Author: agcnews

Ends Secret Ballot in Union Organizing Elections (Card Check), Forced CBA Arbitration and More On February 4, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the AGC-opposed America COMPETES Act, a bill meant to improve American economic competitiveness against China. While previous iterations of the bill were bipartisan—including AGC-supported $52 billion in funding for the construction of new and modernizing existing semiconductor chip manufacturing plants—House Democrats also included several harmful construction policies, including those from the PRO Act—the greatest legislative threat to open-shop and union contractors. Specifically, the bill would threaten the use of secret ballot voting in union organizing elections and instead impose card…

Construction Official Says “Irresponsible” Proposal Won’t Address Root Causes of Higher Fuel Prices, But Will Blow a Huge Hole in the Federal Highway Trust Fund and Undermine Efforts to Fix Infrastructure The chief executive officer of the Associated General Contractors of America, Stephen E. Sandherr, issued the following statement today in response to the introduction of a bill by several Democratic Senators to suspend the federal gas tax for the remainder of 2022 in response to rising fuel prices: “A recently introduced proposal to suspend the federal gas tax will likely have no impact on what motorists pay at the…

Agencies are working on the fourth and fifth versions in play since 2015 On Feb. 7, AGC responded to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of the Army (Army Corps of Engineers) latest proposed definition of waters of the United States (WOTUS). This definition determines when an expensive federal permit is needed on projects that work in or near waters. AGC urged the agencies to abandon the proposal. For decades, the scope of federal regulatory authority under the Clean Water Act has been plagued by uncertainty and inconsistency. AGC seeks to protect waters and wetlands while preserving states’ traditional…

AGC of America released the February edition of its Construction Inflation Alert. This document is intended to inform project owners, government officials, and the public about the extreme cost increases and supply-chains disruptions affecting construction. The current version of the Alert can be accessed by visiting AGC Construction Inflation Alert | Associated General Contractors of America. For more information or questions, contact Ken Simonson at ken.simonson@agc.org or (202) 329-9671.

Contractors Association Prepares Updated Construction Inflation Alert as Tight Labor Market, Soaring Materials Costs, and Supply Chain Disruptions Threaten to Delay Projects and Undercut Further Job Gains Construction employment dipped by 5,000 jobs between December and January even though hourly pay rose at a record pace in the past year, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of government data released today. Association officials said future job gains are at risk from several factors that are slowing projects, as detailed in the Construction Inflation Alert that it will post on February 7. “Contractors are struggling to fill positions…

Needless Executive Order Contradicts Viewpoints of Career Federal Procurement Officials, Who Saw No Benefit to PLAs in 99.4 Percent of Projects, Will Undermine Existing Collective Bargaining Agreements The chief executive officer of the Associated General Contractors of America, Stephen E. Sandherr, issued the following statement today in response to President Biden’s new executive order seeking to impose project labor agreements on many federal construction projects: “It is hard to explain why the President would choose to impose government mandated project labor agreements to solve a problem that doesn’t exist. Construction workers are among some of the highest paid workers in…

Full-year Bill Would Include Funding for New Infrastructure Programs After passing a short-term three-week extension of government funding in February, Congress is again faced with an impending deadline to fund the government by March 11. This gives lawmakers a week to finalize and pass a full fiscal year (FY) 2022 funding package that would set new spending levels for the year after multiple continuations of funding at prior year levels. It is important that Congress meets this deadline to authorize new and increased funding for programs included in the November-passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. On March 2, AGC and other…

Guidebook will assist state, local, Tribal, and territorial governments On January 31, the White House released the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (or Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) Guidebook to help state, local, Tribal, and territorial governments unlock the benefits from the bipartisan infrastructure law. It is intended to be a one-stop-shop for the law and all of the programs included in the legislation. As a reminder, the U.S. Department of Transportation also launched its own website for the bipartisan infrastructure law. Included on that site are state by state fact sheets, which were recently updated, that highlight how the law will benefit communities across the country.…

On January 26, AGC of America, along with its Construction Industry Safety Coalition Partners, responded to OSHA on its first regulatory step towards establishing a federal heat standard for indoor and outdoor work, a rule with the potential to have far-reaching impacts on the construction industry. While the proposal issued by OSHA lacked actual, draft regulatory language, and was presented in a series of questions, AGC’s responses took the opportunity to highlight proactive efforts the industry has taken, confusion surrounding existing state standards, and the impracticality of an 80-degree trigger threshold for such a standard from the perspective of the wide array…

At the recent AGC conference, one of the concerns that stood out is the design liability faced by construction companies. It is one of the most important risk management issues faced by general contractors today. Design liability concerns are not limited to just design-build projects. It is a hot-button issue for builders because the line between an architect’s responsibility to create sufficient design documents and a builder’s responsibility to execute the means, methods, and techniques is increasingly blurry. Problems arise when owners, design professionals, and builders point fingers, rather than truly collaborate, and communicate. While construction technologies used to assemble…