Author: agcnews

On September 22, AGC sent a letter of support for the Endangered Species Act (ESA) Amendments of 2020 introduced by Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY) ahead of a September 23 hearing on the bill. The bill complements and builds on changes the Trump Administration made last year by further empowering States and Tribes in the recovery of species, permitting the prioritization of resources, promoting recovery and delisting, and incentivizing engagement in voluntary conservation efforts. AGC also supports studying the administrative and litigation expenses associated with the ESA. For more information, contact Melinda Tomaino at melinda.tomaino@agc.org.

On September 21, AGC CEO Stephen Sandherr expressed support of a bill to streamline the federal environmental review process for infrastructure projects. Key Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced the bill, BUILDER Act — Building U.S. Infrastructure through Limited Delays & Efficient Reviews, this week. “Congressional Committee leaders’ newly-introduced legislation will provide needed enhancements to the National Environmental Policy Act,” Sandherr said. “This legislation complements the administration’s recent efforts to streamline the environmental review process while continuing to adhere to the same rigorous environmental standards. AGC is eager to work with members of Congress to further improve the permitting process for infrastructure…

The U.S. Department of Labor announced a proposed rule clarifying the definition of employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) as it relates to independent contractors. AGC has long called for federal clarification of the independent contractor status and preservation of legitimate independent contractor relationships, such as those that have historically existed in the construction industry. The Department’s proposed rule would: This Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) is available for review and public comment for 30 days after it is published in the Federal Register. The Department encourages interested parties to submit comments on the proposed rule. For more information,…

AGC, along with other business and professional organizations, urged the U.S. House of Representatives to hold hearings on the workplace safety impacts of the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act before holding a vote on the legislation. The bill would remove federal penalties for marijuana use, thereby allowing states to legalize it without threat of federal action. In the letter sent to House members, AGC and its partners expressed concern over the implications the MORE Act and the impact the legalization of marijuana use could have on workplace safety, as marijuana negatively impacts attention and decision-making, posing a risk to workers and…

While not ideal, enactment of a short-term continuing resolution (CR) will ensure federal agencies remain open and ongoing projects for direct federal contractors (e.g., those with contracts directly with the U.S. Army Corps, Navy, General Services Administration, etc.) remain uninterrupted through December 11. However, federal construction projects that need fiscal year 2021 funds to begin or start a new phase are prohibited from moving forward. That does not mean that all or many direct federal construction projects will grind to a halt, because the majority continue to utilize funds from previous fiscal years (thus falling outside the new project starts…

On September 22, the House passed a bill to fund the federal government, known as a continuing resolution (CR), through December 11, 2020. Thanks to AGC and a unified stakeholder community effort, a one-year extension of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act – the current highway and transit law – was included in the CR. The extension would provide current levels of funding for federal highway and transit programs through September 30, 2021. In addition, the CR provides $13.6 billion to shore up the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) for the duration of the extension. That amount is divided between the two…

The U.S. Department of Labor announced a proposed rule clarifying the definition of employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) as it relates to independent contractors. AGC has long called for federal clarification of the independent contractor status and preservation of legitimate independent contractor relationships, such as those that have historically existed in the construction industry. The Department’s proposed rule would: This Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) is available for review and public comment for 30 days after it is published in the Federal Register. The Department encourages interested parties to submit comments on the proposed rule. For more information,…

In a move sure to frustrate employers and usher in a wave of confusion, a New York federal court judge just struck down critical portions of the Labor Department’s new joint employer rule that went into effect a few months ago. Concluding that the agency’s rule has “major flaws,” U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods decided yesterday that the rule did not comport with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The September 8 ruling tosses out the new standard that had applied to “vertical” employment relationships (when staffing company or subcontractor workers are contracted to work with another entity, for example),…

Thirty-nine states lost construction jobs between August 2019 and August 2020 while 31 states and the District of Columbia added construction jobs between July and August according to a new analysis of Labor Department data released today by the Associated General Contractors of America. The new annual figures detail how the coronavirus pandemic has undermined demand for construction projects after a strong start to the year. “The ongoing pandemic is prompting ever more private owners, developers, and public agencies to delay and cancel projects,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist, citing the association’s mid-June survey and a more recent survey it produced in…

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) posted revisions to regulations that implemented the paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). The revisions made by the new rule clarify workers’ rights and employers’ responsibilities under the FFCRA’s paid leave provisions, in light of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in an Aug. 3, 2020, decision that found portions of the regulations invalid. The revisions do the following: The Department issued its initial temporary rule implementing provisions under the FFCRA on April 1, 2020.…