illuminate
Many thanks to our guest columnist, Richard Alsop, FAIA, for this informative advocacy series.
Is there a topic you’d like us to illuminate? Let us know: info@aiatriangle.org
THE ARCHITECT AS ADVOCATE
A five-part series from J. Richard Alsop, FAIA | AIANC President Elect 2025
Part Five – The Money Side of Politics and its Influence on Legislative Action
In many respects, finding rhyme and reason for some of the laws proposed by our NC Legislators is like a day at a traveling carnival. Around every corner there is a surprise. One carnival barker challenging you to a game of skill, take a chance to win a stuffed bunny, another enticing you to take a spin on a roller coaster.
A case in point was my discovery of Senate Bill 327, published as “An Act to Enact the North Carolina Bitcoin Reserve and Investment Act.” It authorizes the State Treasurer to invest up to “ten percent of public funds” in bitcoin strategies to position North Carolina “as a leader in state-level cryptocurrency adoption.” Personally, Warren Buffet saying he wouldn’t buy a nickel’s worth of cryptocurrency “because it has no value,” was enough for me to red flag Crypto. However, knowing it was sponsored by Senate Majority Whip Todd Johnson makes it likely that it will in fact move from the “Rules and Operations of the Senate Committee” and could well become law, taking our state funds on that coaster ride.
What entices a legislator to sponsor such a bill often boils down to agreements with, and financial contributions by, special interest lobbyists who will write the bill and line up other legislators as co-sponsors. And they may even have the exact text simultaneously introduced in the other chamber to try and expedite its passage into law.
As explained to me by one legislator, and hinted to by more than a few others, they are for all practical purposes mandated to raise cash for the party. Explaining further, those who are most successful advance their position in the party ranks and it may even help the member obtain a choice committee chair. In this case, one could speculate that once state funds are “invested” in a bitcoin strategy, contributions to the party from the strategy managers will be significant. As seen in past sessions, most bills die in one of the numerous committees. Only about ten to twelve percent make it into law and essentially win the stuffed bunny. But in all cases, the cash contributed by the proponents remains in party coffers.
To clarify, in North Carolina General Statutes there are restrictions on what is considered an acceptable contribution. Legislators may not accept contributions during certain meetings, such as those that are intended to discuss specific legislative matters. Under the North Carolina State Ethics Act, it is illegal for any person to give or offer any money or other valuable consideration to a legislator for the purpose of influencing their actions or decisions while they are engaged in their official duties.
Additionally, the North Carolina State Board of Elections regulates campaign contributions and requires transparency in reporting contributions. And it is precisely that transparency which leads us to see the influence big money has on legislation.
Public records show that during the last legislative session, the NC Home Builders Association spread $500,000 in contributions across the House and Senate, primarily, but not exclusively to the majority party. Following this, they provided the text to certain members of the House and Senate for them to sponsor House Bill 488 and Senate Bill 166, both of which became Session Law. We know these as the bills which bifurcated the NC Building Code Council, removed subject matter experts including architects and reduced safety standards in buildings.
We admonish the Home Builders Association for their unapologetic push for legislation to benefit their members at the expense of public safety. But the Home Builders don’t vote on bills, that is solely the charge of our elected officials. In my personal conversations with both House and Senate members from both parties at the start of this legislative session, none were aware of some of the provisions in HB488 and SB166, which they voted for and which impact public safety. This was not a total surprise. For years I have spoken with bill sponsors who could not speak to provisions of bills they introduced because they in fact did not write them. And I sometimes question to myself if they had even read them.
So while there is a sticky money side to politics, there is also the level of responsibility when you are elected to make the best decisions for the people of our state. An apocryphal 19th century phrase I came across years ago warned elected officials that “A bought politician needs to stay bought.” In the 21st century, is this still the case? Contributing to a candidate with the intent to keep a good person in office, knowing that you share the same values is important. Most architects do not contribute to any candidates nor ever have a conversation with them. As such, we should not be surprised if most holding office do not know of our concerns. No one of our legislators is an architect and very few are engineers. They can be forgiven for making bad decisions if no one takes time to inform them. So is the burden on them, or on us?
