A Record Of Success

David Turch and Associates successfully represents our clients’ needs covering a whole gamut of issues ranging from transportation and infrastructure to water and flood control to law enforcement and homeland security. Here is just a sample of our successes.

Surface Transportation

Transportation is one of our areas of specialty. We have been deeply involved in the last four transportation reauthorization acts to pass Congress: ISTEA, TEA-21, SAFETEA-LU and MAP-21. Our longstanding involvement with the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee provides us with a unique insight into the more nuanced policy deliberations that evolve during the reauthorization process. We personally know and have access to the key decision-makers and have our hands on the pulse of the Committee.  Moreover, David Turch and Associates has an excellent working relationship with the Department of Transportation and its various agencies.

Over the years, we have secured tens of millions of dollars for interchange projects along the I-10 and I-15 Corridors in Southern California, including the I-10 and Riverside Avenue Interchange, the I-15 and Base Line Road Interchange, and the proposed SR-60 Potrero Boulevard Interchange.  When previously earmarked funds were at risk of being rescinded for the Potrero Boulevard Interchange project in the summer of 2012, we worked with the City of Beaumont, the Department of Transportation, and Caltrans to ensure that the funds remained dedicated to the project.  We have also secured tens of millions of dollars for bridges and road improvement projects for our clients across the country

Transit

We have worked with the City of Monrovia on its development plans along the Gold Line light rail extension through the City. Monrovia’s Station Square Transit Village development is the most ambitious project in Monrovia in decades and, when completed, will ultimately cover 80 acres-- including a park-and-ride transit center, more than 1,000 new residential units, neighborhood retail establishments, offices, and public spaces. We helped secure over $4.5 million for the project. Beyond assisting the City secure federal funds for the project, we were more recently engaged in obtaining congressional support in facilitating an agreement on the construction of a maintenance facility between Monrovia and the Gold Line Construction Authority. We also secured funding for the City’s trolley system, parks, and downtown historic preservation project.

In 2012, we worked with the Riverside Transit Administration (RTA) helping them secure a $2.4 million Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Clean Fuel Grant.  The federal funds were used to cover the cost of replacing RTA’s fleet of compressed natural gas buses, which were reaching the end of their useful life.  RTA is in the process of spending over $50 million on the purchase of 97 full-sized buses, with the potential to buy more if needed.

Economic Development

On behalf of the City of Imperial, California, we have been diligently holding meetings over the past couple of years with officials from the Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA), both here in Washington, DC and with their regional office in southern California.  Our work with EDA paid off in 2013 when the City of Imperial secured a $3,000,000 EDA grant to fund the extension of water, wastewater, and the construction of surface road and other improvements along Neckel Road. This project supports the development of the Alliance and Innovative Regional Center, an USCIS approved EB-5 green card investment regional center, which will include a hotel, retail center, and office park. This project supports foreign direct investment and global competitiveness. This investment is part of a $3,828,375 project that will create an estimated 642 jobs and leverage $22.25 million in private investment.

Water

On water related projects, we have worked with a number of clients including the cities of Rialto and Colton in the Inland Empire. In this capacity, we worked with Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein and Representatives Joe Baca, Jerry Lewis, Grace Napolitano, and Gary Miller to secure both federal funding and legislative solutions to the issue of perchlorate groundwater contamination in the Rialto-Colton Basin. We worked with Congressman Baca in establishing the California Reclamation Groundwater Remediation Initiative in the National Heritage Areas Act of 2005 (P.L. 109-338, Title VIII). The program authorized $10 million for the purposes of groundwater remediation under the auspices of the Bureau of Reclamation.   Funding will directly assist Rialto and Colton to deal more effectively with their groundwater perchlorate contamination. We also worked with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and relevant congressional committees, in particular Boxer’s Environment and Public Works Committee, in advancing the City of Rialto’s objective by securing a National Priorities Listing (NPL) of the 160-acre B.F. Goodrich area as a superfund site. In addition, we helped secure over $23 million in perchlorate remediation from the Department of Defense and the EPA.

