With the House of Representatives advancing several ABC-supported permitting reform bills this week and last, please see bill status and key details below:

H.R.3898 - The PERMIT Act

• Status: Passed House on Dec. 11, 2025 by a 221-205 vote. 
• Background: The legislation would amend the Clean Water Act to promote transparent and predictable permitting for all stakeholders. 
• ABC Position: ABC Key Vote "Yes 

H.R.4776 - The SPEED Act

• Status: Passed House on Dec. 18, 2025, by a 221-196 vote.
• Background: The legislation would clarify National Environmental Policy Act procedures and provide contractors with increased certainty that enables them to plan and invest with confidence
• ABC Position: ABC Key Vote "Yes"

H.R.4503 - The ePermit Act

• Status: Passed House by Voice Vote on Dec. 9, 2025.
• Background: The legislation directs the Council on Environmental Quality to issue an annual report on NEPA's impact to Congress
• ABC Position: Supported

H.R.573 - The Studying NEPA's Impact on Projects Act

• Status: Passed House by Voice Vote on Dec. 9, 2025.
• Background: The legislation would modernize the environmental review and authorization process.
• ABC Position: Supported

H.R.1897 - ESA Amendments Act

• Status: Passed the House Committee on Natural Resources on Dec. 17, 2025, in a 25-16 vote. Awaiting a floor vote. 
• Background: The legislation establishes clear statutory definitions, focusing on species recovery and streamlining the ESA permitting process.
• ABC Position: Supported 

On Dec. 18, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure's Subcommittee on Waters Resources and Environment held the hearing, "Water Resources Development Act of 2026: Stakeholder Priorities." Ahead of the hearing, ABC sent a letter to the committee, urging it to advance a neutral WRDA bill that allows all contractors to compete, regardless of labor affiliation.

On Dec. 3, the U.S. House passed the Destroying Unnecessary, Misaligned, and Prohibitive Red Tape Act (H.R. 4305) in a 269-146 vote. Introduced by Rep. Tony Wied, R-Wis., the DUMP Red Tape Act codifies the Small Business Administration’s “Red Tape Hotline,” accessible by email, web form, or phone, where small businesses can report burdensome regulations to the SBA’s chief counsel for advocacy.

ABC sent a letter to the House Small Business Committee ahead of its Nov. 18 markup in support of the bill, which cleared the committee hurdle in a 18-9 vote.

The bill will now head to the U.S. Senate, where a vote has yet to be scheduled.

On Dec. 3, Rep. Dave Taylor, R-Ohio, introduced the Workforce Flexibility Act. The bill strikes a provision under Title I of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act which requires that 75% of youth funding be spent on workforce development programs for Out-of-School Youth (OSY) and 25% be spent on In-School Youth (ISY), creating flexibility for states and localities to allocate funds in ways that suit their communities best.

“The Workforce Flexibility Act empowers states and local leaders to direct workforce resources where they’re most needed,” said Kristen Swearingen, ABC vice President of government affairs. “ABC is proud to support this commonsense solution to help America's youth access high-quality training and pursue strong career pathways in the construction industry.”

For more information, see Rep. Taylor’s press release on the bill’s introduction.

On Nov. 19, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education held a hearing titled, “From Classroom to Career: Strengthening Skills Pathways Through CTE.” Ahead of the hearing, ABC sent a letter to the committee highlighting ABC’s extensive training network, with chapters around the country providing flexible, industry-driven education and more than 450 registered apprenticeship programs. In 2023 alone, ABC members invested $1.6 billion to upskill 1.3 million workers.

Despite this commitment, ABC noted that current federal and state apprenticeship programs are not meeting workforce needs and emphasized the importance of expanding accessible CTE opportunities, better aligning high school programs with industry certifications, improving equipment and facilities, and strengthening partnerships between schools, employers and apprenticeship sponsors.

On Nov. 19, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Workforce Protections held a hearing titled, “E-Verify: Ensuring Lawful Employment in America.” Ahead of the hearing, ABC joined the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition in a letter reaffirming support for a mandatory national employment verification system, only if paired with strong employer safeguards outlined in the Legal Workforce Act.