I would like to close this series with acknowledgement of AIA Triangle member, Glenn Parks. Glenn ran into House Representative, Mary Price (Pricey) Harrison at the Weaver Street Grocery in Carrboro following her singular vote to oppose the reduction in building codes as part of the relief package to Western NC. Glenn and she shared mutual concerns about the reduction in building standards that are being accepted across our legislature. She acknowledged the need to fund even more for the relief in Western NC, but needs the voice of architects to ensure building standards are not reduced.
What impressed me by Glenn’s actions goes beyond the main point of my essays, that being that Architects, every one of us, need to know and build a relationship with our representatives. Pricey is not Glenn’s representative, but having on more than one occasion walked the halls of the legislature during Legislative Day and been part of our Legislative Wednesday events, built relationships beyond his home district.
This is especially important as we undertake to have more influence by reaching legislators who have no architects in their district, which may surprise you to know is close to 50%. To that point, look for the AIANC plan of action for Legislative Day, 2025, where we will want to ensure all legislators have a point of contact with AIANC members and where we have a voice in legislation dealing with public safety, now and into the future.
Thank you to the Board of AIA Triangle for inviting me to present this series of essays and for your interest in Advocacy.
Hope to see you at CfAD on Legislative Day, April 29. Mark your calendar.
J. Richard Alsop, FAIA
AIANC President Elect – 2025
Final Word: Please know that the ideas I shared in the series are solely my own. I am always open to other points of view. Please feel free to contact me at Richard.Alsop@arcreview.org.
THE ARCHITECT AS ADVOCATE
A five-part series from J. Richard Alsop, FAIA | AIANC President Elect 2025
Legislative Day Part Four:
Advocacy – Finding Bills of Interest to You.
This week’s essay on advocacy was proposed as a deep dive into bills submitted during the 2025-2026 biennial legislative session impacting our profession. But before focusing on any particular bill, I want to provide a path to allow you to explore the over one thousand three hundred, and counting, changes in North Carolina law being proposed by the NC Legislature this session with a focus on your interests.
We start by compiling a list of “issue related” words which reflect your personal interests and concerns. Professionally, we all may list Building Codes and Safety, Environment, Resilience, Design or Construction. Personally, we may have specific interest in Accessory Dwelling Units, Zoning or topics such as Education, DEI, Fair Redistricting, Taxes, Colleges and Universities, and so on. Laws related to your county of residence, or funding for relief related to Hurricanes Helene or Debby may be primary for you.
Make a short list just to get started, and ink it in where you can add to it later. Go to NCLEG.GOV as we have done in the past for information about our legislators. At the top of the page you will see the link to the “Bills and Laws Page” in the drop down menu, then select “Bills by Keyword,” sixth item down the list.
A full list of all current bills will be shown. If you type in “Madison County” for instance, you will see two bills, HB 312 and HB 313 providing funds to repair or build public facilities and infrastructure in the aftermath of Helene and a bill to fund the relocation of the Madison County Courthouse out of the existing floodplain. While every detail of these expenses have not been defined by good design practice, nor address the issues of resilience or a ‘build back better’ philosophy, they are important place holders for funding.
Not every word will get a result, sometimes you have to be creative and try several words related to a topic.
Let’s take one bill and work through its language: Typing the word “Codes” it takes us to SB 700, introduced on March 26 which is entitled: “Create the Office of Engineering and Codes.”
This thirty page bill appears by all measures to be significant in taking control away from some key departments of government and placing them in the hands of a single, politically appointed person. In looking at the sponsors, we find two familiar names, Senators Jarvis and Moffit, who were successful in removing architects from the NC Building Code Council last year and introducing several changes in our codes impacting public safety.
- We learn that The Office of Engineering and Codes is created within the Department of Labor and will exercise its powers and duties independently of the Department.
- We learn The Office of Engineering and Codes shall be responsible for the Building Code Council and Residential Code Council; the North Carolina Manufactured Housing Board; the North Carolina Code Officials Qualification Board; The North Carolina Home Inspector Licensure Board; The Engineering and Building Codes Division.
- The State Engineer is authorized to adopt rules in accordance with Chapter 150B of the General Statutes in order to enforce, carry out, and make effective the provisions of those laws. Apparently with no oversight or accountability.
- Whenever the State Engineer has reason to believe that the local inspectors or local investigators are not doing their duty, the State Engineer shall take proper steps to have all the provisions of the law relative to the inspection or investigation enforced.
