Author: agcnews

On June 21, 2022, the Biden Administration unveiled its Spring 2022 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions mapping out federal agency priorities for the coming months. This bi-annual publication informs the public of regulations under consideration or planned by federal agencies. The present agenda includes several submissions by labor agencies. The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) submission updates projected timelines for action already in progress of relevance to construction contractors, including Wage and Hour Division plans to issue a proposed rule revising the overtime regulations in October 2022 and a final rule updating the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts regulations in December 2022. While not…

DOL Proposes Changes to Davis-Bacon Wage Survey Report Form Thu, 06/23/2022 – 12:34 The U.S. Department of Labor is proposing changes to its “WD-10 Davis Bacon Wage Survey Report of Construction Contractor’s Wage Rates” form to help improve collection of data for determining prevailing wage rates. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has announced a notice of proposed revision to the “WD-10 Davis Bacon Wage Survey Report of Construction Contractor’s Wage Rates” form. WHD is proposing changes to the WD-10 in effort to improve the overall efficiency of the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts (DBRA) survey process. The proposed…

AGC of America and five other employer groups jointly submitted an amicus brief at the U.S. Supreme Court on June 15 in support of a request for review of a Washington Supreme Court decision that prevents a company from recovering damages from a union that sanctioned destruction of company property. The issue in the case, Glacier Northwest, Inc. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local Union No. 174, is whether the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) preempts an employer’s state tort claim against a union for intentionally destroying the employer’s property in the course of a labor dispute. The case arose in the context…

Forty-three states and the District of Columbia added construction jobs during the past twelve months, but momentum slowed in May with only 22 states adding jobs, according to a new analysis of federal employment data released by the Associated General Contractors of America today. Association officials said the monthly employment gains lagged in May as contractors continue to cope with labor shortages and supply chain challenges. “Demand for construction appears to be outpacing the availability of workers and materials in many parts of the country,” said Stephen E. Sandherr, the association’s chief executive officer. “Contractors can’t add jobs if they…

Contractors’ bid prices for constructing new nonresidential buildings finally caught up with soaring costs for the materials and service they buy in May, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of government data released today. Association officials cautioned that contractors will have a hard time keeping pace with additional price spikes for many key construction materials. “After enduring more than a year of runaway increases in the cost of items needed to build projects, contractors have finally raised their bid prices by an equivalent amount,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “But the runup in materials costs…

On June 8, AGC sought clarification from OSHA on its enforcement of heat-related hazards under its National Emphasis Program (NEP). Due to the absence of specific guidance clarifying how compliance safety and health officers (CSHOs) will evaluate a contractor’s implementation of protocols to address heat exposure, fair and consistent enforcement will be significantly impacted across all regions. In addition, the NEP’s ambiguities may ultimately put workers at further risk of injury or illness. Based on AGC’s review and analysis of the NEP, it is unclear if following the principles of Water. Rest. Shade. under OSHA’s Heat Illness Prevention Campaign will be deemed acceptable. It also raises questions…

Environmentalists are pushing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to undertake a rulemaking to classify discarded polyvinyl chloride (PVC or vinyl) as hazardous waste under federal law and to revise the solid waste management guidelines on disposal of PVC. AGC filed comments on June 3 on a proposed consent decree that would settle the lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity in D.C. federal court, saying EPA unreasonably delayed responding to CBD’s 2014 petition that asked the agency to regulate PVC under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Under the proposed “sue and settle” agreement, EPA promised to decide within nine months whether to…

KANSAS CITY, MO. – The bi-state region’s fast-growing construction sector, which last year started $8.3 billion worth of projects, contributes an extra $10.7 billion to the local economy and supports 83,000 non-construction jobs, according to a new economic impact analysis released by the Associated General Contractors of America today. The new analysis shows the broader impacts of an industry as the region’s two largest building associations announced plans to merge by the end of the year. “Construction is expanding in the Kansas City metro area,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “As a result, the industry is adding good-paying jobs at…

Struggling to find enough workers? On this episode, three young construction professionals share their insights about how they made a decision on a full-time position and why their selected firms stood out. Guests include Trent Fair, recent graduate of Pittsburg State University, who landed a Superintendent role with Simpson Construction Services, Jack McGavran, also graduated from Pittsburg State who will be joining McCarthy Building Services as an Engineer, and Collette LeManske of Kansas State University, who will be taking on a Project Engineer role with Brinkmann Constructors. These three new additions to the industry provide some great information about what…

The Construction Owners Association of America (COAA) is the largest association of construction owners in the United States. COAA just held its Spring Connect conference in downtown Baltimore on the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) campus. One session featured “What I Love and Hate About Updating My Contracts from an Owners’ Perspective.” ConsensusDocs’ Executive Director & Senior Counsel Brian Perlberg spoke on a panel with Joe Cleves of Taft Law and Pen Wolf from the Cleveland Clinic. Pen Wolf from Cleveland Clinic outlined the process he used to update his contracts recently. The Cleveland Clinic builds facilities annually and owns different facilities at different…