February
2005 Government Affairs Update
IN THIS
ISSUE …
1. SBA Extends Comment Period for Size
Standard Restructuring.
2. New Changes to the Senate Commerce
Subcommittees will affect ACSM members.
3. Status of Presidential Proclamation for
National Surveyors’ Week.
4. New FEC Rule May Make PAC Donations
Easier.
5. Speaking of our PAC …
SBA
Extends Comment Period for Size Standard Restructuring.
The Small
Business Administration has extended the deadline for comments on the advance
notice of a proposed rule related to the agency’s effort to restructure small
business size standards. Comments are now due by April 3, rather than February
1.
The comment
period was extended in response to requests from the public for additional time
to review the issues described in the advance notice and because of the scope
and nature of the size standard issues themselves.
The SBA
published a proposed rule last March to restructure its small business size
standards by establishing them based primarily on the number of employees of a
business and by reducing the number of different size standard levels to 10.
The SBA is
now seeking comments on (1) approach to simplify size standards; (2)
calculation of the number of employees; (3) use of receipts based standards;
(4) designation of size standard for federal procurement; (5) establishment of
tiered size standards; (6) simplification of affiliation regulations; (7)
grandfathering of small business eligibility; and (8) impact of SBA size
standards on the regulations of other federal agencies. Comments may by
submitted by fax to 202-205-6390; or by mail to
Gary M.
Jackson, Assistant Administrator for Size Standards, 409 Third St. SW
Washington, DC 20416.
New Changes
to the Senate Commerce Subcommittees will affect ACSM members.
Senate
Commerce Committee Co-Chairmen Ted Stevens (R-AK) and Daniel Inouye (D-HI)
recently announced the subcommittees for the 109th Congress. Some
changes to the new subcommittees will affect ACSM members. The changes make two
new relevant subcommittees; they are: the Subcommittee on Science and Space and
the Subcommittee on Technology, Innovation and Competitiveness. We will work to
reach out to the membership of these subcommittees and play a role in the
decision making process they go through on issues that affect our members.
Status
of Presidential Proclamation for National Surveyors’ Week
As many of
you know, ACSM recently made a request to the White House for a Presidential
Proclamation honoring National Surveyors’ Week, which will be held this year
from March 13 through March 18. Laurence Socci spoke recently with a
representative from the Office of Presidential Proclamations and was told that
a decision on the request may not be made until the first week of March.
Assuming that the proclamation request is granted, we would like to have some
type of ceremony (preferably at the White House) in honor of the proclamation.
Look for updates and alerts as we get more information about the proclamation.
New FEC
Rule May Make PAC Donations Easier
The Federal
Election Commission recently voted to propose a new rule allowing associations
to collect contributions by electronic payroll deductions from employees of
member companies. Under the proposal, employees of member companies would be
able to earmark a portion of their checks automatically to an association’s
political action committee (PAC). We will continue to monitor this proposed
rule and will discuss in future updates.
Speaking
of our PAC …
It’s that
time of year again. Time to start thinking about contributing to the annual PAC
Auction. The auction will take place on Sunday, March 20 at 7:00. As many of you know, we have had several
legislative victories this past year, but we still have a lot of work to do.
Our PAC provides the funds necessary to meet with influential Members of
Congress. When we support our Congressional friends, through their fundraising
requests, they will support us on our issues. Right now, the PAC auction is our
main way to raise PAC funds. Please support it with your donations and
contributions. Thank you.