John Flynn, AIA
AIA Oregon Board President
Hello, Colleagues –
The latter half of February always presents a unique set of opportunities for AIA members. It’s a time when we organize ourselves with an eye towards legislative affairs, what that means to architects and firms, and how we can be a voice in our state and national governments. Involvement in legislative advocacy goes beyond our practice and includes support of energy efficient buildings, emergency preparedness, healthy environments and building materials, public contracting, building codes, and affordable homes. Even though this is February focus, we are “Citizen Architects” all year round.
Two weeks ago, about 18 AIA Oregon members gathered in Salem for our statewide Leadership Summit. Oregon’s State Senate and House are in full session and there are nearly 2,500 bills in the works! Our Legislative Affairs Committee, supported by our Legislative Lobbyist Cindy Robert (Rainmakers LLC), have been tracking most of these bills. This year’s Leadership Summit began with an in-depth review of 3 legislative actions that are of importance to our organization.
HB 2124 – Commercial Interior Designers
HB 2854 – New School Safe Space
Oregon Safety Assessment Program (OrSAP)
Our delegation spent the balance of the morning in the halls of the State Capitol, meeting with selected Representative’s legislative teams to advocate for our positions on these bills. The afternoon session was dedicated to an interactive session with members of the Oregon State Board of Architect Examiners. Many thanks to John Webster AIA, Eugene Section Director-Elect, for moderating the panel discussion.
And then last week, I attended the 2025 AIA (National) Leadership Summit in Washington, DC. This is a three-day conference focusing on leadership and advocacy, highlighted by Capitol Hill Day. As with our state-focused efforts, we prepared ourselves to advocate for several issues that Congress is legislating.
Federal Tax Policy
Resilient Design Policy
Housing Policies
Federal Design Policy
Federal Design Fee Policy
Our team consisted of AIA Oregon members Isaac Hadnutt Assoc. AIA, Alex Salazar AIA, AIAO President-Elect Jacob Zander AIA, AIAO EVP/CEO Heather Wilson, and me. We met with the legislative teams of our 2 Senators and 3 of our Representatives. In all, nearly 500 Citizen Architects participated in Capitol Hill Day.
If you are interested in learning more about any of the bills or policies noted above, please feel free to contact me or AIA Oregon staff.
These conferences provide important means for architects to engage with government officials as informed and advocating professionals. Throughout the year, we continue to help local, state, and national governments with volunteer efforts after disasters, and with building for people and organizations in need, as we seek to make positive contributions to society.
For example, while we were advocating for our Federal and State agendas, Mayor Kaarin Knudsen was still keeping us all informed of Eugene's ongoing building projects in her "Minute with the Mayor" (I suggest you follow @MayorKaarin!) and her activity creating over 200 new affordable (at or below 60% median income) units for citizens in Eugene. Congratulations, Mayor!
On the heels of a very active two weeks of legislative advocacy, I urge all our members to get involved and make a difference in our communities. Be a Citizen Architect!
