Contacts:
Bill Toohey 202-289-4434 wtoohey@artba.org	Matt Jeanneret 202-289-4434 mjeanneret@artba.org	Print this page

Washington, D.C. [April 9, 2001] - The American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) mounted the nation’s top association-managed government relations campaign at the federal level during 2000, according to the 25,000-member American Society of Association Executives (ASAE).

ASAE has announced that ARTBA is a first place winner in its annual "Government Relations Award of Excellence Competition." ARTBA is being recognized for its successful work to derail several attempts in Congress last year to lower the federal motor fuels excise—the primary source of federal support for state and local road, bridge and mass transit improvement programs. Diesel and gas tax reduction plans were initiated in Congress during 2000 as an election year political response to rising motor fuel prices.

The ASAE award notes ARTBA’s quick—and effective—response to the federal Highway Trust Fund threat that included:

• Reframing the legislative debate by producing overnight and widely disseminating a detailed state-by-state analysis of the negative public health and economic impacts that would result from the proposed legislative actions;

• Mounting a hard-hitting "inside the Beltway" advertising campaign that drew attention to the potential impacts on traffic safety;

• Generating a massive grassroots response against the proposals utilizing state-of-the-art Internet and telephonic communications tools that produced more than 4,500 documented telephone calls to key congressional offices over several weeks;

• Orchestrating several hundred personal, "face-to-face" meetings between transportation construction industry executives and their elected representatives in Congress on the issue; and

• Coordinating industry coalition efforts.

In an article on the gas tax battle appearing in National Journal magazine, a leading advocate of the proposed excise rollback said: "It was a carpet bombing. Within 24 hours, it seemed that our whole effort had been decimated."

The ASAE competition is open to local, state and national associations of all membership and budget sizes. The organization represents executives from approximately 10,000 associations serving more than 287 million people and companies worldwide.

ARTBA will receive its award at ASAE’s Legislative Summit June 25 in Washington, D.C.

This is the third time in 10 years that ARTBA has received top honors in the government relations competition judged by its association peers. ARTBA won first place in the 1992 competition for its work on the 1991 highway and mass transit funding bill. It placed second in 1999 for its efforts on the Transportation Equity Act for the 21^st Century, which increased federal investment in surface transportation programs by more than 40 percent through 2003.

Celebrating its 100^th anniversary in 2002, ARTBA is the only national association that represents the collective interests of all sectors of the U.S. transportation construction industry before the White House, Congress, federal agencies, media and public. ARTBA has now won 12 national awards over the past three years for its government relations and communications programs.