ABC and  several other major business groups have invited leading contenders for the 2016 presidential race to speak with their members in a series of teleforums.

ABC continued its longstanding opposition to the Obama administration’s blacklisting proposal by submitting a letter for the record in support of the Sept. 29 Committee on Small Business Subcommittees on Contracting and the Workforce and Investigations, Oversight and Regulations hearing titled The Blacklist: Are Small Businesses Guilty Until Proven Innocent?

In a bipartisan vote, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the ABC-supported Responsibility and Professionally Invigorating Development (RAPID) Act of 2015 (H.R. 348). The bill was sponsored by Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law Chairman Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.) and had 21 co-sponsors.

On Sept. 17, ABC joined with 20 coalition partners in sending a letter to key U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate committees urging their support for three bills that would provide small businesses with relief from rising health costs and regulatory red tape. The bills discussed in the letter include the following. 

ABC reiterated its support in advance of a U.S House of Representatives subcommittee hearing on legislation introduced Sept. 9 designed to help restore the “joint employer” standard under the National Labor Relations Act that has been in place for over 30 years. The standard was overturned by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in its Aug. 27 ruling in the Browning-Ferris Industries of California case. 

ABC members in the health care and industrial segments should plan to attend the Users Summit, Oct. 8-9, in St. Pete Beach, Fla., where construction users and contractors will come together to discuss industry safety, quality and workforce issues. Final panelist for this must-attend event are now posted on the Users Summit website.

ABC is committed to supporting industry efforts to overcome the challenges and maximize the opportunities associated with an increasingly diverse workforce, client base and subcontractor/supplier base. The ABC National Diversity Excellence Awardsrecognize members that display exemplary diversity leadership in their workforce, supply chain and community with best-in-class recruitment policies, retention practices, and training and mentoring programs.

Contractors looking to enhance their employees’ project management skills can enroll them to take part in the ABC Project Management Institute held at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. The course includes two non-concurrent five-day sessions providing the students with tools to improve profitability and productivity and increase quality and customer satisfaction. 

As part of an ongoing partnership with the National Council for Public-Private Partnerships (NCPPP), ABC is sponsoring an upcoming conference in Atlanta, Ga., that will focus on an ABC of Georgia-supported law that allows local and state governments to enter into partnerships with the private sector for water, wastewater, social infrastructure and other projects. Over the past several years, ABC has worked with the NCPPP to educate the construction industry and lawmakers about the benefits of P3s.

ABC’s unique quarterly Construction Backlog Indicator (CBI) gives ABC members and the broader construction community a look at the future economic health of the construction industry by measuring the amount of work companies are contracted to complete in the months and years ahead. CBI is a forward-looking indicator compiled from surveys completed monthly by ABC members indicating the amount of work under contract but yet to be completed in the months and years ahead. All reported data is confidential, if you’re not participating, sign up today.