On June 20, President Trump nominated Marvin Kaplan to fill one of two vacant seats on the five member National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Kaplan serves as counsel to the commissioner of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, an independent organization designed to decide workplace safety and health disputes between the Department of Labor and employers. 

ABC applauded President Trump’s executive action on apprenticeships, which is an important step toward building new career opportunities for all Americans. If fully implemented, the order will allow industries to build innovative workforce development systems that address glaring skills gaps in our workforce.  With the construction industry currently facing a workforce shortage of as many as 500,000 jobs, this order is an important first step to allow more entryways into becoming a construction professional.     

In the waning days of the Obama administration, the Treasury Department released proposed regulations under Section 2704 that could have a profound impact on the valuation and therefore taxation of family businesses. The regulations as written would institute back-door “family attribution,” a standard that has been rejected by the courts for decades, and that would jeopardize traditional discounts for minority ownership stakes, inflating tax bases by as much as 40 percent.  As the regulations were not finalized by the time President Obama left office, there is no effective date, but the rule remains pending.

On June 9, ABC joined more than 50 organizations to send a letter to the U.S. Senate in support of maintaining a stable employer-sponsored health care system as the body works on legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  “Chief among the threats to employer-sponsored coverage are proposals to tax workers’ health coverage, whether by preserving the ACA’s 40 percent ‘Cadillac’ tax or imposing new taxes on employee health care benefits,” according to the letter.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has begun to take action on two Obama-era regulations that were consistently opposed by ABC. In a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing, U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta announced he will issue a Request for Information (RFI) in order to collect information from the public on the overtime rule. The RFI will likely act as the first step in issuing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, a process that would change or rescind the rule permanently. 

To celebrate Workforce Development Week, June 12-16, the Trump administration planned a full schedule of events as a backdrop to discuss the growing demand for skilled labor, address the need to fill six million jobs and expand apprenticeship programs across the country. On June 12, U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta released a memorandum asking other agencies to support President Trump’s apprenticeship initiative by reducing regulations on these programs.

Last week, President Trump, along with Vice President Mike Pence and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, launched the White House’s Infrastructure Week and revealed several high-level details on the administration’s forthcoming infrastructure package. 

In the lead-up to Legislative Week, ABC is working with Washington, D.C.-based news radio powerhouse WTOP to help tell the organization's story to Congress, the administration and federal agencies.  The Building America thought leadership series includes a mix of radio commercials, website ads, video features and digital content that highlight ABC’s commitment to workforce development, safety and the merit shop philosophy.

On June 7, Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta announced the withdrawal of the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) 2015 and 2016 joint employment and independent contractor informal guidance. According to a DOL press release, “removal of the administrator interpretations does not change the legal responsibilities of employers under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, as reflected in the department’s long-standing regulations and case law.”  

ABC today announced that Vice President Mike Pence will deliver the keynote address at its Legislative Day on June 22 at 9:30 a.m. He will speak to member construction contractors gathered for ABC Legislative Week 2017 before they head to Capitol Hill for meetings with lawmakers.