President Obama Signs 3 Percent Withholding Repeal Bill Into Law

President Obama signed the 3 percent withholding repeal bill into law on November 21.

Passage of the measure by an overwhelming vote in the House and Senate is one of the few bipartisan actions Congress and the President has agreed upon this year.

MAPPS was part of the coalition organized by the US Chamber of Commerce that led the effort to enact the repeal legislation.

U.S. House Votes to Repeal 3% withholding on contracts for goods and services

The U.S. House of Representatives yesterday voted 405-16 in favor of repealing Section 511 of Public Law No. 109-222, which mandates a requirement that federal, sate and local governments withhold 3 percent of their payments on contracts for goods and services.

On several occasions MAPPS has urged the IRS to eliminate the 3 percent withholding.

The bill will now wait for a vote in the Senate before a final approval from President Obama.

Unlike some more controversial bills that have been passed through the House, this bill has had support by both parties. President Obama had included a delay in the effective date of the withholding in his recently unveiled jobs package.

UPDATE:

On Thursday, November 10 the U.S. Senate voted 95-0 to repeal the 3% withholding on federal, state and local contracts as part of an amendment to provide tax credits to companies that hire veterans. The bill must go back to the House for a final vote.

The amendment would offer up tot $5,600 in tax credits to companies that hire veterans who have been searching for work for more than six months and up to $9,600 to those who hire long-unemployed veterans with service-connected disabilities.

The full measure is expected to be taken up by the House next week without much opposition and sent to the President for final signature. Both issues were part of President Obama's jobs plan which provides a bi-partisan agreement. 

Highway Bill Prospects Brighten

After more than two years of delay, prospects for Congressional action on a new transportation (”highway”) bill are suddenly improving.

The most recent long-term highway funding authorization legislation expired September 30, 2009.  Congress has continued the current program with a series of short term extensions.

On November 9, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, in a unanimous 18-0 vote approved a two-year reauthorization of Federal highway programs at current funding levels. The bill now goes on the calendar for Senate floor action, where it must wait for three other committees to approve funding, transit, and safety provisions and programs. These will eventually be merged into one piece of legislation.

The Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (or “MAP-21”)Act,  S. 1813, continues Federal surface transportation programs, which create a demand for surveying, mapping and other geospatial data, technologies and services.  The Senate bill changes current law by attempting to improve the efficiency of the regulatory review process for transportation projects and leveraging private sector financial resources through expansion of the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) program. TIFIA provides Federal credit assistance in the form of direct loans, loan guarantees, and standby lines of credit to finance surface transportation projects of national and regional significance. The bipartisan bill was introduced by Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), the panel’s ranking GOP member, as well as Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), and Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), chairman and ranking Republican, respectively, of the Highway Subcommittee.

Meanwhile, efforts to identify new transportation funding sources may be bearing fruit in the House of Representatives. There are reports the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman, Rep. John Mica (R-FL), and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) are nearing agreement on up to $15 billion more per year in oil development revenues, including those from drilling offshore and in Alaska.

“There’s a natural link between the two. As we develop new sources of American energy, we’re going to need modern infrastructure to bring that energy to the market,” Boehner stated on his website on Thursday, Nov. 3.

This is would be a major change from earlier this year, when the newly elected Republican Majority in the House adopted a new rule that transportation spending would be limited to the approximately $35 billion annually that flow from Federal gas tax receipts.

Mica has a draft bill that has not yet been made public, but a 22-page summary has been released. The bill includes numerous provisions that provide for an expanded private sector role in the Federal-state transportation program.  MAPPS has been working with members of the House committee on provisions regarding the private surveying, mapping and geospatial community.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee could mark up a bill in the next few weeks.

LightSquared Will Result in Unfair Government Competition with the Private Sector

On its face, the LightSquared proposal and the issue of unfair government competition with the private sector would seem to have nothing in common.  As a for-profit corporation, LightSquared is raising private capital, hiring private sector employees, and paying taxes.  At this point, it is seeking a regulatory approval from the federal government (spectrum from the Federal Communications Commission), not tax dollars, grants or other financial assistance from the taxpayers.

