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 Oct. 9, the Honolulu City Council passed a highly contentious ordinance that will require the city to negotiate a “community workforce agreement” with the Hawaii Building and Construction Trades Council, the Hawaii Construction Alliance and their affiliated labor unions for certain public works projects. The city says the ordinance will apply to “critical city projects” in which the city has a particular interest in timely and cost-efficient project completion. The CWA will largely apply to critical road, wastewater, drainage and park improvement projects.

The AQC program recognizes and honors construction firms that document their commitment to excellence in five key areas of corporate responsibility: quality, safety, craft and management education, talent management and diversity and community relations.  A company that meets the criteria set forth in the program and has earned STEP Gold, Platinum or Diamond status in ABC’s safety management system is formally designated an Accredited Quality Contractor.     

On Sept. 25, the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor held a markup on H.R. 2474, the Protecting the Right to Organize, or PRO, Act.  During the markup, representatives debated the merits of the bill and sought to add and remove provisions. Each amendment submitted by Democrats passed, while those submitted by Republicans failed via a party line vote. 

The Hitt family recently donated a $16 million gift to the Act on Addiction campaign, a program launched by Inova Health System that fuels awareness, combats stigma and provides resources for those suffering from substance abuse in the Northern Virginia area. There are nearly 20 million American adults who suffer from addiction, and a recent survey says that approximately half of adults do not know how to help someone in need of treatment or support.

Last week, ABC’s Vice President of HSE and Workforce Development, Greg Sizemore, made a presentation to the Republican Legislative Campaign Committee on the importance of continuing workforce development reforms at the state level.

In a victory for ABC, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu vetoed legislation that would have imposed prevailing wage requirements on state projects for the first time since the law was repealed in 1985 on July 19. 

On March 11, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by the Arizona State Building and Construction Trades Council that aimed to block enforcement of parts of a pro-taxpayer Arizona law restricting government-mandated project labor agreements.

Following the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania’s Jan. 11 decision to strike down the state Department of Transportation’s project labor agreement mandate for the Markley Street reconstruction project, PennDOT withdrew their appeal of the decision on March 7.

The Michigan Court of Claims has upheld a 2018 decision by the Michigan Legislature to repeal the state’s prevailing wage law, dismissing claims by Protecting Michigan Workers, the union-led group spearheading opposition to repeal in a decision announced on Monday, Feb. 25. Associated Builders and Contractors of Michigan led the 2018 coalition, Protecting Michigan Taxpayers, in the successful effort to peel back the 50-year old law that had been responsible for inflated construction costs across the state and a bevy of associated regulations and red tape.