Issues & AdvocacyFederal

2004

*The AIA ensures that architecture firms are included in legislation to reduce taxes on businesses

2005

*The AIA wins support for legislation to help federal agencies hire architects to provide on-site renewable energy on government buildings

*The AIA leads the effort to get Congress to authorize a study of how well-designed transportation projects promote better communities

2006

*The AIA helps pass legislation providing funding for disaster recovery and preservation of damaged historic structures for the Katrina-ravaged Gulf Coast

2007

*The AIA leads the effort to get Congress to pass legislation that establishes aggressive energy-saving goals for federal building design

The General Services Administration publishes the first site security design guide to integrate building security and design for government facilities with input from the AIA and others

2008

*The AIA and its coalition help ensure that the 179D energy efficient commercial building tax incentive is extended. The AIA also leads the effort to convince the IRS to issue rules that allow architects to claim the 179D deduction for energy-saving improvements to public buildings

*The AIA and the National Trust for Historic Preservation see their four-year effort to pass legislation that promotes community revitalization and historic preservation enacted

2009

*The AIA leads the effort to ensure Congress provides needed funding for school construction and for public buildings

The AIA and its allies help block a plan that would have lowered the threshold for employer-mandated health insurance on construction companies to those with 5 or more employees, when for all other industries the mandate was for those with 50 or more

2010

*The AIA’s effort to ensure the Architect of the Capitol remains a licensed architect is realized when the President nominates and the Senate confirms Stephen Ayers, AIA, as Architect

*The AIA’s finally wins its four year battle to reform retainage rules that required federal agencies to hold 10 percent of an architect’s fee

The AIA leads the effort to stop a payroll tax increase on small architecture firms

*The AIA helps to enact legislation to provide more capital for small businesses

The AIA and its allies help enact the Federal Personnel Training Act to help the federal workforce gain the skills needed to design, build and operate high performance buildings

2011

*The AIA and its allies successfully repeal the 1099 paperwork mandate and the three-percent withholding mandate

The AIA and its allies succeed in keeping the Solar Decathlon on the National Mall

The AIA successfully gets the GSA to abandon plans to impose a 19 percent fee on architects who claim the 179D deduction.

The State Department launches its Design Excellence program for embassies based on a 2009 report and recommendations from the AIA

The Department of Justice announces new Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) based on AIA recommendations, and adopts AIA recommendation to change phase-in from six months to 18

The AIA helps restore funding to the Architect of the Capitol’s budget so that needed repairs to the Capitol dome could proceed

2012

The AIA succeeds in getting the SBA to abandon its proposal to raise the size standard for the architecture profession from $4.5 million to $19 million

The AIA again blocked Congressional efforts to raise taxes on small architecture firms that organize as S corporations.

*Congress passed and the President signed into law transportation legislation that promotes the planning and design of mixed-use development around transit stations, promoting livable communities and reflecting one of the key findings of AIA’s 2008 study Moving Communities Forward.