On Jan. 4, the Biden administration released its Fall 2022 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. The agenda lists upcoming rulemakings and other regulatory actions from each agency that the administration expects to publish in 2023. It also includes deadlines from 2022 that were missed. ABC has prepared a summary of the actions of interest to ABC members by agency.
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On Nov. 30, the U.S. Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service released guidance regarding tax credits for private clean energy projects funded by the Inflation Reduction Act conditioned on compliance with prevailing wage and government-registered apprenticeship requirements. Treasury and the IRS also released FAQs to provide additional information on the prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements.
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On Nov. 14, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council issued a proposed rule to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation to require certain federal contractors to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and set GHG emission reduction targets.
Under the proposed rule, federal contractors who qualify as significant contractors, (those receiving between $7.5 million and $50 million in federal contracting obligations in the prior fiscal year) would be required to inventory their annual GHG emissions and disclose this information to the federal government.
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On Oct. 31, an ABC-led coalition of 22 construction and energy groups sent a letter to the U.S. Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service requesting a 60-day extension of the Nov. 4 deadline in response to their request for comments regarding implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act. Specifically, the agencies requested comments on Davis-Bacon and government-registered apprenticeship requirements for applicable clean energy construction projects. A previous extension request by ABC has received no response.
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On Oct. 5, 2022, the U.S. Department of Treasury and Internal Revenue Service issued a request for comments regarding implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, notably on Davis-Bacon and apprenticeship requirements. The legislation, opposed by ABC, was signed into law on Aug. 16, 2022, and provides over $369 billion in tax credits for the construction of solar, wind, hydrogen, carbon sequestration, electric vehicle charging stations and other clean energy projects.
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On Oct. 4, the General Services Administration released a Request for Information regarding the Biden administration’s “Buy Clean” initiative. The initiative calls for federal agencies to prioritize the use of American-made, lower-carbon construction materials in federal procurement as well as federally assisted projects.
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On Sept. 28, after failing to secure the support of at least 59 of his Senate colleagues, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., requested that his efforts to attach language on federal permitting reform for energy projects be removed from the must-pass continuing resolution, ensuring smooth passage of a government funding bill ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline.
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On Aug. 31, the Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration released a proposed waiver of Buy America requirements for the construction of electric vehicle chargers receiving federal assistance.
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On Aug. 22, ABC submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Transportation in opposition to union labor requirements included in a proposed rule establishing the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program.
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The comment deadline for the Federal Highway Administration’s June 22 proposed rule for the National Electrical Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program is Aug. 22. The proposed rule would require contractors to use government-registered apprentices and the controversial union-backed Electric Vehicle Industry Training Program.
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