Shon Smith, prefabrication manager with ACI Mechanical from ABC’s Iowa Chapter, won ABC’s first Young Professional of the Year Award, and the University of Cincinnati won both the 2015 Construction Management Competition and the 2015 ABC Student Chapter of the Year Award. The awards were presented at the Future Leaders Awards Luncheon during ABC’s Leadership Week in San Diego Nov. 11.

ABC member companies were honored by the Construction Users Roundtable (CURT) as they accepted eight of nine Construction Industry Safety Excellence (CISE) awards at the Nov. 10 CURT National Awards gala in Houston, Texas.

On Nov. 5, Gov. Tom Wolf (D-Pa.) signed Act 59 of 2015 into law, officially eliminating exemptions for offenses of stalking, harassment, and threats of weapons of mass destruction from the Pennsylvania Crimes Code. Under previous law, individuals could not be charged with these offenses if it was found they were associated with a labor dispute.

Presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) Nov. 3 addressed and responded to questions from members of a coalition of major nationwide business groups in a TeleForum. Rubio answered questions from members of ABC, Associated General Contractors, Business-Industry Political Action Committee, National Association of Manufacturers, National Federation of Independent Business and National Retail Federation.

Nevada Gypsum Floors, Inc. is a locally owned and operated ABC member company that specializes in floor underlayment, floor leveling, floor toppings, concrete repair, resurfacing and sealing, sound control floor systems, and leveling new and old concrete, hard rock concrete, waterproofing deck systems, cellular lightweight concrete, roof insulating concrete, geo-technical engineered fills (geo-fill), and mortar beds.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Oct. 30 issued a proposed rule under the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) that would authorize employers who offer wellness programs to provide inducements for an employee’s spouse, who is also a participant in the employer’s health plan, to disclose their current or past health information. Under the proposal, total incentives provided to an employee and his or her spouse for participating in a wellness program that is a part of a group health program that collects this information may not exceed 30 percent of the total cost of the health plan in which they are enrolled.

A bipartisan group of legislators in the United States Senate voted 55-43 to pass a resolution (S.J.Res. 22) that nullifies the controversial “Waters of the U.S.” (WOTUS) rule. The resolution was introduced by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Ia.) following a procedural vote on the ABC-supported Federal Water Quality Protection Act (S. 1140), which was blocked by Senate Democrats in a 57-41 vote (short of the 60 votes needed to advance). The resolution also prevents the agencies from issuing a similar version of the regulation in the future.

President Obama Nov. 2 signed into law the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (H.R. 1314), which suspended the application of the debt limit until March 2017 and ensured that the United States would meet its financial obligations. The deal was approved by a bi-partisan group of legislators the Unites States Senate Oct. 30 and the House of Representatives on Oct. 28.

On Oct. 27, the ABC-led Coalition for Workplace Safety (CWS) submitted comments urging the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to withdraw its proposed rule clarifying an employer’s continuing obligation to make and maintain accurate records of reportable injuries.