Infrastructure Funding:  AELC will support measures to improve Washington’s transportation infrastructure and common schools construction and other building construction programs that can contribute to competitiveness and stimulate employment. AELC supports financing strategies for such purposes that are adequate over the long-term. 

Government Contracting:  AELC believes that, to the greatest extent possible, state and local governments should contract out for goods and services, including design services. Government agencies should not be allowed to offer design services in competition with private-sector design firms, as such competition is inherently unfair to private firms. 

A&E Selection:  AELC opposes exemptions or exceptions to the use of qualifications-based selection (QBS) procedures for selecting design consultants by public agencies. AELC supports the use of alternative public works methods where there is a clear indication that such procedures will result in improved public construction and design. 

Liability Reform:  AELC participates in the state’s Liability Reform Coalition (LRC) and supports public policies:  to provide reasonable statutes of limitation and repose for design professionals and construction contractors; to reduce the adverse impact of litigation on our society, businesses and taxpayers; to limit the expansion of tort liability; to reduce the cost of defending lawsuits; to speed the resolution of lawsuits; and to improve the certainty and fairness of the civil justice system.

Taxes:   AELC opposes placing a retail sales tax on professional services, and believes that public works projects funded by special or dedicated tax sources should be exempt from the retail sales tax.

Licensing:  AELC works with its component organizations to protect the integrity of the regulation of the design professions (engineering, architecture, land surveying and landscape architecture), and to ensure that licensing fees are used solely to carry out the purposes of those regulatory programs.

Regulatory Reform:      AELC supports legislation that: creates clear and objective building, land use and environmental regulations easily understood by project applicants. Governments should not impose conditions exceeding those necessary to mitigate the identifiable effects of a project. State and local governments should  ensure complete and prompt permit application review based on information provided and that review should be based on  compliance with plans or regulations in effect at the time the application was originally submitted; and should provide for expedited permit appeals guaranteeing certainty and finality for project applicants.