Homeland Security

David Turch and Associates provides federal advocacy services for the Interagency Communications Interoperability System (ICIS) Joint Powers Authority (JPA), a seven-city member agency including Beverly Hills, Burbank, Culver City, Glendale, Montebello, Pasadena, and Pomona. In addition, ICIS network subscribers include the Bob Hope Airport Authority, the Los Angeles Interagency Metropolitan Police Apprehension Crime Task Force (LA IMPACT), and the Verdugo Fire Communications Center, serving the cities of Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, Arcadia, Monrovia, South Pasadena, San Marino, San Gabriel, Sierra Madre, Monterey Park, and Alhambra. The ICIS system covers over 1.2 million residents in Los Angeles County.

Our firm has been actively promoting ICIS’s federal agenda with key Members of the House and Senate as well as relevant congressional committees and the executive branch. We have worked with ICIS board members and staff in crafting a federal strategy that advances ICIS’s interests by: educating federal representatives about the critical nature of the organization’s work; pursuing appropriations and programmatic funding; and leveraging congressional support on behalf of ICIS, resulting in millions of dollars in federal funds for the build out of the system.

On policy and regulatory fronts, we have promoted ICIS’s interests before federal agencies including the Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services regarding COPS Technology funding, the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) regarding their grants programs and “Best Practices” site, and Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate Command, Control and Interoperability Division regarding the establishment of national standards for interoperable communications. ICIS members worked with the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to discuss the agency’s implementation and administration of the $1 billion Public Safety Interoperable Communications Grant Program (PSIC) as well as the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP).

More recently, ICIS officials met with NTIA to discuss the agency’s plans on establishing and implementing FirstNet, the governance board in charge of managing the development of a nationwide broadband network for public safety. ICIS also met with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) officials from the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau to discuss a legislative rider in H.R. 3630 (P.L. 112-96), legislation extending middle class tax breaks and unemployment benefits, that mandates a “take back” of frequencies in the UHF T-Band portion of spectrum (470-512 MHz), which is used to support narrowband voice systems in a dozen of the largest metropolitan areas in the country, including within LA County. ICIS operates within the T-Band range of frequencies. We are working to resolve the T-Band issue with the LA Congressional Delegation, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the House and Senate Homeland Security committees, and the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.

Local Municipal Interests

For the City of Moreno Valley, we helped secure federal funds for various City priorities including law enforcement, vocational training, and emergency preparedness. For instance, we worked with their Representative in securing $500,000 from the Department of Homeland Security for the City’s Emergency Operations Center. We also were successful in securing $500,000 for Moreno Valley Police Department’s anti-gang program as well as $141,000 for law enforcement equipment. We worked with Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) in securing $121,000 for the “Moreno Valley Pilot Employment Training-Education Partnership Program.” The project involved working with local non-profits, education institutions, and other work-force agencies to provide vocational training for young adults, 17 to 22 years of age. The program also included the development of an internship with local businesses to put the trainees’ job skills to use upon graduation.

NASA/SOFIA Program

President Obama’s FY 2015 budget request for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) essentially eliminates funding for the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) program operated out of Palmdale, California.   David Turch and Associates was tasked by the City of Palmdale to mobilize and secure congressional support to restore full funding -- $87 million -- for SOFIA.  Termination of the program would result in the direct loss of over 200 high-paying jobs in the Palmdale region.  We immediately engaged key House and Senate Appropriations Committee Members and enlisted the support of the California Congressional Delegation.  We organized a Palmdale City advocacy trip to Washington, DC prior to the NASA budget markup by the House Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science Subcommittee.  The Palmdale delegation met with top NASA representatives including the official in charge of handling funding justifications for the Astrophysics Division.  The Palmdale group had meetings with Kevin McCarthy, then House Majority Whip, whose congressional district stretches into the Antelope Valley, as well as with the Republican and Democratic leadership of the CJS Subcommittee.  We leveraged local business and labor interests for the project on Capitol Hill.  We duplicated our efforts on the Senate side, working closely with Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer.  We coordinated our legislative advocacy efforts with research stakeholders from northern California.  The end result was a House mark of $70 million and a Senate mark of $87 million.  The current continuing resolution for FY 2015, which expires on December 11, 2014, allows NASA to continue to fully operate SOFIA.  The respective House/Senate appropriations marks, moreover, ensure that the program is funded through the end of 2015 fiscal year.

