“Legislators listen to constituents,” said AIA Federal Affairs Senior Director Tom Wolfe, Esq. “They know it’s my job to visit them to push policy positions. They know that it’s not your job and that when you come to see them, it must be about something that you deeply care about. That’s your advantage tomorrow.”

Wolfe explained the AIA’s Federal Agenda to the 800 attendees of the Grassroots Leadership and Legislative Conference February 9. “We’ve tried this year to identify issues that both appeal to the bulk of the AIA membership and that can actually be accomplished with some hard work from all of us,” he said.

The primary “Ask”
The Portman/Jefferson bill is the AIA’s primary “Ask” this year, because the bill, with bipartisan sponsorship, is the issue ripest for action. “The action you are requesting is equally clear and well defined: ‘Please cosponsor the bill,’” Wolfe said.

The bill makes a number of changes in the current 20 percent and 10 percent tax credits for the rehabilitation of historic structures. The changes are designed to:

• Expand the use of the 10 percent credit to residential rental properties and to all buildings more than 50 years old
• Increase the amount of the credit in “difficult to develop” areas and for small projects that are difficult to syndicate
• Allow the credit to be used in tandem with the low-income tax credit.

Other “Asks”
Depending on which legislators they were scheduled to see, Grassroots attendees may have been assigned another “Ask” or two concerning:

• Support for a provision in the Energy Bill that will be introduced very soon to create a commercialization program for photovoltaic solar energy systems in federal buildings
• Co-sponsorship of legislation that will create a tax incentive to expedite the clean-up of contaminated sites in disadvantaged areas
• Support for an upcoming amendment to the Highway Bill that will authorize a federal study of methods that can be used by state and local governments to spend federal highway funds in ways that enhance rather than disrupt the livability of the adjacent communities.

Also on the agenda
“Those are the four targeted issues for tomorrow’s meetings,” Wolfe explained. “There are six other items on our Federal Issues Agenda that are equally important:

• Creating federal incentives for high-performance or “green” buildings
• Obtaining federal assistance to modernize and design healthy schools
• Supporting passage of legislation enabling small businesses and associations such as the AIA to offer nationwide health insurance coverage to members and their employees
• Broadening the use of “cash accounting” for tax purposes to all architecture firms
• Protecting the historic rehabilitation tax credits from attack by others seeking budget “offsets”
• Establishing a “National Affordable Housing Trust Fund” in the U.S. Treasury to provide for the development, rehabilitation, and preservation of decent, safe, and affordable housing for low income families.”

Wolfe explained that for various reasons, these issues are less amenable to active lobbying at the current time.

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