After weeks of intense negotiations and down-to-the-wire compromises, members of the Alabama Legislature approved the largest General Fund budget in Alabama history before adjourning the 2004 regular session. The budget was 16 percent more than the current fiscal year's growth that required lawmakers to come up with more than $200 million dollars in new revenue. The Riley administration played a large role in the final crafting of the budget and revenue raising bills.

House Bill 616, which threatened Alabama's Qualifications Based Selection (QBS) Law, was revitalized in the Legislature and was positioned on the Senate Special Order Calendar for passage on the final day. After weeks of negotiations, the engineering community got a provision placed in the bill to protect the QBS law. Because of this provision, we agreed not to oppose the bill, but the legislature adjourned without passage of HB616. The QBS Law is derived from Federal law (the Brooke's Act), which requires public contracts for professional engineering, land surveying, architectural, and other professional services to be negotiated on the basis of qualifications and not on competitive bids.

Other bills important to the Engineering profession in Alabama that passed this session are the Board of Licensure Law Changes and the Alabama Prompt Payment Act. The Governor has signed our bill into law. The bill is now Act 2004-501. We will now have to start work on the Administrative Code changes.

As we move forward to the potential of a special session this summer, be assured that public contracts requiring the professional services of engineers and architects will continue to be scrutinized by both political parties. A final Bill Status Report is available on the JECA website. (http://www.jeca.org).