Kim Olson, AIA

AIA Members:

My name is Kim Olson, and I’m an Associate Principal at Mahlum in Portland. Alongside my day to day work, I’ve been involved with the AIA in varying capacities since 2015 when I joined the board of AIA Portland as a Director. I’ve found involvement in the AIA to be both personally and professionally fulfilling, and have continued to look for ways to be involved and serve this profession. Recently, my interests have brought me to serve as part of the steering group for the Legislative Affairs Committee.

The state AIA council was formed in the middle of the last century to coordinate legislative advocacy between the local chapters (this is the group we called “AIA Oregon” prior to our restructuring). The primary committee of the council was the Legislative Affairs Committee (LAC). The current operation of the LAC dates back a few decades. In the early days, our legislative advocacy was focused on firm-centric issues, such as Qualification-Based Selection, encroachment on the practice of architecture, coordination with the Board of Architect Examiners and Building Codes Division. Starting in the early 2000s, the focus increased to include built environment advocacy, including energy reach codes, and sustainable rating system requirements. More recently, this has included the creation of the Oregon Resiliency Offer, and funding requirements for green energy technology. In 2019, the committee worked to pass bills related to expanding the triggers for substantial completion and was an active participant and advocate for the profession in the Modernization of Qualifications Based Selection (QBS) – driving the conversation towards value-based components. Additionally, we worked for the successful adoption of the Oregon Safety Assessment Program. As with all our committees, these achievements required the work of a dedicated group of people within the AIA.

Looking forward to our next legislative session, we’ve organized our committee to focus on three key areas:

1) Sustainability and Resiliency:

On September 16th of this year, the AIA introduced the “Where We Stand: Climate Action” plan, making the climate crisis the top priority of the institute. Recognizing the effect the built environment has on greenhouse gas levels and the resulting negative impacts, as well as our ethical obligation to the health, safety, and welfare of building occupants, we realize the significant responsibility we have to drive forward measures that support sustainability and resiliency. This subgroup of the LAC will focus on these issues and work to influence associated policy at the state level.

2) Code:

Our initial focus will be on expanded training opportunities and possibly code discussion groups, and if successful, we intend to expand our effort to address the ICC code adoption process.

3) Business Policy, via the Firm Roundtable:

As architects, we are exposed to many different requirements via the Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS). These items affect areas such as our professional liability, contractual verbiage, and how we can pursue work, etc. Our Firm Roundtable meets at regular intervals to discuss issues that we see impacting the business side of our profession and works to establish revisions to the ORS that better supports our profession.

I am joined in these efforts by several talented and dedicated colleagues. The steering committee members include Chris Forney, AIA, Joe Pinzone, AIA, Jay Raskin, AIA, Eric Sandoval, AIA, and Curt Wilson, AIA.

The work of the Legislative Affairs Committee has a deep impact on the work we do as Architects. We can have a tremendous amount of influence on the world in which we live and practice – but it takes being proactive and it takes being involved. If you are interested in being part of the change, please contact me at Kolson@mahlum.com. I’d love to add your energy to our committee!