- The office of the State Fire Marshall shall no longer have responsibility for inspectors, code official qualifications board, or the engineering and building code division of the Department of Insurance.
- In addition to other special charges to every company providing insurance in North Carolina, the law requires the insurance companies to pay expenses incurred in representing the Department of Labor in related programs and industries this State that fall under the jurisdiction of the Office of Engineering and Codes.
In Part three, dealing with the Building Code Council and Residential Code Council, the State Fire Marshall is no longer the entity calling for the council meetings, it is the State Engineer. And the State Engineer shall serve as the staff for the Code Councils, not the Department of Insurance who also loses its position of fiscal responsibility for the Council.
Related to item 4, what is very disconcerting is that local officials are now required to inspect a building within two days of the request by the permit holder, and if that has not occurred, then the State Engineer will have the work inspected by a “Marketplace pool Code-enforcement official,” who by the way is selected by the Qualifications Board, also under the State Engineer’s control. As I see this, it moves the state closer to privatizing the inspection departments across the state.
This is a cursory review, but if there is a lesson to be learned, you have to read the entire bill to see the full scope of changes proposed. Every line item in a bill is significant.
We’ll explore more next week in a final article on Advocacy. If you have any questions or comments, please direct them to me in the next few days and I will try to address them
Thank you for your interest. And block your calendar to be in Raleigh on Legislative Day, April 29.
J. Richard Alsop, FAIA
AIANC President Elect – 2025
Richard.Alsop@arcreview.org
THE ARCHITECT AS ADVOCATE
A five-part series from J. Richard Alsop, FAIA | AIANC President Elect 2025
Legislative Day Part Three:
You thought about doing this last year and the year before. You’re interested in politics but not too keen on joining in or taking sides. Politics isn’t really your thing. Maybe you’ll sign up for legislative day, perhaps next year.
Given that the entity having the most control over public safety and your ability to practice architecture is the NC Legislature, and this past year that body significantly reduced the agency of architects when they removed us from the Building Code councils and passed several laws reducing the safety of the buildings we occupy, there is no better time than this year to be part of AIANC’s Legislative Day.
If you have been following the series you know that you have a legislator representing you in both the NC House and Senate. You may be surprised to find that they are your neighbors as well and they have formed their ideas about what is important and what they support from being part of your community. The question we often hear from our legislators is “Why don’t I hear from Architects?” In fact, many will acknowledge they have never met an architect.
AIA members who have participated in Legislative Day will tell you that it is really an uplifting experience. Before the meeting you will be given information on a few
Bills which our professional association supports or opposes.
Two of those may be the need to reinstate the Appendix B (Building Code Summary), which the legislature made illegal to have the plan reviewers require; and possibly the reinstatement of the inspector’s right to have a builder call for a sheathing inspection, now illegal for the inspector to require under most circumstances.
So what is the experience of attending Legislative Day like?
We first of all set the date. This year it is April 29.
Prior to April 29, AIANC will send you issue briefs. This year we will also be providing short videos of a typical meeting with a legislator, discussing some of the key issues we support.
You will not be alone. Prior to that date we will pair you with others from your section to meet with your representatives. And your group may be asked to meet with a legislator who has no architects living in their district.
Your team will make calls to set appointments with the representatives Legislative Assistant ahead of time. Don’t be surprised if the time slot is not exact. Legislators often get called in Caucus sessions or going to the chamber to handle votes on issues.
On Legislative Day, Architects from across the state will converge on Raleigh, meeting at the Center for Architecture and Design (CfAD), 14 East Peace Street.
Following some updates you will be released to meet with your legislators in their offices, just a short walk from CfAD.
When you return to CfAD for lunch, you will be asked to complete a report on the meeting. And you will have an opportunity to speak with other members and share your experiences with one another.
If you are like most, this will be one of the best days you will have as a professional. And hopefully, the beginning of building relationships with your elected officials which will be part of all of the days of your career.
Thanks for your interest.
