July 7, 2020.

On June 30, the Trump administration released its Spring 2020 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. The agenda lists upcoming rulemakings and other regulatory actions from each agency that the administration expects to publish through the end of the year and into 2021. ABC has prepared a summary of the actions of interest to ABC members by agency.

On July 1, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2, the Moving Forward Act, on a mostly party line vote of 233 to 188, with three Republicans voting for the bill and two Democrats voting against it. The House Democrats’ infrastructure plan would spend more than $1.5 trillion on surface transportation, airport, school, housing, healthcare, energy, water and broadband infrastructure, however, it also includes numerous anti-merit shop provisions opposed by ABC.

On Monday, June 29, President Trump signed an Executive Order requiring federal agencies to revise their hiring criteria to focus on the skill set of an applicant, rather than academic credentials. The order requires federal agencies to revise and update outdated federal job qualification standards and candidate assessments, improving the quality and competency of the civil service.

On June 30, the Senate passed legislation by unanimous consent that would extend the application period for the small business Paycheck Protection Program through Aug. 8. The application period ended on June 30, and the bill still needs to be approved by the House and signed into law by President Trump.

Last week, Gov. Kim Reynolds (R-Iowa) signed legislation (SF 2338) that protects business owners and employees from COVID-19-related liability lawsuits. ABC of Iowa supported the bill, which protects business owners from coronavirus liability lawsuits while excepting lawsuits against individuals who recklessly or intentionally put others at risk.

Registration for ABC’s Election Series, powered by the Free Enterprise Alliance, is now open! The series kicks off on Thursday, July 16, and will run through Election Day, with two webinars scheduled per month. 

On June 25, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a compliance directive designed to ensure uniformity in inspection and enforcement procedures when addressing respirable crystalline silica exposures in general industry, maritime and construction.

On June 22, Chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Peter A. DeFazio (D-Ore.) was joined by six other Democratic House committee chairs in a press conference releasing the  Democratic Infrastructure Bill, H.R. 2, the Moving Forward Act.  

On June 17, The Great American Outdoors Act (S. 3422), introduced by Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), was passed in the U.S. Senate by a vote of 73-25. This bipartisan legislation would help address the $20 billion deferred maintenance backlog in the Department of the Interior, $12 billion of which is accumulated by the National Park Service, creating thousands of construction jobs in the process.