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AIA Pennsylvania
Phone: (717) 236-4055
Fax: (717) 236-5407
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Biennial Architect License & Architectural Firm Registration Renewal
Licenses and registrations expire June 30th of every odd-numbered year. Therefore, both Architecture Firm and Architect renewal applications are due no later than June 30, 2009. You will not be able to renew your license/registration online after July 30, 2009.
The website for the State Architects Licensure Board is www.dos.state.pa.us/arch. You can check on the current status of your license and read the most up-to-date versions of the State Architects Licensure Law and accompanying regulations. |
Howard Graves, AIA Appointed to State Architects Licensure Board
 Howard Graves, AIA has been approved by the Senate to fill the current vacancy on the State Architects Licensure Board. Howard is a member of AIA Pittsburgh. He is President/CEO of Graves Architects, Inc./Graves Design Group, LLC. He received his Bachelor of Architecture from Carnegie-Mellon University. His project experience includes: education facilities, parking garages, single and multi-family housing, multi-purpose facilities, office, retail, medical, historic preservation and monuments. He has been a member of the City of Pittsburgh Historic Review Commission for over 15 year and is a founding member of the African American Chamber of Commerce.
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Members Corner
We would like to dedicate this section to some of the member FAQ's. Each month we will feature a new Q&A session. If you have a question you would like answered, we would love to hear from you: awright@aiapa.org.
Q: What does the Pennsylvania Architects PAC do? Where do my contributions to the PA PAC go?
A: The Pennsylvania Architects Political Action Committee (PA PAC) is the single most important tool to augment an effective advocacy strategy in state government. The PA PAC allows us to voluntarily band together to express support for legislators and candidates who have taken or likely will take positions that are compatible with the profession's interests. The PA PAC's purpose is to collect and distribute campaign contributions. Unlike personal or individual contributions, a check from the PA PAC carries a clear message on behalf of the entire architectural profession in Pennsylvania.
The PA PAC allows architects to combine financial resources and express the collective interests of the profession in ways that are impossible with individual contributions. The PA PAC allows AIA PA to gain access to key legislators who may come from districts that do not have many architect constituents. Public policy is a competitive process. If architects want to have a strong voice in government, they have to participate in all aspects of the system.
Contributions to the PA PAC are managed by the PA PAC Management Committee with support from the AIA Pennsylvania staff. The Committee meets periodically to determine which candidates for state office should receive campaign contributions. It is important to remember that the PA PAC contributions are made to build relationships, they are not attempts to buy votes. There can be no quid quo pro between a contribution and a specific vote. Contributions are made to:
- support well-qualified candidates who hold friendly positions
- express appreciation to incumbents for supportive actions they have made in the past
- improve opportunities to be heard in the future
Each candidate is carefully reviewed. Contributions are made to Republicans and Democrats in both the House and the Senate, and occasionally to other candidates for statewide office.
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Legislative Update
The Legislature and the Governor's office are focused on the passage of a state budget. While few bills are moving, we are pleased to report that HB 42 (Freeman), the historic preservation tax credit and grant program, was overwhelmingly passed by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on June 24th. The vote was 193 in favor and 2 opposed. The bill now moves to the Senate. AIA Pennsylvania continues to work with the PA Works! Coalition to advocate for passage of this bill.
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| PA Healthcare Bills Become Law
On June 10, 2009, Governor Rendell signed four healthcare bills into law that may affect you. While AIA Pennsylvania did not work on these bills, we thought you would be interested to know about them. The following information is from Alpha Benefits Group and is published with their permission.
Senate Bill 189 provides the option to the policyholder to extend health insurance benefits only (does not include dental or vision) to children of covered parents whose health insurance would have otherwise terminated due to age requirements.
- The child can continue coverage through age 29
- The cost of the coverage is at the insured's expense
- All of the following requirements must be met:
- The child is not married
- The child has no dependents
- The child is a resident of PA OR is enrolled as a full time student at an institution of higher education
- Is not eligible for other group or individual health insurance.
- Is not enrolled or entitled to benefits under any government health care benefits
This law goes into effect in 6 months and coverage will be available on a rolling basis after that as contracts are renewed. Example, if your health insurance renews on July 1, 2009, this coverage can be added to your plan July 1, 2010.
House Bill 1089 Mini-COBRA applies to employers who have between 2 and 19 employees and allows employees and their eligible dependents to continue their health insurance coverage if their benefits would otherwise terminate due to a qualifying event.