J. Richard Alsop, FAIA
President Elect – AIA North Carolina 2025
THE ARCHITECT AS ADVOCATE
A five-part series from J. Richard Alsop, FAIA | AIANC President Elect 2025
Advocacy Part Two:
Advancing Bills through the NC Legislature
Per the Text Books, to become a law in North Carolina, a bill must be approved by both Chambers of the Legislature and the Governor, or if the governor vetoes the bill, it is overridden by a legislative supermajority. That procedure is published in the link below. The ten pages take about as many minutes to read and worth the time to do so before coming back for the rest of the story.
A Text Book Case:
Where “Text Book” worked exceedingly well for the benefit of AIANC members was House Bill 871, which became Session Law 2019-92. Dave Crawford, our AIANC Executive VP pulled together a team of legislators including Dean Arp of the NC House and Paul Newton of the NC Senate and engaged Joelle Jeffcoat, Esq., FAIA legal council with Perkins & Will to lend expertise in writing a new statute. Members of AIA Triangle may remember making rounds to legislative offices to promote this bill. What that law provides is protection for architects and engineers who may have a “Duty to Defend” provision for third parties in their contract for services by making such terms unenforceable. Thanks to Joelle’s truly masterful handling of the complex discussions, especially given that the AGC’s attorney adamantly opposed the bill’s language, it received unanimous approval in both the House and Senate and became law.
In the words of former Advocacy Director, Lou Jurkowski, FAIA, “HB 871 showed that architects can be effective in both writing bills and gathering support to ensure the bills become law. This is important as architects take on a more transformational role in the legislative process.”
Take time to look at the evolution of this bill from start to finish. Go to NCLeg.gov. Upper right go to 2019-2020 Session. Under Bill # enter H871. You can see the bill was introduced in April, went to ‘Commerce Committee,’ was modified with subsequent passage of the modified language then went over to the Senate. All bills going from House to the Senate go to ‘Rules and Operations,’ where some never emerge. This one came out, went to ‘Judiciary’ and later having been amended, went back to the House. It passed there and was Ratified, being signed into law by the Governor on July 8.
2025 NC Legislature:
What is different from that time is that our legislature is now controlled by one party having a “supermajority,” meaning it can pass laws it chooses without having to seek or even consider other points of view, or be concerned with a Governor’s veto. And with its ability to redistrict the state to ensure its party remains a solid majority, this will be the case for the indefinite future given the new conservative-controlled NC Supreme Court supports the redistricting.
A preview of a possible future came with the introduction of House Bill 488 in 2023 and Senate Bill 166 in 2024. You will know these as the laws bifurcating the NC Building Code, removing architects from the Code Council, deleting the ability of inspectors to ask for Appendix B and eliminating their ability to call for sheathing inspections for most buildings, and including other public safety reductions. These are now referred to as Session Law 2023-108 and Session Law 2024-49, respectively. As before, go to NCLeg.gov. Upper right go to 2023-2024 Session. Under Bill # enter H488 and under a separate search, S166. Take time to look at the process each of these bills went through.
In S166 you will notice a maneuver that is often used in our political system, and that is the appropriation of an existing bill to add totally new language after it has been accepted by the other chamber. The two-page bill on Backflow Preventers had 69 pages of language added to it in the House, was quickly passed, and with Senate members ready to advance the new language produced by the Home Builders, they passed the bill. You can read the Governor’s veto language which stated it removed subject matter experts from the Code Councils, which impacts public safety. Yet, the veto was overridden and the bill is now law.
Backstory:
You may know these two bills were actually written by the Home Builders Association of NC, who had primed the legislature with contributions totaling $500,000 before asking for consideration of these two pieces of legislation.
HBNC motives to save construction costs were evident with the reduction in safety standards. Their goal was also to silence the voice of architects and building officials who have been advocating for NC to adopt more current codes and to also adopt the current IBCC Energy Code.
Opportunities for Leadership:
On January 29, at the start of the current legislative session I was able to speak with both Republicans and Democrats, House and Senate members who were unaware of and quite surprised to learn about some of the language they had approved in H488 and S166, and they wanted to know more. Pointing to the need for personal contact mentioned in Part One of the series to start a meaningful dialogue.
We often speak about being more proactive. The value architects have in political discourse is that political views of our members reside on both sides of the aisle and more importantly, no one of us views providing for Health, Safety and Welfare of the public as having a political component. So we have a uniquely unified voice when it comes to public safety.
