May June 2018

22 Vol. 41, No. 3 Government Relations The Oregon Surveyor | I joined Surveyors Randy Povey (and his wife, Nancy, and their friend Brandie Pe- terson) and national board member Bob Neathamer in Washington, DC, in April to lobby with Surveyors from around the country on behalf of our national asso- ciation, NSPS. Bob Neathamer, who has traveled to DC more than once to repre- sent Oregon, deftly lead our delegation. The trip was both interesting (we were there at the same time as Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg) and fruitful. Our group met with three of the seven people who represent Oregon (Senator Jeff Merkley, Congressman Greg Walden and Con- gressman Kurt Schrader). We also met with staff from the other four offices, en- suring our voice was heard by everyone who represents Oregon. Much of our time was devoted to infra- structure development and an effort by NSPS to create consistency at the Fed- eral level when 3DEP mapping is done. Creating a consistent standard across the Federal government will be helpful not only to the alphabet soup of Feder- al agencies, but also for state and local governments, and the private sector, who will have access to that data. Oregon has a particularly pivotal role to play in this process as our own Sec- ond District Congressman Greg Walden is Chair of the House Energy and Com- merce Committee, where much of the infrastructure development proposals will originate. And, Fifth District Congressman Kurt Schrader sits on the same Energy and Commerce Committee. NSPS lobbyist John “JB” Byrd joined the Oregon contingent when we met with Walden and Schrader, which added ex- tra depth to our discussions. Moreover, Fourth District Congressman Peter DeFazio is the highest ranking Dem- ocrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which also has jurisdiction over a lot of Federal spending. As part of the discussions, we offered to provide Walden and Schrader with a local “field trip” in Oregon. If scheduled, local Surveyors will have an opportunity to share their expertise and demonstrate the advanced technologies being used by the profession to provide public and private sector customers with extreme- ly accurate and sophisticated data. x If you have any questions or comments about the information in this article, or about any oth- er government affairs related topic, I hope you’ll reach out to me at fuller_darrell@yahoo.com or 971-388-1786. At the Capitol in Washington, DC PLSO members pose with Oregon Congressman Kurt Schrader (D-05), who represents the Willamette Valley. Congressman Schrader serves on the very influential House Energy and Commerce Committee. (Left to Right: Brandie Peterson, Congressman Kurt Schrader, Randy Povey, Nancy Povey and Oregon’s NSPS Director Bob Neathamer. Not pictured: PLSO Lobbyist Darrell Fuller)