Eligible Employee:
- Employee and dependents must have continuous coverage for 3 months prior to the termination of coverage
- Employee must not be eligible for other coverage
Highlights of the Law:
Mini-COBRA does not include dental only and vision only plans.
Eligible employees may continue their health insurance for up to 9 months.
Employees will be required to pay 105% of the group rate.
Eligible employees (employees whose employment was involuntarily terminated) may have 65% of the Mini-COBRA cost subsidized through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The law goes into effect July 10, 2009. Any eligible employee who has a qualifying event on or after July 10, 2009 would be covered under this law.
House Bill 84
The Preventable Serious Adverse Events Act is part of the Governor's Rx for PA. This bill prohibits health care providers from seeking reimbursement for a serious, preventable medical error, often called "never events."
Approximately 140 patients who experience an adverse medical event that might be both serious and preventable die each year in Pennsylvania hospitals. The total charges for the hospital stays in which these deaths occur amounts to approximately $21.8 million dollars. Approximately 3,500 other patients a year survive an adverse event for which charges are an addition $316 million a year.
House Bill 89 supported in the Governor's Rx for PA, reauthorizes the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4). The work of PHC4 is critical to improving patient safety and health care quality outcomes, as well as health care cost containment, for Pennsylvanians. Health care purchasers, such as businesses and labor unions, use PHC4 data for plan design and cost and quality improvements. The agency had sunset last year without legislative reauthorization and was kept in operation through an executive order by Governor Rendell.
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| NCARB Announces ARE Security and Development Fee
Washington, DC - The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) will increase the fees for the Architect Registration ExaminationŽ (AREŽ) by $40 per division effective 1 October 2009. The increase is due to recent incidents of exam content disclosure by ARE candidates. The cost to develop and replace the exposed content and handle the administrative and legal costs related to these incidents totals an estimated $1.1 million.
"The decision to raise the exam fees now-especially in the current economic climate-was not made lightly," said Gordon E. Mills, FAIA, President. "However, NCARB's responsibility to uphold the integrity of the ARE is our first and foremost concern."
The ARE is designed to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public by providing a psychometrically justifiable and legally defensible process that measures the level of competence necessary to practice architecture independently. In recent months, NCARB has had to turn off substantial amounts of content after several candidates posted detailed exam content on the internet. These candidates have had their exam scores canceled and testing privileges suspended for up to five years. To ensure the integrity of the exam, NCARB has been forced to add two full-time staff members to monitor and investigate exam disclosures and copyright violations.
Replacing exam content is expensive and time consuming because each vignette or multiple-choice item must be written, reviewed, edited, and thoroughly pre-tested before it is added to the exam. The process of developing replacement content will take two years and the involvement of many volunteer professionals. The current six-month waiting period between failed divisions is in effect to ensure that a candidate does not see the same question twice. If ARE candidates continue to breach the Confidentiality Agreement they accept to prior to taking each division and additional exam content is exposed, NCARB may be forced to extend the mandatory waiting period in order to prevent overexposure of content.
Since NCARB produced the first national exam for architects in 1965, the cost of delivering the test has been heavily subsidized by other NCARB programs. Since the ARE was computerized in 1997, NCARB has subsidized more than $15 million in exam-related expenses.While the new fee structure will help offset the costs incurred as a result of exam disclosure, it still falls short of the actual cost of developing and administering the exam and monitoring its security.
The current version of the ARE is comprised of seven divisions that test a candidate's knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform many of the tasks an architect encounters in practice. To become licensed, candidates must fulfill education and experience requirements, as well as pass all divisions of the ARE.
The new rate of $210 per division will take effect on 1 October 2009. All exams scheduled on or after 1 October 2009 will be at the new rate. Prior to 1 October 2009, candidates can schedule future exam appointments through 31 December 2009 at the current rate of $170 per division.
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| AIA Pennsylvania is Moving
 Effective August 1st, we will be relocating to the 12th floor of the historic Payne Shoemaker Building. Our new address will be:
AIA Pennsylvania
240 N. Third Street, 12th Floor
Harrisburg, PA 17101
The view from the conference room...
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Hold The Date, September 22-23, 2009
This year's Architects Day and Awards Program will be celebrated along with our 100th birthday!
For more information and submission instructions for the awards, visit www.aiapa.org.
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2009 AIA Pennsylvania Board of Directors
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