Issues & AdvocacyIssues & Advocacy

Ask Your Senator to Amend S. 3254
By Jessica Salmoiraghi, Director, Federal Regulatory Relations & Counsel

Despite all of the partisan bickering in Washington, Congress may take an important step in helping small architecture firms succeed – but unless they hear from you, they might not act.

The House has already passed legislation which prevents the Small Business Administration (SBA) from forcing an industry into a size standard which does not fit. Effectively, the bill would prevent the SBA from pushing through a massive change to the architectural size standard as they proposed last year. However, the Senate stripped the language from the bill and we need your help to get it back in.

The AIA’s advocacy is one of the reasons that this bill was written. The AIA worked closely with the House Small Business Committee during the size standard review in 2011. Due to architects’ strong voice, through Capitol Hill testimony, and other grassroots advocacy, architects like you convinced the SBA to abandon plans to raise the standard to $19 million, which would have made nearly 98 percent of all architecture firms qualify as small businesses. This language was drafted to protect architects and other small businesses from any future size standard increase that harms small firms.

The House Small Business Committee passed this bill unanimously out of committee. It was included in a larger bill before the Senate, S. 3254, involving military programs, but was taken out. We need your voice to help make sure the Senate places this language back into the bill.

Please take a moment today and send a message to your Senator through the AIA’s newly enhanced Advocacy Center.

Click here to send your message now. Please note that you may be required to log into the AIA.org site before sending your message. For more information on our fight, please see the AIA’s Small Business Size Standard resource center.

Back to Issues and Advocacy News