{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://stauber.house.gov/media/press-releases/stauber-introduces-parity-engineering-act", "Stauber Introduces the Parity in Engineering Act", "2024-04-02", "2024", "2024-04", "Republican", "House", "MN", "Pete Stauber", "S001212", "stauber.house.gov", "stauber", "https://stauber.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 This week, Congressman Pete Stauber (MN-08) introduced the Parity in Engineering Act, legislation that will make it easier for engineering firms in our state to do business by eliminating Minnesota\u2019s exemption from common federal procurement requirements.\n\nOf his legislation, Congressman Stauber said, \u201cFor too long, an arbitrary cap on the cost of doing business has put engineering firms in Minnesota at a disadvantage. I am proud to introduce the Parity in Engineering Act to remove this barrier to business success, and I thank the American Council of Engineering Companies of Minnesota for working with me on this critical issue.\u201d\n\nJonathan Curry, Executive Director of the American Council of Engineering Companies of Minnesota said, \u201cWe are grateful to Congressman Stauber for introducing legislation that will be hugely beneficial to Minnesota\u2019s engineering firms. By eliminating this obstacle that has decreased competition and limited innovation, this legislation will go a long way in keeping engineering jobs in Minnesota and ensure MnDOT has access to the most qualified individuals and firms working on our state's infrastructure projects. We applaud this legislative effort!\u201d\n\nBACKGROUND:\n\nPrior to the mid-1990s, states had a patchwork of policies for the procurement, administration, and auditing of contracts for engineering and design services. Many states placed overhead cap rates on engineering firms that did not reflect the true cost of business.\n\nThrough the passage of several pieces of legislation, Congress mandated that states must follow common federal procurement requirements to guide how their respective Department of Transportation (DOT) contracts for engineering services on federal-aid projects. However, an exemption precluded Minnesota and West Virginia from following these federal requirements.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T20:47:55Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://stauber.house.gov/media/press-releases/stauber-introduces-parity-engineering-act"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.969576183706522, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}