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Patricia Doersch
Partner
Patricia Doersch is a partner in the firm’s Transportation, Infrastructure & Local Government Public Policy Practice. She assists transportation agencies, corporations and municipal governments in achieving their goals before the federal government, with a focus on assisting automotive industry clients address federal regulatory requirements and compliance matters.
Patricia brings a wealth of experience shaping transportation policy and legislation within the federal government. She served as Majority Counsel for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Highways and Transit Subcommittee, advancing congressional priorities on highway funding, environmental streamlining and motor carrier safety. There, she crafted the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act, which created the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and substantially increased funding for truck and bus safety oversight, research and crash prevention.
While an attorney with the Federal Highway Administration, Patricia was the principal drafter of the Administration’s bill reauthorizing the US$40 billion annual federal-aid highway program.
Patricia also served as Legislative Counsel for the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), advocating on behalf of 1,500 transit providers and private suppliers on Capitol Hill and at federal agencies on issues from transportation funding, finance and tax policy to wide-ranging federal grant requirements such as Buy America.
In September 2020, Patricia was appointed to the board of the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority by Governor Ralph Northam.
- Regional Transportation District – Worked to defeat House legislation that banned the use of flexible STP highway funds for transit capital projects, thereby ensuring client’s locally championed rail project could proceed on schedule under locally supported finance plan.
- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) – On behalf of NHTSA, conducted a multi-year monitorship of a major automaker’s compliance with federal motor vehicle safety laws and regulations, including obligations to promptly remedy defective vehicles and to establish a corporate culture of proactive vehicle safety.
- American Water Works Association – Helped champion an improvement to a newly adopted loan program for water infrastructure projects that would enable utilities to co-finance projects with tax-exempt debt, greatly expanding the cost effectiveness and utility of the loan program to address the backlog of investment needs nationwide.
Education
- University of Kansas, J.D.
- University of Wisconsin, B.A.
Admissions
- District of Columbia, 1992
Memberships & Affiliations
- Member of the Board, Virginia Passenger Rail Authority
- Standing Committee on Revenue and Finance, Transportation Research Board, National Academy of Sciences
- Steering Committee of Innovative Funding, Finance, and Public-Private Partnerships Committee, American Public Transportation Association
- Lawrence R. Schneider Award, US Department of Transportation, the Department’s highest recognition of outstanding legal achievement
- Quoted, “Analysis: What will Joe Biden do about infrastructure?,” P3 Bulletin, November 13, 2020.
- Speaker, “Autonomous Vehicles: the Road Ahead on Federal Policy and Regulatory Issues,” Autonomous Vehicle Symposium, Chandler, AZ, November 2019.
- Speaker, “Staying Successful and Giving Back,” WTS DC, Advancing Women in Transportation, October 2018.
- Presenter, “WIFIA 2.0: A Revenue-Neutral Approach to Expand WIFIA Support for Infrastructure,” American Water Works Association, April 2018.
- Co-author, “White House Releases Long-awaited Infrastructure Proposal,” Squire Patton Boggs, February 2018.
- Speaker, “Infrastructure Finance Policy,” City Accelerator Conference on Infrastructure Finance, April 2017.
- Co-author, “2016 Post-Election Analysis: A New Administration and a New Congress – What to Expect,” Squire Patton Boggs, November 2016 (republished by Law360).
- Speaker, “WIFIA: Program Origins, Aims, and Early Implementation,” AWWA Water Infrastructure Conference, October 2016.
- Speaker, “The Accelerating New Global Economy: Transportation, Trade and Security,” Meridian International Center and Squire Patton Boggs, January 2016.
- Presiding Officer, “Breaking Down Barriers: Funding and Finance Issues and Innovation in Public Transportation,” Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, January 2016.
- Speaker, “Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act,” Indiana Bar Association, Utility Law Spring Seminar, April 2015.