ABC is thrilled to announce that Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), chairwoman of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, will join Josh Kraushaar, political editor of National Journal, as the headline speakers for the Legislative Breakfast on Wednesday, June 27. 

ABC’s Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter and Orleans Technical College recently announced that they are working together on a new apprenticeship training center in Philadelphia County. Their goal is to help create more apprenticeships in the region and more diversity in the construction and trades community. The facility will also and provide employers with the chance to advance their employees’ skillsets through the state-approved NCCER merit-based training curriculum.

Despite ongoing concerns regarding labor force availability and rising interest rates, and emerging concerns regarding tariffs and construction materials prices, construction contractors emerged from the first quarter of 2018 with tremendous confidence, according to the ABC Construction Confidence Index. Each of the three indices—sales, profit margins and staffing levels—increased during the first quarter and remain well above the threshold reading of 50.

ABC said the Trump administration’s action to undo the harmful impacts of the Affordable Care Act by promulgating a new final rule on association health plans (AHPs) was welcome. AHPs are a common-sense solution to expand access to affordable health coverage and lower the cost of health care for small businesses.

Cianbro Corporation of Pittsfield, Maine, a member of ABC’s Maine Chapter and five others, has been awarded Accredited Quality Contractor (AQC) status by ABC. The AQC program recognizes and honors construction firms that document their commitment to excellence in five key areas of corporate responsibility: quality, safety, employee benefits, training and community relations.

ABC reports that its Construction Backlog Indicator (CBI) contracted to 8.8 months during the first quarter of 2018, down 9 percent from the prior quarter. CBI is down 2 percent on a year-over-year basis. “The Construction Backlog Indicator hit an all-time high during the fourth quarter of 2017,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu.

On June 15, OSHA announced that it will extend the comment period on its proposal to ensure crane operators are qualified to safely operate equipment by an additional 15 days. Comments will now be accepted through July 5, 2018.

Prices for inputs to construction materials expanded 2.2 percent in May and are 8.8 percent higher than at the same time one year ago, according to an ABC analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. This represents the largest monthly increase in 10 years (since May 2008). Nonresidential construction input prices increased 2.3 percent for the month and 8.9 percent for the year.

A study released by the Minnesota Center for Fiscal Excellence found that the prevailing wage determination process utilized by the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry leads to inaccurate wage rates on construction projects. A disproportionate 75 percent of prevailing wages reflected union rates in the period analyzed in the study, even though just 32 percent of private construction workers in Minnesota belong to a union.

On Friday, June 1, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it would provide an additional 15,000 H-2B visas for non-agricultural seasonal workers. Earlier this year, Congress included a provision in the Fiscal Year 2018 omnibus spending bill that allowed for DHS to increase the number of H-2B visas above the 66,000 statutory cap.