Newsline

On Nov. 17, the ABC National Tax Advisory Group (TAG) gathered in Washington, D.C., to advocate for the tax priorities of merit shop contractors and the broader construction industry. TAG members from the Eastern Pennsylvania, Florida East Coast, Central Florida, and Georgia chapters were in attendance as the group met with senior staff representing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the Senate Finance Committee, and key members of the House Committee on Ways and Means.

ABC is encouraging all members to call on their Senators and Representatives to co-sponsor and support the “Protecting Local Business Opportunity Act” (S. 2015/ H.R. 3459). This important legislation will help provide additional stability for contractors, subcontractors and their employees by restoring the 30 year old “joint employer” standard, encouraging local business ownership and employee opportunity.

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. 

A group of lawmakers Sept. 9 introduced ABC-supported legislation 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.

President Obama signed a three-month extension of federal highway funding on July 31, less than 24 hours before the funds were set to run out. The short-term extension of the Highway Trust Fund (HTF), which funds safety, highway, transit and other transportation-related programs, is the 34th short-term, stopgap bill in the past six years.

During a controversial budget session, Wisconsin significantly reformed its prevailing wage laws with the help of the ABC Wisconsin Chapter which organized a coalition of local chambers of commerce, school districts, small businesses, and municipal utilities to repeal prevailing wage requirements on all Wisconsin public works projects except those built by the state of Wisconsin and state highway projects. 

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Department of Defense (DoD) Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (H.R. 2685) June 11 without an ABC-opposed provision that would unfairly harm federal contractors and increase costs to taxpayers and the federal government.

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval signed legislation June 9 to make Nevada the 23rd state to restrict the ability of state and local government entities to implement wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreement (PLA) mandates on taxpayer-funded construction projects.