The legislative session is in full swing in Juneau, and APDC is working hard to keep up with the activity and advance our legislative priorities. While the budget is consuming much of the legislature’s focus, we are also tracking bills relating to temporary licensure, commercial interior design registration, and changes to the Alaska Coordinate System. Click the link below to read through the 2021 Position Paper.
Our annual outreach to the legislature has kicked off and looks quite different from years past. Traditionally a couple dozen folks would travel to Juneau for the “fly-in” for 2 or 3 days of back to back to back meetings with legislators, cramming in our normal work when there was down time. Each day would start with a group meeting to gauge the reception of our positions and discuss strategies moving forward. This year, all of our legislative meetings have been via Zoom, with the meetings spread over several weeks. This makes the logistics simpler but does not have the same energy as the in-person effort. We will have to weigh the trade-offs as we plan for future “fly-ins”. Through our second week, we have met with 29 of the 60 legislators. One advantage of this being a virtual event is it makes participation much easier than the past – reach out to Colin Maynard (cmaynard@bbfm.com), our Legislative Liaison Committee Chair, if you would like to participate with this effort.
Congratulations goes out to David Gamez, our new Secretary/Treasurer. David is a civil engineer with Lounsbury and Associates in Anchorage. David is the American Society of Civil Engineers representative on the APDC board and has been active in ASCE’s Infrastructure Report Card effort, among many other things. With David’s arrival on the board, Kelsey Davidson will move into the Vice President role, Will Webb is taking on the President responsibilities, and Erica Jensen has moved into the Past President role. This also means Mark Kimerer’s time on the board is ending. I want to thank Mark for his efforts and contributions to improving the operations and governance of APDC during his tenure.
Thank you,
Will Webb, PE
APDC President
Alaska Professional Design Council 