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Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA), the incoming chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee panel, this week named 10 Republicans who will be part of the committee in the 113th Congress. The committee currently has 32 Republican members, with the possibility that one additional member may be added. The new committee members include nine incoming freshman and one sophomore. 

This year’s National Work Zone Awareness Week (NWZAW) is scheduled for April 15-19, 2013. The week is used as an opportunity to get media coverage to raise public awareness about the dangers for highway construction workers and motorists when road improvements are under way. While the number of fatalities, crashes and injuries have decreased in the past several years the problem still remains.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Sept. 6 asking for comments on the significant changes made to its Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) rules. Comments are due by Nov. 5. The proposal suggests a series of changes in the bidding process, including requiring contractors to submit a list of DBEs that will be used on a project with their bid.

While it’s unlikely that the issue will be raised during a lame duck session of Congress following the November elections, 91����Ƶ will nevertheless continue to press for legislation that will keep the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating coal ash residues, including fly ash, as a hazardous substance.

On Sept. 25, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) released new information regarding the implementation of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21).  The guidance and interim guidance documents, along with questions & answers, were issued ahead of the Oct. 1 effective date for most highway provisions in MAP-21 both funding and changes to policy.

On Sept. 25, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration released new information regarding the implementation of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21).  The guidance and interim guidance documents, along with questions & answers, were issued ahead of the Oct. 1 effective date for most highway provisions in MAP-21 both funding and changes to policy.

On Sept. 14, the Obama administration released a report to Congress providing a first guess at how they will implement $1.2 trillion in automatic budget cuts—called sequestration—slated to begin on Jan. 2, 2013. This sequestration process comes as a result of the debt ceiling deal –enacted under the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA) —  in the wake of the failure of the so-called Supercommittee to come up with adequate deficit reduction plan on its own.  Half of the sequestration amount is to come from defense and national security programs, while the other half is to come from all other government programs. According to the report, if Congress and the president cannot reach a deal to avert sequestration after the election, many direct federal construction accounts could see anywhere from a 7.6 to 9.4 percent cut from “budgetary resources” in FY 2013. 

91����Ƶ and the Oregon Columbia Chapter are cooperating with FHWA on a workshop on Civil Integration Management (CIM). CIM is the collection, organization, and managed accessibility to accurate data and information related to a highway facility. The concept may be used by all affected parties for a wide range of purposes, including planning, environmental, surveying, construction, maintenance, asset management, and risk assessment. The workshop is for designers, owners, contractors, subcontractors, consultants, and utilities owners to learn the principles of CIM, see technologies and tools that are available today to assist, and review project examples where CIM has worked.

91����Ƶ testified at a hearing this week called by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to consider California’s request for permission to implement it’s off-road diesel engine emissions reduction plan. 91����Ƶ has in the past submitted over 550 pages of comments to EPA opposing the California rule. At the same time 91����Ƶ was working with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) pointing out that in developing the rule it had overestimated emissions from off-road diesel construction equipment by at least 340 percent. That miscalculation was one among several “significant errors” that would have been very costly to construction employers if adopted.

The House is expected to approve a continuing resolution (CR) for FY 2013 today that would fund federal government programs for six months at the same level as FY 2012 with a slight increase of .612 percent. This action is necessary because Congress has failed to pass any of the 12 appropriations bills for FY 2013 whci begins on Oct. 1, 2012. The Senate is expected to take up and pass the CR later this week.