ABC May 28 sent a letter to the U.S. House of Representatives’ Education and the Workforce Committee urging passage of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). WIOA represents an important opportunity to improve our workforce development system by increasing local business input in developing job training programs and improving access to federal funding for non-union training programs.

Each year, many ABC member companies make the list of Engineering News-Record’s (ENR) Top 400 Contractors list. In 2014, 55 ABC members were placed in the top 100 contractors on the list.

ABC announced May 21 that the Executive Committee appointed Ray Zamora, president and owner of AnchorBuilt Inc. in Albuquerque N.M., as the new Mountain West Region Vice Chairman.

In an informal public hearing May 19, Steve Wiltshire, vice president and director of corporate safety at ABC member company, ECS Corporate Services, LLC, testified on behalf of ABC on the issue of a proposed rulemaking to extend the compliance date for the crane operator certification requirement by three years to Nov. 10, 2017.

Charles "Chuck" Lavin Jr., one of the founders of the ABC Yankee Chapter, passed away April 19 after a long illness. Lavin was born in Baltimore, Md., in 1940, and served as the first executive director of the ABC Yankee Chapter, which encompassed the six New England states, from its inception in 1968 until 1980.

Associated Builders and Contractors, along with more than 40 other leading business organizations, sent a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) requesting they extend the public comment period on a proposed rule that aims to clarify the definition of “Waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act (CWA). The organizations are asking for 90 days beyond the current deadline or 90 days after the EPA releases the final connectivity report, whichever date comes later.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Department of Treasury recently issued frequently asked questions on provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).   

The New England district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is soliciting responses from the construction industry for a survey issued on the potential use of a project labor agreement (PLA) on renovation and repair projects throughout six New England states. Those states include Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Overall construction materials prices increased 0.4 percent in April and are up 1.5 percent year over year, according to the May 14 Producer Price Index released by the U.S. Department of Labor. Nonresidential construction material prices were up 0.5 percent for the month and are 1.4 percent higher than the same time last year.

A health care alert from Washington Council Ernst & Young regarding health care law provisions that impact employers is available for ABC members on ABC’s Employer Health Care Law Toolkit.