EWIC stressed the importance of clear employer protections, uniform federal standards, reasonable phase-ins, improved identity-verification tools, and fair, predictable penalties. These principles align with measures in recent proposals including H.R. 2, the Dignity Act, and the Essential Workers for Economic Advancement Act.

On Nov. 18, the U.S. House Committee on Small Business held a markup of several pieces of legislation, including the Destroying Unnecessary, Misaligned, and Prohibitive Red Tape Act (H.R. 4305), introduced by Rep. Tony Wied, R-Wis. Ahead of the hearing, ABC sent a letter to the committee in support of H.R. 4305 and urged the committee to advance the bill for a full House vote. The DUMP Red Tape Act codifies the Small Business Administration’s “Red Tape Hotline,” accessible by email, web form, or phone, where small businesses can report burdensome regulations to the SBA’s chief counsel for advocacy.

During the markup, Rep. Wied noted that the Red Tape Hotline gives small businesses “a seat at the table to highlight the prohibitive red tape regulations from across federal agencies that hurt their ability to grow and compete.” He added that his bill, “is a commonsense way to gather input directly from the people most harmed by overregulation.”

The bill was reported favorably for a full House vote in an 18-9 vote.

On Oct. 1, the ABC-led Coalition for a Democratic Workplace sent a letter to members of the U.S. House urging them to oppose the Faster Labor Contracts Act. “Parties would have no recourse against the government or arbitrators if the mandated contract terms result in company bankruptcy or closure, and neither the federal government nor arbitrators are equipped to set terms for private parties to a contract,” the letter reads. “Under the bill, workers would effectively be shut out of the negotiation process and forfeit their right to vote for or against the contract.”

On September 16, Rep. Pete Stauber introduced the ABC-opposed FLCA in the House, an effort to strip workers and employers of their right to freely negotiate workplace conditions. Specifically, the FLCA imposes a 10-day time period for an employer and union to begin negotiating following a representation election as well as a requirement that a bargaining agreement be finalized in 90 days. The consequences for not obtaining such an agreement will likely be mandatory, binding arbitration, which will allow the federal government to set the terms of private contracts without the input or consent from the employees, employers or unions involved. For more information, read ABC’s press release.

On September 17, the U.S. House Committee on Education and Workforce passed the ABC-supported H.R. 2844, Michael Enzi Voluntary Protection Program Act, authored by Rep. Diana Harshbarger, R-Tenn. ABC joined with more than 30 organizations in the Coalition for Workplace Safety to support H.R. 2844.

The bill makes permanent the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Voluntary Protection Program and requires the agency to allocate a minimum of 5% of its annual budget to the program. ABC believes that encouraging collaborative partnerships between the regulated community and OSHA such as VPPs, is a win-win approach as they benefit both parties by improve compliance efficacy, reduce financial and administrative costs for both parties, and strengthen trust and transparency between the agency and the private sector.

On July 16, Kevin Sell, senior manager of corporate development at ABC member Kwest Group, Perrysburg, Ohio, testified on behalf of ABC before the U.S. House Committee on Education and Workforce Subcommittee on Workforce Protections at the hearing, “Safe Workplaces, Stronger Partnerships: The Future of OSHA Compliance Assistance,” in support of support H.R. 2844. Watch the hearing and read Sell’s full testimony.

The bill now awaits consideration on the House floor.

On Sept. 15, ABC joined a diverse coalition of over 40 trade groups and associations in a letter to Congress opposing the Warehouse Worker Protection Act. “The WWPA would impose long discarded and unworkable regulations on warehouse distribution centers, curtail employers’ due process rights when challenging citations from OSHA, and hamstring a critical part of our national supply chain,” the letter reads. “Despite its narrow sounding title, the legislation would impact workplaces in nearly every industry sector nationwide. Protecting workers is a priority for all employers, but this bill would only impede efficient operations without improving workplace safety.”