ABC’s 1991 President, Johnny Barto Smith, passed away on May 19, 2018 at the age of 78. Smith owned and operated Lake Mechanical Contractors of Eustis, Fla., formerly called Lake Plumbing, a company his parents founded in 1954. Under Smith’s leadership, Lake Mechanical completed a number of impressive projects with Walt Disney World. Lake Mechanical also created the University of Central Florida Bright House Networks Stadium and the 34-story expansion of the Peabody on International Drive. 

18 of the nation's top 25 construction companies are ABC members, according to Engineering News-Record's (ENR) recently published annual list of the Top 400 Contractors. These successful contractors were ranked based on 2017 revenue.

On March 13, a bipartisan group of ten U.S. Representatives visited the ABC Metro Washington Chapter’s CraftMasters Training Trust. House Education and Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) and Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-Va.) led the delegation to the 10,000-square-foot facility in Beltsville, Md., and met with Chapter President Debbie Livingston, instructors and enrollees in the programs. 

February was the best month for construction employment gains since March 2007, according to ABC's analysis of an employment report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The sector added 61,000 net new jobs on a monthly basis in February, an increase of 0.9 percent, and 254,000 net new jobs on a yearly basis, an increase of 3.7 percent.

On March 1, ABC President and CEO Mike Bellaman joined members of Congress, senior committee staff, key industry stakeholders and top administration officials for discussions on the challenges of writing and passing a package to revitalize America’s infrastructure.

On Feb. 12, President Donald Trump announced the release of his administration’s infrastructure proposal. ABC President and CEO Michael D. Bellaman issued the following statement on the president’s infrastructure plan: “ABC applauds the president for sending Congress a plan to rebuild America’s infrastructure. It is now time for lawmakers to develop legislation and policy to efficiently modernize America’s infrastructure and drive economic growth and prosperity for all Americans."

On Feb. 9, shortly before the White House released its 2019 budget request, both chambers of Congress passed, and the president signed, a funding agreement that sets a budget for fiscal years 2018 and 2019. The deal will raise federal spending caps by $300 billion in 2018 and 2019 and suspend the debt limit until 2019.

Eight of the nation's top 25 construction companies are ABC members, according to Engineering News-Record’s (ENR) recently published annual list of Top 600 Specialty Contractors. These successful contractors were ranked based on 2017 revenue.

ABC contractor members Fluor, EMCOR Group, AECOM, Jacobs Engineering Group, Peter Kiewit Sons’, Schneider Electric and Siemens were featured on Fortune’s “The World’s Most Admired Companies” list. Almost 4,000 experts, including executives, analysts and directors, voted on the companies, which received high scores in social responsibility, long-term investment value, corporate assets, quality of products and services, global competitiveness, innovation, people management and quality of management.

The U.S. economy grew by 2.3 percent in 2017, while fixed investment increased at an annual rate of 7.9 percent, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) analysis of data released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.