting with their members of Congress on Capitol Hill. The day concluded with a NASBP hosted reception that evening in the new U.S. Capitol Visitor Center. Members, affiliates, and staff from several members of Congress attended the reception. Please be on the look out for an announcement of the date for next year’s NASBP Legislative Fly-in. You will not want to miss it! Below are pictures from June’s NASBP Legislative Fly-in.

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) talked about his experiences about owning a construction business with Fly-in attendees.

The Illinois Fly-in attendees scheduled five meetings with their members of Congress that included a meeting with Will Cronin, llinois Representative Walsh’s legislative aid. From left, Cronin, Karen Dohn, Carl Dohn, Mike Ito, Colleen Clarke, and Spence Miller.

The same Illinois group met with Frank Pigulski, Illinois Representative Lipinski’s legislative aid. From left, Pigulski, Mike Ito, Colleen Clarke, Carl Dohn, and Karen Dohn.

Also, California members, from left, Maureen O’Connell, Mark Lansdon, Susan Hecker, Bailey McMahon and Larry McMahon scheduled meetings and met with their members of Congress.

The Kentucky group was able to speak with Senator Rand Paul at the NASBP Fly-in morning session and other Kentucky members of Congress that afternoon. The Kentucky group included, from left, Todd Loehnert and Brian Ayres and, not pictured, Paul Chapman, Tim Guest, John Meehan, and Fred Orthmeyer.

The New York group went on the Hill with great representation at this year’s Fly-in with seven people including, from left, Novica Prekpala, Chris Leach, Kevin Garrity and, not pictured, Bill Maroney, Andrew Tokasz, Bradley Hall, and Tim Toole.

Maryland had a great turnout as well with, from left, Mark McCallum, Bill Cowan, Daniel West, Steve Freeman, and Lenore Marema. In addition, Maryland participants not pictured included Gene Dessureau, Lynne Cook, Bud Herndon, Ira Katz, and David Summerall.