But LightSquared has stubbed its toe in a way that particularly disadvantages and disenfranchises numerous private companies, and those in surveying and mapping in particular. Unfair government competition with private enterprise is rearing its ugly head again.  Here’s how.

Several Federal agencies, including departments of defense, agriculture, transportation, interior and commerce, have voiced concern that LightSquared’s interference with GPS will adversely affect agency operations.  LightSquared argues that the GPS industry, including the surveying and mapping profession, are interfering with LightSquared’s spectrum, not the other way around.

That claim notwithstanding, LightSquared has attempted to cushion its impact on existing users – in the government. While reports are the firm has spent more than spent $9 million to develop filters to ensure its signal did not go into the spectrum licensed to GPS, LightSquared says the GPS industry should pay for the filters and patches to their instruments, arguing that the GPS user community should have vacated the disputed spectrum years ago, and is therefore responsible for its own upgrades.

Now it is reported that LightSquared has committed an additional $50 million to retrofit or replace GPS devices in use by federal agencies. 

This will result in an unfair advantage for the government over the private sector.  Federal agencies, USGS, NOAA, Corps of Engineers, just to name a few that have their own in-house surveying and mapping equipment, crews and service capabilities, would have a no-cost fix to their LightSquared interference problems, while private sector firms, including small business surveyors, photogrammetrists and other GPS users, will have to pay for their own upgrades and repairs.

Unfair government competition with the private sector has long been a major concern for small business.  Every time a White House Conference on Small Business has been convened, government performance of commercial activities (those that meet the “Yellow Pages Test” -- if a service is commercially available and can be found from private enterprise in the Yellow Pages, the government shouldn’t be doing it) as a top issue.  LightSquared’s proposal to fix the GPS interference problem for federal agencies while leaving private enterprise to fend for itself will only exacerbate the problem. 

Whether an intended or unintended consequence, Congress and the FCC should insist that prior to any approval, LightSquared should be responsible for preventing interference with all GPS users, not just some and certainly not just those in government.

MAPPS Announces Date Change for March Federal Programs Conference

MAPPS has formally announced a change of dates for the 2012 Federal Programs Conference in Washington, DC. The event will now take place: March 27 & 28, 2012 Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives announced its legislative calendar for 2012. The Congress anticiaptes that the House will not be in session on March 13 - 14, the dates originally set for the annual MAPPS Federal Programs Conference. This will mark the first time in the 20+ year history of the Federal Programs Conference that we have had to adjust the dates to accommodate the Congressional schedule.  The value of the MAPPS Federal Programs Conference includes the meetings MAPPS members have with their elected officials and their staff to discuss legislation affecting the private sector geospatial community. Therefore, in order to provide MAPPS members the maximum opportunity to bring their message to their elected officials,  the MAPPS staff, with the approval of the MAPPS Board of Directors, has decided to change the dates of the 2012 Federal Programs Conference.  The venue for the 2012 Federal Programs Conference has not changed.  It will still be at the Westin City Center, 1400 M Street, NW, Washington DC 20005. 2012 will mark the 21st annual Federal Programs Conference. The program will include federal agency speakers to update the membership on current and future programs resulting in contracts with the private geospatial profession.   Registration and the agenda for the March 27 & 28, 2012 conference will be available in January 2012.  Please mark your calendar and plan to attend this conference -- the most important event on the annual MAPPS calendar. In the meantime, make plans to attend the MAPPS Fall Policy Conference -- November 15 & 17, 2011 and the Winter Conference January 22-26, 2012.

MAPPS Announces Speakers for Fall Policy Conference

MAPPS is pleased to report that an official from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is  confirmed as a speaker at the MAPPS Fall Policy Conference.

Peder Magee, a senior attorney in the FTC’s Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, will speak to MAPPS members on Thursday, November 17.

Mr. Magee works on a variety of policy and litigation matters, including online behavioral marketing, and was involved in the December 2010 "Preliminary FTC Staff Report on Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change: A Proposed Framework for Businesses and Policymakers."

The report proposed that firms be required to obtain a citizen's approval prior to collecting, storing or using "precise geolocation" data. MAPPS led a geospatial community effort to persuade the FTC to remove or revise the proposal.