Combine this with what is common in our education and training, no matter where we received our education or what year we graduated, which is the necessity to include a wide range of input for any project we undertake. The notion of excluding user input is something we know intuitively will result in a less than acceptable solution. It strikes us as inherently wrong to lock out other points of view from any discussion involving public safety in the buildings we design.
With that common framework, what may make sense for our effort to restore our agency with the NC Legislature is to not only engage with them, but engage with the public at large and foster discussions on holistic approaches to our most important common needs.
What are your thoughts? Do you see a way to better position our profession? Do you have an idea you wish to advance in the NC Legislature? You can reach me at: Richard.Alsop@arcreview.org.
Thanks for your interest,
Richard Alsop, FAIA
AIANC President Elect – 2025
PS: In a reconciliation bill, the following persons were added to the Building Code Council:
Seth Ellington of Wake County was appointed to the Building Code Council for a term expiring January 1, 2027.
Architect Paul Boney of New Hanover County was appointed to the Building Code Council for a term expiring January 1, 2029.
Mark Smith of Guilford County was appointed to the Building Code Council for a term expiring January 1, 2031.
THE ARCHITECT AS ADVOCATE
A five-part series from J. Richard Alsop, FAIA | AIANC President Elect 2025
Part One: Get to know your Representatives
The Advocates role is to effect policy and create laws which benefit the mission of their organization. The most influential entity having control over policies and laws affecting licensed professions in our state are the 50 Senators and 120 House members of the NC Legislature. In recent years architects have experienced a loss of agency due to legislative action, with one prime example being the exclusion and removal of architects from the two NC Building Code Councils.
While AIANC’s response to this incomprehensible act and other recent laws reducing public safety are forthcoming, this and subsequent essays will focus on the fundamentals of what we need to know and do in order to advocate for our profession, with our focus on the NC Legislature.
We start with the charge given to us under state law, which is to protect the Health, Safety and Welfare of the public. And we add to this our Institute’s missive, to act within the highest ethical standards.
As an individual professional, advocacy begins with knowing who represents us on councils within our local community, within the state and at the national level.
The Triangle Section is represented in the NC Legislature by 9 Senators and 22 House members. There are over 900 members of the AIA Triangle Section, but distribution is not uniform, leaving many Senators and House members without an architect within their district.
To be effective in making policies and laws, we each need to take on the responsibility to build a relationship with the persons who represent us in the NC House and Senate. As an aside, confirm who represents you at the beginning of every legislative biennial session. To understand why, look up “Gerrymandering in North Carolina” on your browser.
To find your personal legislators, go to NCLEG.GOV in your browser. At the top right of the page, click on the link “Find your Legislator.” Then enter your home address and check NC House or Senate.
You will then see the name and a link to your House and Senate Representatives. On their individual page, in addition to contact information and the name of their Legislative Assistant (who is going to be key to your access to the legislator), look at the maps to discern what geographic area they represent. You will find the House and Senate Districts are not the same, but will overlap to some extent. Take time to research and explore these areas.
Look at the top of their page where you will see links to their “Biography, Introduced Bills, Votes, Committees and Contact.”
Locate the committees they are assigned. This will be important as we start to track bills, the topic of later essays. Look also at bills they sponsor or co-sponsor. Sponsored bills are often the issues they feel passionate about or feel are most relevant to their constituents.
In summary, an essential goal of every architect should be a commitment to getting to know, personally, the persons who represent you. And this is for the full life of your career. As a profession, we all too often take legislators for granted, and we are now experiencing the consequences.
Look for next weeks article on how to follow legislation through our system. As a heads up, the book you read in your sixth grade social studies course did not tell you the full story!
Thanks for your interest,
J. Richard Alsop, FAIA
AIANC President Elect – 2025
BLACK HISTORY MONTH
AIA Triangle honors Black History Month by showcasing Black voices making a significant impact in the Triangle.
Kevin G. Montgomery
I joined O’Brien Atkins Associates (OBA) December 5, 1988, after a nine-and-a-half-year tenure at I.M. Pei and Partners. I was named Principal at OBA in 1997 and have served in multiple leadership roles in the firm, prior to becoming CEO. In this role, my colleagues and I have collaborated with our clients and users to provide projects that have benefited the communities they serve.
