On Aug. 31, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas granted a motion for summary judgment against the U.S. Department of Labor’s burdensome and costly overtime rule and converted his earlier preliminary injunction (issued Nov. 22, 2016) to a permanent injunction. ABC participated in the business coalition that achieved this outcome, and ABC General Counsel Maury Baskin of Littler Mendelson P.C. filed the successful motion for summary judgment.  

Last month, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a schedule of meetings that will offer the public the chance to discuss the definition of “Waters of the United States (WOTUS).” Following a proposal to rescind the Obama-era WOTUS rule in July, EPA and the Corps published a notice in the Federal Register on Aug. 28.

On Aug. 1, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) launched the Injury Tracking Application, which is the web-based form employers can use to submit their injury and illness data. The launch comes right after OSHA closed the comment period on delaying the electronic reporting portion of the final rule, “Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses,” from July 1 to Dec. 1, 2017.

In a live interview on Fox News on Aug. 20, ABC President and CEO Bellaman praised President Trump’s recent executive order streamlining infrastructure permitting, saying it goes a long way towards eliminating construction delays and sets the table for when legislation is passed. But we have “a whole lot to do” before infrastructure rebuilding can begin.

From a live interview with Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo this morning to recent appearances on RT’s “Boom Bust,” Michael Bellaman has been a more frequent presence on cable news since workforce development and infrastructure rebuilding have risen on the national agenda. 

On Aug. 15, President Trump signed an executive order aimed at streamlining the environmental review, permitting and approval process of infrastructure projects. The executive order, Establishing Discipline and Accountability in the Environmental Review and Permitting Process for Infrastructure, will make the environmental and permitting processes needed for major infrastructure projects more efficient and effective, and establishes a two-year goal to process environmental documents for major infrastructure projects, acco

On Aug. 11, ABC submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) in support of its proposal to rescind the 2016 persuader rule, officially named the "Interpretation of the 'Advice' Exemption in Section 203(c) of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act." Approximately 965 ABC members also submitted comments through voterVOICE and ABC’s Action App.

The Trump administration released its first regulatory agenda on July 20. The agenda lists the priorities of the Trump administration and the rulemakings they expect to release in 2017. Many of the items listed roll back rules released under the Obama administration. 

ABC joined 42 other national and state organizations in signing onto a letter to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin asking the department to address the confusing and conflicting definitions of “seasonal worker” and “seasonal employee” that are included in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its implementing regulations.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)’s Wage and Hour Division recently published a Request for Information (RFI) related to the overtime final rule. This is likely the first step in issuing a revised proposed overtime exemption rule. The public has the opportunity to submit comments on the RFI until Sept. 25, 2017.