Other presentations will feature:

Jerry Johnston of EPA, who will provide a demonstration of the "Geospatial Platform" being developed by the US Government. Johnston will discuss important issues affecting whether and how your firm's data can be on the platform.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is launching a new program to utilize remote sensing technologies, including LIDAR and others, in its airports program. An Advisory Circular has been issued. FAA will brief MAPPS members on the circular and the potential program.

Other presentations will be announced shortly.

The conference will also feature meetings of the MAPPS Federal Agency Liaison Committees (NGA, USDA, USGS, NOAA, DoD & DHS, and FAA & TSA), which includes valuable information from our Federal agency partners. This year, the MAPPS Fall Policy Conference will be held on Thursday, November 17 at the Hilton Washington Dulles Hotel in Herndon, VA, concurrent with the ASPRS/Pecora Symposium.

Early registration for the MAPPS Fall Policy Conference ends October 30. The MAPPS Fall Policy Conference features sessions on topics of interest to the geospatial community. Presentations will focus on policy issues that affect your firm and your markets.

The MAPPS Fall Policy Conference is only open to MAPPS members. If your firm has not joined MAPPS, we invite private sector firms to join today.

Longer Depreciation Schedules and Air Traffic Control

Guest Blogger: Richard Breitlow is an account executive with AGFA Materials Corporation, where he specializes in aerial photography product sales.  He is chairman of the Aerial Acquisition Committee of MAPPS with more than 38 years’ experience in the aerial photography business.

Recently, President Obama proposed a Federal debt and deficit reduction plan that includes slower and longer depreciation schedules for business owned aircraft. While billed as eliminating a tax loophole for corporate executives’ jets, the proposal would also adversely affect small businesses, including aerial imagery and geospatial data collection operators. MAPPS has already commented on that proposal.

Now the "President’s Plan for Economic Growth and Deficit Reduction" has been released, including a proposed $100 per flight fee for air traffic control services.  This double-whammy on the aerial survey profession is both economically unwise and politically burdensome and unfair.

Like other aviation related associations, MAPPS recognizes the need to pay for air traffic control (ATC) services. General aviation has historically paid for those services through fuel taxes, commonly referred to as "pay at the pump". The proposed $100 fee per flight would add a whole new accounting requirement and new level of government bureaucracy just to administer and enforce the new requirement. The best way for general aviation to pay for ATC services is to continue to pay at the pump. Whether the current amount taxed is appropriate, or should be raised is another argument.  Certainly there is a lot of waste in FAA spending that should be eliminated before increases are considered. 

The Obama Administration portrayed the proposed fee as a tax on corporate jets. However the actual wording only excludes military aircraft, public aircraft, recreational piston aircraft, air ambulances, aircraft operating outside of controlled airspace, and Canada-to-Canada flights. All aerial survey flights in controlled airspace would be subject to the proposed fee, regardless of aircraft type. MAPPS has gone on record in opposition to per flight air traffic control fees.

Adding a $100 fee per flight for ATC services would only further burden a profession already hard-hit by the decline in the housing market, and the economy in general, and would certainly have a negative impact on hiring. This fee would have just the opposite effect of the intent of the President's "jobs bill". 

Lobbyists for commercial airlines have long favored measures to shift a larger share of the burden for ATC services to general aviation. However, attempts in the past to include a per flight ATC user fee or "charge" in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Authorization bill have been met with stiff opposition.


The current effort will, and should, meet a similar fate.


While the President’s Plan for Economic Growth and Deficit Reduction appears to have little chance of passing Congress, parts of it could find its way into the "Super Committee's" plan to reduce the national debt and annual government deficit. This is where the real danger lies. 

In order to protect the interests of the aerial survey profession, and the public and clients we serve, I suggest:

• the current Pay at the Pump method be preserved as the best way for general aviation to help pay for ATC services and the "fee per flight" concept be rejected,
• Identify “Super Committee” members who are aviation friendly and urge them to either reject the fee outright, or adopt wording to exclude flights that are primarily work operations, such as small businesses operating aircraft for aerial surveys.
• Identify FAA activities that can be reformed, eliminated or privatized to save money and explore a more balanced and equitable method of paying for FAA and ATC services that does not  unfairly target general aviation generally or aerial survey operations in particular.