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Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) President and CEO Michael D. Bellaman released the following statement after Congress passed The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act: “This is a historic day for the construction industry. For too long, ABC’s 21,000-plus members have paid the highest effective tax rate of any sector of the economy. We are a capital-intensive, cash-flow challenged, domestically oriented industry comprised mostly of small, family owned and closely held merit shop construction companies employing hardworking Americans. Our members have waited for Washington to let them keep more money in their paychecks, which would enable them to invest

Over the last year, the Trump administration has taken major steps to roll back burdensome rules and regulations issued by the Obama administration. In his first two months in office, President Trump signed Executive Order 13777, “Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda,” and Executive Order 13771, “Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs,” which create regulatory reform task forces to remove burdensome regulations and prevent agencies from issuing unnecessary regulations with a so-called “one in, two out” policy. 

On Dec. 14, the Trump administration released its Regulatory Plan and Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. The agenda lists upcoming rulemakings and other regulatory actions from each agency that the administration expects to release through the end of the year and in 2018. 

On Dec. 19, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued several fact sheets that provide guidance on the respirable crystalline silica standard for construction. The fact sheets include an overview of the silica standard as well as provide information to help employers comply. 

The National Labor Relations Board recently issued decisions that are favorable to the employer community. On Dec. 14, the Board overruled both the 2015 decision in Browning-Ferris Industries as well as the Lutheran Heritage Village-Livonia case. On Dec. 15, the Board overruled the decision in Specialty Healthcare, which allowed for the formation of so-called 'micro’ bargaining units.

On Dec. 18, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced in a press release that they will continue accepting 2016 OSHA Form 300A data through the Injury Tracking Application (ITA) until midnight on Dec. 31, 2017. OSHA will not take enforcement action against those employers who submit their reports after the Dec. 15, 2017 deadline but before Dec. 31, 2017 final entry date. Starting Jan. 1, 2018, the ITA will no longer accept the 2016 data.

Chuck Goodrich, president of Gaylor Electric, Inc., explained the Trump administration’s regulatory rollback is giving construction companies more efficiency and they don’t feel like they are “under attack” from the federal government. According to Goodrich’s presentation, experts say President Trump is on pace to put out fewer rules than the “reigning deregulation champion,” President Ronald Reagan.

Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) Chief Economist Anirban Basu predicts stability for the construction industry’s economy and expanding nonresidential construction spending in 2018. While construction project backlog and contractor confidence remain high heading into the new year, Basu warns there are risks to the 2018 outlook as a number of potential cost increases could come into play.

A study released this month by the Illinois Policy Institute found that repealing the state’s prevailing wage law would help boost the state’s economy by lowering the cost to taxpayers on publicly funded construction projects and spurring job growth in the construction industry. 

Under the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) Electronic Injury Reporting and Anti-Retaliation final rule (also known as Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses) certain employers are required to electronically submit the information from their completed 2016 Form 300A by Dec. 15. Information on electronic reporting is available on the DOL's website.

Construction input prices expanded 0.7 percent in November and rose 5.6 percent on a yearly basis, the largest increase since November 2011, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) analysis of  Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Tuesday. Nonresidential construction materials prices also expanded 0.7 percent for the month and 5.4 percent for the year. Crude petroleum prices rose 11 percent in November and are 31 percent higher than this time last year. 

Providing more evidence of a strengthening economy, Associated Builders and Contractors’ (ABC) Construction Backlog Indicator (CBI) set a record as it expanded to 9.45 months during the third quarter of 2017, up 9.8 percent from the second quarter to the longest backlog reading in the eight-year history of the series.  CBI is up by 0.8 months, or 9.2 percent, on a year-over-year basis.

The nation’s construction sector added 24,000 net new jobs in November, representing a 0.3 percent month-over-month increase, according to ABC’s analysis regarding the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ data. Nonresidential construction employment added 8,600 net new jobs in November, a figure that would have been substantially higher were it not for heavy and civil engineering, which lost 7,800 for the month.

The majority of commercial and industrial contractors are confident about sales growth, profits and staffing levels heading into 2018, according to the latest Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) Construction Confidence Index (CCI). Despite rising construction labor and materials costs, 55 percent of contractors expect their profit margins to expand in the first half of 2018.

The U.S. Senate passed sweeping tax reform legislation on Dec. 2, overcoming a number of setbacks over the course of a long week.  The effort to win over holdouts and cobble together the necessary votes led to a number of late-breaking changes to the bill, culminating in what was essentially a party line vote, with Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) as the only dissenting Republican. 

Nonresidential construction spending rose 2.1 percent in October, totaling $717.6 billion on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to ABC’s analysis of data released by the U.S. Census Bureau. The level of spending, however, remains virtually unchanged from a year ago.

In its survey of Florida construction firms for the third quarter of 2017, Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) finds the confidence to fill open positions over the next six months remains low. Continued hurricane rebuilding efforts will likely exacerbate the challenge to find enough skilled labor in Florida to meet the level of project demand. Confidence in other areas of the survey remains high.