My opportunities to give back to the profession changed when I was appointed to the NC Board of Architecture in 1997. During my 12-year tenure I became the first African American to serve as President in 2003. During that tenure it also gave me the opportunity to serve on and chair National Council of Architectural Registration Board (NCARB) Committees and become the Southern Conference Regional Chair, another first for an African American for our region in 2007. I have also served and Chair NAAB Accreditation visits, served on the AIA National Ethics Committee and was a founding officer of NC NOMA.
My inspiration to become an architect came from seeing the TWA Building designed by Eero Saarinen when I was in elementary school in Brooklyn, NY. Even though my generation was the first in our family to go to college, not because of their ability, but lack of access, my parents encouraged me to pursue my dream, even though they were afraid that it would be a dream deferred, so I owe them my greatest gratitude for letting dream and dream become a reality.
The architects that have impacted my desire to become an architect were Max Bond, Harry Simmons African American Architects who took the time to talk with me when I was in Architecture School, and Joe Licameli, who I call my Godfather in the profession, because he gave me my first job in the profession and encouraged me to pursue higher heights. We stay connected till this day.
The individual that has had the greatest impact on my professional development is John L Atkins III, the founder of O’Brien Atkins who opened doors for that allowed me to give back to our profession and communities.
I have a saying, “you have more by giving than by getting,” so for me the greatest memories from my career will not be the buildings that I’ve designed but the lives I’ve had the opportunity to sow into through mentoring and encouraging them. As lyrics form the Negro spiritual says; “If I can help somebody as I travel along, if I can help somebody with a word or song, then my living will not be in vain”
Asya Shine
As an emerging architectural designer navigating the professional landscape of the Triangle area, my experience has been both inspiring and challenging. Working primarily in the life sciences and biotechnology sector, I am often one of the only women and person of color in the room. This reality has underscored the critical importance of representation and the need for intentional support networks to foster growth and retention.
Since moving to Raleigh in 2021, finding that support network through NCNOMA has made a profound difference in my journey. My involvement with the organization has provided me with a vital sense of community and a platform to amplify my voice. This network has offered both encouragement and practical resources, empowering me to confidently pursue licensure and leadership opportunities that once felt out of reach. My involvement with both NCNOMA and AIANC has allowed me to witness and contribute to the growing commitment to equity within the Triangle’s architectural ecosystem. Working alongside dedicated professionals to expand access through licensure scholarships and pipeline initiatives has underscored the transformative power of collective action.
Ethan Hall
When I reflect on my experience as a black student in the School of Architecture at NC State, I am inspired by the strong sense of community I have found which allows me to establish my own perspective through the various projects I take on in school. I attended diverse public middle and high schools, so it was relatively surprising to find myself as one of the few students of color within my class of 35. I Initially found it intimidating to chart a path forward for myself without knowing the resources that were available. However, through organizations like NOMAS and courses such as, Freshman advancement Seminar which provides an opportunity for a diverse student population to explore the question of race and cultural differences in a global society, I found the communities that I resonate with which continue to support my academic and professional development. I remember my Freshman year when Vershae Hite gave a Lecture on her experiences in Architecture and I found it incredibly inspiring to hear about her professional journey. It was refreshing to not only hear about the experience of a black professional in architecture but also to understand how to navigate the transition from academics to career. That lecture inspired me to get involved in NOMAS where I connected with many other students as well as working professionals from Oluwarotimi Osiberu, a designer at Gensler, to Art Clement, the first African American graduate of the School of Architecture.
I was further inspired by Jha D Amazzi, a Principal at Mass Design Group, and hearing her journey in architecture and some of the projects she worked on in the firm. I resonated with how she used her perspective as a spoken word artist and activist to contribute to deeply meaningful projects in the firm that uplift and represent those who are historically excluded. It inspired me to explore how I could use my individual perspective as a black student in architecture to affect the projects that I develop.Through my project research, I have often uncovered the dark past of redlining and HOLC maps that affect many of the cities in the United States. It has been incredible to understand how I can begin to investigate those topics and inspire discussions about how architecture has been influenced by, but also has the power to transform and correct, the many setbacks of displaced and disadvantaged African American communities. I am inspired to uncover those ideas and contribute to new perspectives within the field of architecture as I pursue my goal of becoming a licensed Architect.
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