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This year, ABC of Greater Houston is celebrating 50 years of supporting the merit shop construction industry. On Thursday, April 25, members and community leaders gathered to commemorate the accomplishments of past chapter leaders and celebrate the chapter’s successes. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner issued a proclamation in honor of the anniversary and declared April 25 as “ABC Houston Day.”

On April 17, ABC joined state, local, tribal and community leaders in attending the White House Opportunity Zones Conference. More than 170 people from across the nation attended.

On Wednesday, April 17, ABC President and CEO Michael Bellaman joined Carolyn Lee, executive director at The Manufacturing Institute; Karen Pittman, co-founder and CEO of the Forum for Youth Investment; and Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz, board chair and president of the Charles Schwab Foundation, for a Boys and Girls Club of America panel, Building a Diverse Talent Pipeline: The Policy and Business Case. 

On April 15, ABC submitted comments expressing its support for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ proposed rule revising the definition of “water of the United States” under the Clean Water Act. ABC also filed comments as a member of the Waters Advocacy Coalition.

On April 15, ABC submitted comments on the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s notice of proposed rulemaking, which would amend the FAA’s 2016 final rule and allow the operation of small unmanned aircraft systems, or drones, at night and over people under certain conditions without obtaining a waiver.

On March 29, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General released an audit report on the prevailing wage rates mandated by the Davis-Bacon Act on federal or federally assisted construction projects. 

On March 28, 2019, a federal judge ruled that parts of the Trump administration’s 2018 final rule on association health plans were invalid. The U.S. Department of Labor has been directed to reconsider how the rest of the rule is affected by this ruling.

ABC is observing Construction Safety Week 2019 from May 6-10 with an awareness campaign highlighting member achievements in safety performance and our collective commitment to creating the conditions for all to do their work without incident and go home safe and healthy every day.

ABC will be celebrating the seventh annual Infrastructure Week, May 13-20, with an awareness campaign highlighting the critical importance of infrastructure to America’s economic competitiveness, security, job creation and in the daily lives of Americans. The future of America will be shaped by the infrastructure-related choices we make today—so let’s all prepare to #BuildForTomorrow!

ABC members should continue to monitor developments after a recent court order dealing with the EEO-1 form enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The form has long required employers with more than 100 employees and government contractors with more than 50 employees to list the number of their employees in job categories by race, ethnicity and gender. This data, known as “Component 1 data” is due t

Last week, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs issued the latest Corporate Scheduling Announcement List and an updated hiring benchmark for veterans protected under the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act.   

On April 1, the U.S. Department of Labor’ Wage and Hour Division announced it is issuing a proposed rule to update and clarify its interpretation of joint-employer status under the Fair Labor Standards Act. According to the proposal, the changes are designed to promote certainty for employers and employees, reduce litigation and encourage innovation in the economy.

Lifetime ABC membership was recently awarded to Carole Bionda and Ron Fedrick of Nova Group, Napa, California, members of the ABC Northern California Chapter. Both members play active roles in the industry, were nominated by the chapter board and have been members of ABC in good standing for at least ten years. They are Beam Club members and contributors to ABC PAC and the Trimmer Construction Education Fund.

On March 29, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that it would make 30,000 H-2B visas available for previous H-2B workers who have worked in the United States for one or more of the past three fiscal years. Earlier this year, Congress included a provision in the Consolidated Appropriation Act of 2019 (Pub. L. 116-6) that allowed for DHS to release more than 69,000 additional H-2B visas above the 66,000 annual cap.