Issues & AdvocacyFederal

From May 6, 2010 Angle

As the economic outlook for the design and construction industry remained shaky and Congress remained mired in partisan debate over immigration, financial reform and climate change, the AIA pressed policymakers to keep the focus on job creation.

On May 4, AIA President George H. Miller, FAIA, joined national leaders in addressing the Good Jobs Green Jobs National Conference. During a session that included speeches from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter (D), Miller told the attendees, “Architects and the construction industry can make a major contribution to America’s economic and environmental security. Our industry has the will to make that contribution. What we need are the tools.” He went on to urge Congress to pass several pieces of legislation that would create jobs through promoting energy efficiency, including the BuildingSTAR commercial retrofit program and the GREEN Act for green affordable housing, which was approved by the House Financial Services Committee last week. (Click here to read Miller’s remarks in full and here to watch the video of Miller’s comments.)

On May 5, Chris Green, AIA, told the House Small Business Committee that tax policies to drive economic growth and job creation should be Congress’ top priority. “Although there have been glimmers of hope in the economic figures,” Green said in his prepared remarks, “I am here to tell you that, for our industry, the light at the end of the tunnel is still a distant flicker. Our data shows that we are still at least a year away from having a healthy business environment in the design and construction industry.”

Green, president of AGO Studios in Avon, Colorado, and Vice Chairman of the Sustainable Building Technology Committee that developed the International Green Construction Code (IgCC), urged the Committee and Congress to enact measures that provide tax incentives for small businesses to expand and invest in assets and to expand the Energy Efficient Commercial Building Tax Deduction. (Click here to read Green’s congressional testimony or click here to watch a video of Green testifying.)

For additional information, please contact Andrew Goldberg, Assoc. AIA, senior director, Federal Relations.

Additional Resources:

• Read the AIA press release urging expansion of the commercial building tax deduction.

• Click here to read an AIA study analyzing the potential impact of job creation in the building design and construction sectors from the GREEN Act.

• Read an AIA letter advocating establishment of the BuildingSTAR retrofit program.