A federal judge with the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota Aug. 27 blocked implementation in 13 states of the“Waters of the U.S.” (WOTUS) final rule that was issued May 27 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). The final rule, which dramatically expands the scope of federal authority over water and land uses across the country, is still effective as of Aug. 28 for the states not covered by the decision. 

ABC is encouraging all members to take action and submit comments to the Department of Labor (DOL) on how its Wage and Hour Division’s Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales and Computer Employees proposed rulemaking, commonly referred to as “the overtime proposal,” will harm the construction industry and small businesses.

The ABC community is mourning the loss of Ray Shortino, a longtime member of the Empire State Chapter who died with his wife and two close friends in a small-plane crash in upstate New York Aug. 7. Ray joined ABC in the early 1980s, chairing the Rochester regional council for years and the local chapter in 2001 and 2002. He also was a longstanding member of the ABC National Board of Directors and active on several committees.

ABC Aug. 26 submitted comments urging the withdrawal of the Federal Acquisition Regulatory (FAR) Council’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) and the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Notice of Proposed Guidance (NPG) implementing President Obama’s “Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces” Executive Order 13673, commonly referred to as the blacklisting proposal.

Koontz McCombs Construction, Ltd. was founded in 2000 as division of a large commercial real estate, leasing, and property management firm. Ranked as one of the top builders in the San Antonio, Texas area, Koontz McCombs is an $80 million general contractor with approximately 50 employees building commercial construction projects. 

There is still time to make your voice heard in the fight against an Obama administration proposal targeting federal contractors that will drastically reshape federal contracting, harm ABC members and trample the principles of fair and open competition.

OSHA Aug. 4 released a guide titled, “Training Requirements in OSHA Standards,” that compiles information related to the agency’s mandatory safety and health training for workers into a 266-page document that is divided into five chapters, including one focused on construction safety training.

The Intent to Compete forms for the 2016 National Craft Championships (NCC) are now available online for ABC members and chapters who think their apprentices and craft trainees have what it takes to win the national title of ABC Craft Champion. The competition will take place March 1-4 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in conjunction with ABC’s Workforce Conference and Intent to Compete forms are due by Dec. 1, 2015. 

At our Construction Management Career Fair on Nov. 11, in San Diego, Calif., ABC is giving our members the invaluable opportunity to recruit their next top performers from a group of top-tier students from all over the country. 

Contractors looking to enhance their employees’ project management skills can enroll them to take part in the ABC Project Management Institute held at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. The course includes two non-concurrent five-day sessions providing the students with tools to improve profitability and productivity and increase quality and customer satisfaction.