Advocacy with ACEC Tennessee

ACEC Tennessee advocates at the state level for the interests of engineering firms before the Tennessee General Assembly, the State Board of Architects and Engineers, the Tennessee Department of Transportation, the State Fire Marshal, and the Tennessee Department of Conservation and Environment.

ACEC Tennessee is vigilant about Qualification Based Selection (QBS) in the market place to protect the professional status of engineering companies against price-based selection.

 

Tennessee Professional Engineers PAC (TPE/PAC)

The Tennessee Professional Engineers PAC was established to provide the opportunity for individuals, corporations, and businesses interested in the future of the consulting engineering profession to contribute to the support of worthy candidates for offices in the State of Tennessee and its political subdivision who believe, and have demonstrated their beliefs in the principals to which the profession is dedicated.

 

Recent Accomplishments: 

  • Advocating for legislation limiting engineers’ liability for state highway projects and supporting Governor Haslam’s tort reform legislation
  • Successfully lobbying against legislation requiring designers of state projects to estimate the annual BTU consumption during design development and encouraging contractors to consider alternative designs to reduce energy consumption
  • Lobbying successfully against legislation to restrict the ability of state agencies to contract with the private sector for services
  • Presenting legitimate opposition to legislation to allow engineering technology graduates to sit for the PE exam
  • Supporting legislation to enable the State Fire Marshal to create a dispute resolution process to speed up action on differences between the State Fire Marshal and MEP designers as well as promoting public safety by opposing legislation that would have eliminated the need for an engineer to design fire protection systems,
  • Helping convince legislators to vote against efforts to allow plaintiffs to discover insurance liability limits
  • Successfully opposing legislation to increase the threshold for public works projects that must be designed by an architect or engineer from $25k to $150k, limiting the bill to state parks and including safeguards for public safety
  • Educating local governments about the implications of purchasing requirements for consulting services
  • Successfully lobbying against legislation that would remove the requirement that an engineer or architect prepare plans for renovation of an existing building of any size or occupancy.
  • Educating local governments about the implications of purchasing requirements for consulting services, and
  • Successfully lobbying against legislation that would remove the requirement that an engineer or architect prepare plans for renovation of an existing building of any size or occupancy.