Updates
Government Advocacy This past year was an ebb and flow as the world watched events unfold in Washington D.C. New York state began the year with red ink totaling some $15 billion and ended the year flush due to higher-than-expected tax collections and massive state and local aid stemming from the American Rescue Plan Act passed at the federal level. Autumn brought the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, promising a $550 billion investment over the next five years. AIANYS members played an important role in the success of the infrastructure bill via their participation in AIA’s Virtual Capitol Hill Day and through their response to numerous calls to action and letter writing campaigns to their members of Congress. Turning to 2022, AIANYS looks forward to helping the AIA in its advocacy for increased federal capital construction aid for schools, universities, hospitals, and affordable housing.
State of Success | Undeterred by the pandemic, volunteer advocates were resilient and resolute in the effort to meet the year’s policy objectives. This resilience involved adaptation to new ways to connect with legislators and their staff. For the first time ever, AIANYS held its annual Advocacy Day virtually, where participants held meetings with the Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins and other leadership in both houses of the Legislature. These efforts were echoed and amplified throughout the month of May, as local chapters engaged in a series of Local Advocacy Days. Advocates touted the involvement and power of architectural design in making buildings safe, healthy, sustainable, and resilient. Specifically, members pressed legislators to support the Safe Schools by Design Act, the Emergency Responder Act, and urged them to invite architects to the table for infrastructure investment and community planning discussions. AIANYS assumed the mantle and debate surrounding school safety with the successful introduction of the Safe Schools by Design Act, aimed at unifying policymakers around the power of design in making our schools both safe and welcoming PAGE 38 | DEC ‘21 | JAN ‘22
learning environments. This bill made strides in its first year as a two-house proposal, gaining sponsors and stoking the intrigue of lawmakers from both sides of the aisle. The campaign was complemented by a four-part education series “Reimagining School Design,” which brought together architects, educators, administrators, safety experts, psychologists, and other stakeholders to examine ways to shift the school environment paradigm toward a more holistic approach to address safety and student well-being. One of the major legislative victories of the year came with the passage of the $3 billion Environmental Bond Act. As a member of the New Yorkers for Clean Water and Jobs Coalition, AIANYS teamed with the environmental community to support the Environmental Bond Act, which invests hundreds-of-millions of dollars into green building projects and is estimated to create up to 65,000 jobs. Governor Hochul recently announced a commitment to increase the bond to $4 billion in the 2022-23 Executive Budget proposal. If voters approve the bond measure as part of the 2022 General Election ballot, the State will be in a prime position to leverage federal infrastructure aid and possibly exceed initial job creation estimates. The second legislative victory was secured when the governor signed the Architect Continuing Education Modernization bill into law this past November. Developed in collaboration with the State Board for Architecture, this update to the continuing education law will provide architects with enhanced flexibility to obtain continuing education credit through online learning. Architects will also be able to transfer up to six credits from one triennium registration period to the next and eligible to receive a full exemption from the requirement if a good cause can be established with the State Education Department. Further, the passage of this law will open the regulatory process and allow architects to comment on the update and offer recommendations to reform the definition of “continuing education” and expand it to other areas of practice deemed essential to the future of the profession.
2022: Challenges & Opportunities | 2022 will be
politically charged with the State elections and Congressional mid-terms in November. Newly drawn district maps and a surge in primary challenges will increase the likelihood for distraction and a desire by legislators to depart Albany to campaign. This means much of the substantive policy work will likely be wedged into the budget process running from January up until the budget is due on March 31. Despite the shortened work period for legislators, 2022 will be a watershed year for action on climate, as the Climate Action Council released its massive draft Scoping Plan aimed at meet-
