We’re all busy, so I’ll keep my message relatively short this month!

Currently, the key ACEC-CA sponsored legislative action is SB 885 (Wolk), which intends to reform the “Duty to Defend.”  If this becomes law, design professionals would only have the duty to defend claims that arise out of, or pertain or relate to, negligence, reckless, or willful misconduct of the design professional.

I’ll be attending the Duty to Defend Panel discussion on January 29th in San Diego.  So, you can expect to hear more about this topic from ACEC-CA and me in the coming weeks.  If this is an important issue to you, make sure you attend Legislative Visit Day on April 5th to explain it to your representatives.

The “current” event that has me irritated right now is the Flint, Michigan water crisis.  It is absolutely mindboggling that decisions by public agencies and politicians could be so inept.  Or, maybe it isn’t.  Elected and appointed people make decisions on topics about which they have inadequate understanding all the time.  This time, it resulted in lead poisoning of thousands of people, as well as tremendous amounts of damage to infrastructure and homes.

I could talk about failures due to inappropriate political action and lack of appropriate political action, but I’ll spare you the diatribe.  We live in a democracy, so we need to consider the responsibilities of the voters who have been persuaded by catchy slogans to elect those who do not deserve their trust.