In the July 16 ruling of Merit Construction Alliance v. City of Quincy, the First Circuit Court of Appeals found that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) preempts a controversial city ordinance that forced contractors to “engage in a bona fide apprentice training program" registered with the Massachusetts Department of Labor Standards as a condition of bidding for city work.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is looking for responses to two surveys regarding the potential use of government-mandated project labor agreements (PLA) on projects in Hawaii and Washington. In addition, the U.S. Navy’s Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) is requesting comments on a PLA survey for a project in California.

OSHA has released an updated list of almost 500 industry groups that are exempt from programmed safety inspections for FY2015; the list includes five construction-related North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes. An employer would be exempt from a programmed inspection when there are 10 or fewer employees at a worksite.

With six short months before the Terrorism Risk Insurance act (TRIA) is set to expire, the U.S. Senate voted 93-4 to pass the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2014 (S. 2244) which would ensure the construction industry is able to secure affordable terrorism insurance for seven more years.

The modern construction jobsite office (or trailer) is evolving every day. The old days where a field superintendent rents a small connection box with a roll-up door for tool access and a small corner desk are gone. The status quo today appears to be a 40 by 10 ft. mobile trailer with a bathroom and office space at each end, fully equipped with the latest gadgets.

Updated summaries of employer requirements included in the Affordable Care Act are available for ABC members in reference documents provided by Washington Council Ernst & Young. The documents are available in the Health Care Law Employer Toolkit (login required) on ABC’s website.

With the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) moving forward with a rulemaking to expand its existing Lead Renovation and Repair Painting rule to include public and commercial buildings, ABC, as a part of the Commercial Properties Coalition, submitted comments on EPA’s framework for identifying and evaluating lead-based paint hazards from renovation, repair, painting activities in public and commercial buildings.

Over the next two years, contractors expect the percentage of their work that involves BIM to increase by 50%, on average, according to 2013 McGraw Hill Construction data. Because of this, every construction owner should be learning how to incorporate BIM into their business. Here are two reasons why.

The Leadership Conference, Nov. 11-13 in Miami, Fla., will provide the opportunity for incoming and current board members, chapter staff, industry attorneys and ABC student chapters to learn what it takes to be a successful leader at ABC and in their careers. Attendees will share lessons learned, discover new ways to encourage business growth, and build relationships with industry peers. Here’s who should attend the conference:

FedEx wants to help celebrate ABC members’ hard work and accomplishments by automatically signing them up to receive an exclusive offer every week from FedEx Fridays until Sept. 5 when they enroll in the FedEx Advantage® discount program.