President's Column
(June 2002)

A Voice for Engineers 

Hopefully you're aware how much IEEE-USA does to advance the career interests of IEEE's U.S. members. But did you know how much IEEE-USA works to shape legislation favorable to the 235,000 U.S. men and women who belong to the world's largest technical society?

IEEE-USA, created in 1973, was strategically located in Washington, D.C., to give it proximity to the three major branches of government — executive, legislative and judicial — that formulate, enforce and interpret our nation's laws. It has proven to be a wise choice.

IEEE-USA, in just the past year, has scored a number of important victories. Working with more than 100 national organizations to strengthen America's voluntary pension system and increase individual retirement savings, we were delighted with passage of the Economic Growth and Tax Reconciliation Act of 2001. In late May, the U.S. Supreme Court substantially adopted the remedy we advocated in a landmark patent rights case (http://www.ieeeusa.org/releases/2002/052802pr.html).

On 17 May, two IEEE-USA-backed bills passed the Senate Commerce Committee. The Cyber Security Research and Development Act and the Science and Technology Emergency Mobilization Act are designed to provide a coordinated technology response in the event of a major emergency, and strengthen our nation's security against computer attacks. The bills now go to the full Senate. Cyber security legislation we support is pending a House vote.

IEEE-USA is supporting the electric reliability language in the Senate-passed version of the Energy Policy Act of 2002. This legislation designates a self-regulating Electric Reliability Organization (ERO) to develop and enforce standards of electric reliability in the U.S. and parts of Canada and Mexico. House and Senate conferees will meet soon to hammer out differences in their respective bills.

Because of the 2000 presidential election controversy, IEEE-USA has advocated developing technical standards for a national voting system. The two chambers of Congress each passed relevant legislation, and IEEE-USA is working to ensure that the final bill recognizes the IEEE P1583 Standard. These and other IEEE-USA priority issues are highlighted in our online Public Policy Forum (http://www.ieeeusa.org/forum).

I encourage you to get involved in the public policy-shaping process, especially as it relates to your career and the engineering profession. Contact your Senators and Representatives by telephone or in person to express your views on a particular issue or pending legislation. Members of Congress and the White House welcome citizen input. Our online Legislative Action Center (http://capwiz.com/ieeeusa/home/) is an excellent resource.

The IEEE-USA Congressional Advocacy Recruitment Effort (CARE) is designed to have an U.S. IEEE member visit each of our 535 national representatives in Congress in their district or Washington office. I visited seven members of the Texas House delegation in March during Congressional Visits Day. Check out http://www.ieeeusa.org/forum/care/ for more information.

There are always important issues where there is not enough member consensus for IEEE-USA to take a position, or bills where the political and business aspects outweigh any technical input IEEE-USA could provide. Examples include deployment of national missile defenses and the pending Tauzin-Dingell legislation to further deregulate the regional Bell operating companies.

Even when IEEE-USA is not active on a particular issue, it may still have significant effect on you and your career. Be aware and proactive in speaking out for your interests. And call on IEEE-USA's government relations staff for information and advice on legislation of personal concern.

Working together, we can make a substantial difference.

Note to Editors: Please feel free to adapt this IEEE-USA President's Column for use in your local IEEE print and electronic publications. For more information, please contact Chris McManes at c.mcmanes@ieee.org.