On May 9, the White House held a summit on protecting Americans from surprise medical billing, which occurs when insured patients incur unexpected charges after receiving treatment from out-of-network health care providers. On April 2, ABC joined a broad-based coalition in a letter to the U.S. House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions to hold a hearing to examine surprise billing.

In light of a recent decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, certain employers will be required for the first time to submit detailed data on employee compensation and hours worked (or Component-2 data) to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as part of their annual EEO-1 form submission by Sept. 30, 2019.

ABC hosted a golf tournament May 6 to benefit Folds of Honor, a charitable organization that Major Dan Rooney established 12 years ago to provide educational scholarships to spouses and children of America’s fallen and disabled service members. Since 2017, ABC’s tournament has raised $375,000 for Folds of Honor.

The Construction Industry Needs to Hire an Additional 440,000 Workers in 2019 

ABC has added Massachusetts Chapter member Brian Renaud of The Contractors Plan to the Beam Club Presidential level and Greater Houston Chapter member Terry Buza of Slack & Co. Contracting Inc. to the Beam Club Hall of Fame level.

On April 25, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that covered employers will be required for the first time to submit detailed data on employee compensation and hours worked (or Component-2 data) to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as part of their annual EEO-1 form submission by Sept. 30, 2019. The court ordered EEOC to collect this data for calendar year 2018. Covered employers should be aware that Component-1 data is still due by May 31, 2019.

This year, ABC of Greater Houston is celebrating 50 years of supporting the merit shop construction industry. On Thursday, April 25, members and community leaders gathered to commemorate the accomplishments of past chapter leaders and celebrate the chapter’s successes. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner issued a proclamation in honor of the anniversary and declared April 25 as “ABC Houston Day.”

On April 17, ABC joined state, local, tribal and community leaders in attending the White House Opportunity Zones Conference. More than 170 people from across the nation attended.

On Wednesday, April 17, ABC President and CEO Michael Bellaman joined Carolyn Lee, executive director at The Manufacturing Institute; Karen Pittman, co-founder and CEO of the Forum for Youth Investment; and Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz, board chair and president of the Charles Schwab Foundation, for a Boys and Girls Club of America panel, Building a Diverse Talent Pipeline: The Policy and Business Case. 

On April 15, ABC submitted comments expressing its support for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ proposed rule revising the definition of “water of the United States” under the Clean Water Act. ABC also filed comments as a member of the Waters Advocacy Coalition.