On April 7, Arkansas Gov.Asa Hutchinson signed a bill repealing the state’s prevailing wage law. The legislation, SB 601 (Act 1068), was approved by the Arkansas House of Representatives on March 30 by a vote of 70-24; the Arkansas Senate passed the bill on March 21 by a bipartisan vote of 28-5. Arkansas is now the 22nd state without a prevailing wage and the second state to take significant action on the issue this year. Kentucky signed a prevailing wage repeal bill into law in January. In 2015, Nevada made significant reforms to its prevailing wage law, while Indiana and West Virginia joined the list of states without a prevailing wage. 

ABC thanked Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad for signing legislation into law to ensure the government cannot mandate PLAs on public construction projects. The bill, SF 438, codifies Gov. Branstad’s previous executive order, which prevented state and local governments procuring state and state-assisted construction projects from encouraging or prohibiting PLAs in contract solicitations, preventing a future governor from mandating PLAs through executive order. It also extends government neutrality toward PLAs to projects

ABC applauded Gov. Scott Walker for signing Act 3, which will promote fair and open competition on contracts for construction services funded by Wisconsin taxpayers, at event at an ABC member jobsite. The act will ensure that the government cannot mandate controversial project labor agreements (PLAs) on state, state-assisted and local

Since taking office President Trump has made reforming our broken regulatory system a top priority. Through the use of executive orders, he has asked federal agencies to review and evaluate existing regulations and make recommendations on which regulations to repeal, replace or modify. The agencies will be putting out requests for comment from the public on certain federal regulations. ABC needs input from members on which regulations they would like to see repealed, replaced or modified. 

2017 ABC National Chair Chuck Goodrich’s op-ed calling on Congress to pass the Fair and Open Competition Act (H.R. 1552/S. 622) was published in The Hill on April 10. This ABC-priority legislation would allow America's entire construction workforce—including the 86 percent of the private construction workforce that has chosen not to join a labor union—to compete on a level playing field by ensuring that taxpayer-funded construction cannot be subjected to costly and discriminatory government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs). 

On April 10, Judge Neil Gorsuch was sworn in as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court after being confirmed by a vote of 54 – 45 in the U.S. Senate. ABC supported his confirmation. The vote was along party lines; however, three Democrats, Sens. Joe Manchin (W.V.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) and Joe Donnelly (Ind.), voted with the Republican majority to confirm Judge Gorsuch. 

On April 6, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced they were delaying enforcement of the silica standard as it applies to the construction industry to September 23, 2017. The standard was set to go into effect June 23, 2017. On March 10, 2017, the ABC-led Construction Industry Safety Coalition (CISC) sent a letter to the acting secretary of Labor requesting that the department delay enforcement of OSHA’s final silica rule by one year. 

ABC urged Senators to vote to avoid a partisan filibuster and ensure that the U.S. Senate has the opportunity to vote on Judge Neil Gorsuch’s nomination for the U.S. Supreme Court. ABC also informed Senators that it will consider the vote a key vote for its 115th Congressional Scorecard.

The Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention recently announced April summits in Southern California and Western Michigan to help provide resources and disseminate information on suicide prevention and mental health awareness in the construction industry. In addition, the CFMA-led alliance held a webinar Feb. 28 titled “Uniting the Construction Industry behind Suicide Prevention,” which is available on-demand for free for ABC members.

ABC commended President Trump for signing a resolution into law eliminating the Obama administration’s controversial “Volks rule” (formally known as Clarification of an Employer’s Continuing Obligation to Make and Maintain an Accurate Record of Each Recordable Injury and Illness final rule). The rule imposed a massive paperwork burden on contractors without improving jobsite safety. Congress passed the resolution through the Congressional Review Act (CRA).