EPA/Job Training

Through our advocacy work with EPA earlier this year, we were able to help the City of Rialto partner with the agency to establish a job training program aimed at helping prepare young adults in Rialto for employment opportunities in the hazardous waste cleanup industry.  The Superfund Job Training Initiative (SuperJTI) program combines extensive classroom instruction with hands-on training exercises for each participant. SuperJTI graduates have the technical skills to work on a broad range of construction, environmental remediation, and cleanup projects at Superfund sites.  EPA offers SuperJTI training through its Technical Assistance Services for Communities (TASC) contract, which provides training and independent technical assistance to communities. TASC provides assistance to communities affected by hazardous waste sites regulated by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as Superfund, and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).  Rialto’s first SuperJTI class was graduated this past summer and participants have already begun accepting job offers.

Law Enforcement

In September 2014, the Justice Department’s COPS Office awarded $250,000 to the Rialto Police Department to hire two School Resource Officers (SRO).  We worked closely with the Rialto Police Department and the COPS Office and Rialto’s congressional House and Senate delegations.  We organized several meetings in January and March of this year between Rialto City officials and COPS Office Director Ronald Davis discussing the City’s law enforcement personnel needs and Justice Department grant opportunities.  In addition to the SRO grant,  the Rialto Police Department secured over $625,000 in COPS funding to hire five new police officers.  The Police Department also secured a $93,000 grant in 2012 as part of a study that received national attention on the use of body cameras.  The police department saw an 88 percent drop in complaint against officers, from 24 to 3 in a single year, after implementing the body cameras.  Use-of-force incidents also fell by nearly 60 percent from 61 to 25 incidents.

Aviation

Over the last year we have worked with the City of Imperial, the City of El Centro, the County of Imperial and SeaPort Airlines on securing a Department of Transportation waiver so that Imperial County Airport can continue to participate in the Essential Air Service (EAS) program.  The EAS provides a federal subsidy to encourage commercial passenger air service in rural communities.  The FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (Public Law 112-95) amended the EAS requiring participating communities to maintain an average of 10 enplanements or more per service day in order to remain program eligible.  This new statutory requirement took effect at the beginning of FY 2013 (October 1, 2012 through September 30, 2013).  Imperial County Airport’s average daily enplanements for FY 2013 was below the minimum DOT threshold.  David Turch and Associates worked with all regional stakeholders, including Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and Representative Juan Vargas, in a successful effort to secure a waiver, which was issued by the Transportation Department in September 2014.  We organized several meetings with EAS officials and held numerous communications with congressional and regional representatives.  Continued EAS service to the airport is a critical component of the region’s economic development plans.  The waiver allows the airport to continue to have access to the $1.6 million EAS grant through FY 2015.

From a different advocacy perspective, we are sometimes retained by a client to block an initiative that will harm their interest.  David Turch and Associates was hired by the homeowner’s associations of Lake Nona Estates and North Lake Park in Orlando, Florida to increase the level of transparency with the Greater Orlando Airport Authority (GOAA) regarding the planned expansion of their East Airfield. The original airport plans threatened to adversely affect the environment and health of the community residents. David Turch & Associates successfully engaged the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), United States Army Corps of Engineers (USCOE),  the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and relevant members of the House and Senate to pressure the GOAA to make plan modifications to address the communities’ concerns.

Emergency Preparedness

We organized several Stearns County advocacy trips to Washington, DC. We met with Members of the Minnesota delegation, congressional committees of interest and various federal agencies, including FEMA.  The County was recently awarded over $165,000 from FEMA in Hazard Mitigation grants this year to construct tornado safe rooms.

Education

We have been working with the City of Hemet, California to raise awareness of their issues on Capitol Hill. We have met with Members of the California delegation as well as with key congressional committees and federal agencies. Hemet was recently awarded $340,918 Education grant for the Hemet Unified School District to improve school climate and keep students safe.

FAA / USAF

On behalf of a County client in Montana, the firm has successfully modified the proposed expansion of the Powder River Training Complex in Montana, Wyoming, and the Dakotas. The expansion is scheduled to take place this year. We worked closely with the Congressional delegation from the relevant states and were able to insert language into Senate legislation and FAA regulations. This was a significant achievement for a rural county in eastern Montana, and allowed them to protect their economic and cultural interests.