On March 9, Wisconsin became the 25th state to enact a Right to Work law, allowing all workers in the state to have a job without paying dues or fees to a labor union.

Lawmakers in a number of states have made reforming outdated prevailing wage laws a major priority so far in 2015. In the past month, legislators in West Virginia, Nevada and Indiana have advanced legislation that attempts to narrow the types of construction projects affected by prevailing wage, and in some cases, to remove the law entirely. 

On Feb. 13, Rep. Charles Boustany (R-La.) and Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) introduced the Jobs and Premium Protection Act (H.R. 928), which would fully repeal the health insurance tax (HIT) provision in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ABC-supported coalition, Stop the HIT, sent a letter commending Boustany and Sinema for coming together to repeal the burdensome tax.

The U.S. House of Representatives Jan. 8 voted 252-172 to pass the ABC-supported Save American Workers Act (H.R. 30), which would replace the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) definition of “full time” as 30 hours or more per week with the traditional definition of 40 hours. Before the vote, ABC sent a letter urging Congress to support the bill and markedit as “Key Vote” for their 114th Congressional Scorecard because under the ACA’s current 30-hour rule, many employers will be forced to reduce employee work hours and wages.  

The United States Senate passed a one-year “extenders” bill Dec. 16, retroactively renewing 55 previously expired tax credits and other key policies for the 2014 tax year. The 76-16 Senate vote echoes the overwhelming 378-46 House approval earlier in the month and sends the bill to the President’s desk where the White House signaled he will sign it into law. ABC recently joinedmore than 500 industry groups in urging the swift passage of such legislation.

The Michigan Supreme Court has agreed to hear ABC’s appeal in a case that could lead to the invalidation of local prevailing wage ordinances throughout the state. The lawsuit seeks to overturn a May 2014 Michigan Court of Appeals ruling, which overturned a previous Ingham County Circuit Court decision that ruled in ABC’s favor. 

The Dec. 9 spending bill released by the House omitted the controversial and ABC-opposed language supported by members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus that would have increased costs to taxpayers by reducing competition from qualified federal contractors. If it had passed as a part of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 (H.R. 83), also known as the CRomnibus, the language would have prohibited any funds from being used to enter into a contract with any company that discloses a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) within the last five years through the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS).

On Nov. 20, President Obama addressed the nation to announce sweeping reforms to our current immigration system. Failing to heed the calls of Republicans in the House and Senate, the president once again circumvented the legislative process with executive action. His unilateral and temporary expansion of certain programs jeopardizes a long-term fix to our immigration system that is workable for our economy and national security. 

In a court ruling Aug. 28, a San Diego, Calif., superior court judge upheld legislation (S.B. 7) that allows the state to limit construction funding to charter cities that do not subject their locally funded projects to prevailing wage requirements, negatively impacting merit shop contractors that complete public projects within those cities and the taxpayers paying the bill for the projects.  

On July 31, President Obama issued a sweeping Executive Order (EO) that instructs bureaucrats at federal agencies to determine whether a business is “responsible” enough to receive a federal contract based on a subjective review of each company’s recent compliance history with labor and safety laws.