A new study from the Beacon Hill Institute (BHI) for Public Policy Research shows the economy and the construction industry would benefit if Congress passed the Public Building Renewal Act (PBRA).

On Oct. 27, President Trump nominated Scott Mugno for Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health in the U.S. Department of Labor. Mugno currently serves as the vice president for safety, sustainability and vehicle maintenance at FedEx Ground and previously worked as managing director of FedEx Express corporate safety, health and fire protection.

On Oct. 19, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary Thomas Galassi issued a memorandum on Interim Enforcement Guidance for the Respirable Crystalline Silica in Construction Standard. The memo provides interim enforcement guidance to Compliance Safety and Health Officers (CSHOs) for enforcing the standard.

On Oct. 4, the U.S. Treasury Department released a report announcing plans to withdraw its proposed regulations under Section 2704 of the Internal Revenue Code, entitled Estate, Gift and Generation-skipping Transfer Taxes: Restrictions on Liquidation of an Interest. The proposed rule was issued Aug. 4, 2016, during the Obama administration. 

In move to relieve regulations and ensure affordable energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today issued a proposal to repeal the Obama-era “Clean Power Plan.” On Aug. 3, 2015, President Obama’s EPA announced a final rule to cut power plant carbon emissions that would increase compliance and transaction costs and limit access to affordable energy for many hardworking Americans and U.S. businesses. However, since the issuance of the final rule, the regulation has not yet taken effect and is currently tied up in federal appeals court.

On Sept. 29, ABC joined the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition (EWIC) in support of H.R. 3711, the Legal Workforce Act. H.R. 3711, which would mandate an improved E-Verify program on all employers and for all new hires.  

On Oct. 14, the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce reported H.R. 3441, the Save Local Business Act favorably out of committee with a final vote of 23-17. On Oct. 4, ABC sent a letter to Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx and Ranking Member Bobby Scott, thanking them for holding a markup of this legislation. 

On Oct. 2, ABC President and CEO Mike Bellaman attended a White House event with roughly 300 representatives from industry groups and other private sector organizations where Vice President Pence spoke about the need for deregulation and rule-cutting. Following the White House event, 10 federal agencies and departments hosted meetings to discuss their respective regulatory agendas, several of which ABC National staff attended.

As part of the Trump administration’s effort to promote and execute a regulatory reform agenda (executive order 13777), ABC member federal contractors who perform work for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are encouraged to submit comments to the Corps and Department of Defense in response to their request for “input on its existing regulations that may be appropriate for repeal, replacement or modification.”

On Sept. 27, ABC submitted comments to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on their proposal to rescind their 2015 final Clean Water Rule: Definition of "Waters of the United States," also known as the WOTUS final rule, and re-codify the regulations that existed prior to the 2015 rule. ABC also filed comments as a member of the Waters Advocacy Coalition.