More than 400 construction and business leaders from across the country convened in Washington, D.C., June 25-26 for ABC Legislative Conference 2024.

ABC applauded a decision by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas granting a nationwide preliminary injunction that blocks some provisions in the U.S. Department of Labor’s final rule expanding the Davis-Bacon Act.

On June 11, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration sent its Heat Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings proposed rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the Office of Management and Budget for review. The text of the proposal is currently not available to the public. After OIRA completes its review of the rule, the rule will be published in the Federal Register. ABC will be meeting with the OIRA on the proposed rule.

ABC, as a member of the Partnership to Protect Workplace Opportunity, called upon the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division to stay the effective date of its final overtime rule to allow for judicial review, as there are currently several cases that could impact the validity of the new rule. The final rule is currently set to go into effect on July 1, 2024. Read the PPWO’s statement on the June 12 letter to the DOL.

The human body has limitations when dealing with extreme temperatures. We are all affected by heat differently. Just because you are OK does not mean that everyone is OK. If you are feeling symptomatic, speak up for yourself and others who might also be impacted but not realize it or lack the courage to speak up. Together, we can prevent heat injury and illness.

On June 17, the U.S. Department of Labor sent its controversial National Apprenticeship System Enhancements final rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the Office of Management and Budget for final review, the last step in the regulatory process before implementation. The proposed rule made significant and costly changes to government-registered apprenticeship programs that are likely to undermine the construction industry’s skilled labor shortage an existing workforce development programs. ABC will be meeting with the OIRA to express its serious concerns about the rule.

On Friday, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore issued revisions to his previous executive order (01.01.2023.19) regarding project labor agreement usage on large-scale state construction of $20 million or more in total project cost. These changes center around the use of PLAs on design-build and progressive design-build public works, the presence of federal assistance in project finances and the requirements around notification of decisions on PLA use in project solicitation documents.

ABC Greater Baltimore chapter member Kate Lawrence of Lawrence Law LLC is the newest member of the Beam Club Presidential Level. To reach this level, ABC members must recruit 25 new members.

On June 3, Reps. Clay Higgins, R-La., and Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., hosted a briefing on the use of project labor agreements and the effects on the American construction workforce. Ben Brubeck, ABC vice president of regulatory, labor and state affairs, joined other state and industry stakeholders to discuss the Biden administration’s final rule mandating PLAs on federal construction projects of $35 million or more that went into effect on Jan. 22.

ABC has sent 67 ABC chapter staff and members through the "VitalCog: Suicide Prevention in the Construction Industry’s Train the Trainer" program to become an instructor. Over that time, ABC instructors have provided 95 trainings and 1,617 ABC members and chapter staff have received this vital education.