Ben Brubeck, ABC’s vice president of regulatory, labor and state affairs, conducted 11 radio and TV interviews during the Conservative Political Action Conference on Feb. 27 in Washington, D.C. Brubeck discussed the outlook for construction spending and infrastructure investment, highlighted the industry’s response to its current skilled labor shortage and promoted the benefits of fair and open competition on taxpayer-funded construction contracts.

Multiple federal agencies recently published searchable databases of all respective guidance documents currently in effect in an effort by the Trump administration to promote transparency and make these documents readily available to the public.

On Feb. 26, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs released its Contract Compliance Institute to assist federal contractors and subcontractors in complying with the agency’s Equal Employment Opportunity regulations.

On Feb. 26, the National Labor Relations Board issued its final rule on the standard for determining joint-employer status under the National Labor Relations Act. ABC is pleased that the final rule clearly delineates and limits the types of control that would be treated as creating joint-employer status under the NLRA.  

On Feb. 6, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the disingenuously named Protecting the Right to Organize Act by a vote of 224 to 194.  Five Republicans voted for the bill: Reps. Don Young (Alaska), John Katko (N.Y.) and co-sponsors Jeff Van Drew (N.J.), Chris Smith (N.J.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.). Seven Democrats opposed the bill, along with Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.): Reps. Henry Cuellar (Texas), Joe Cunningham (S.C.), Kendra Horn (Okla.), Ben McAdams (Utah), Lucy McBath (Ga.), Stephanie Murphy (Fla.) and Kurt Schrader (Ore.). ABC urged members of Congress to oppose the PRO Act, considering the vote a “KEY VOTE” for the ABC Legislative Scorecard on the 116th Congress.

On Jan. 23, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers signed a final rule revising the definition of “waters of the United States,” which are federally regulated under the Clean Water Act. The final rule will go into effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.

The Council on Environmental Quality issued a proposed rule to update its regulations for implementing the procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act, which has not been updated for more than four decades. The proposal would modernize and clarify the regulations to facilitate more efficient, effective and timely NEPA reviews by federal agencies in connection with proposals for agency action. Learn more about the NEPA proposal here.

On Jan. 9, ABC President and CEO Michael Bellaman and Miller and Long employees Alan Michael Jenkins and James Spencer Johnson joined President Trump at the White House for the announcement of the Council on Environmental Quality’s proposed rule to update its regulations for implementing the procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act.

On Jan. 12, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division released its final rule to update and clarify its interpretation of joint-employer status under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

On Jan. 9, ABC filed comments to the National Labor Relations Board in support of a proposed rule that would implement three amendments to the representation election regulations under the National Labor Relations Act. Specifically, the proposal includes amendments to the NLRB’s blocking charge policy, voluntary recognition bar and Section 9(a) recognition in the construction industry.