On May 18, House Democrats passed the partisan H.R. 7309, to reauthorize the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. Only 4 Republican supported the proposal in the 220-196 vote, Reps. Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Katka (NY), Kinzinger (Ill.), and Upton (Mich.). The bill is unlikely to pass the Senate in its current form.

ABC issued a key vote against the bill yesterday, opposing a number of harmful provision in the bill including the mandated expansion of union representation on state and local workforce boards at the expense of industry expert and employer input.

On May 19, ABC sent a letter to the U.S. House of Representatives, urging members to vote NO on H.R. 7688, Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act. 

This bill provides President Biden and the Federal Trade Commission with broad authority to set controls on the nation’s gas prices while doing nothing to address the true drivers of the real inflation that businesses are facing every day.

There is a critical need to address ongoing inflation throughout the country and the rise in gasoline and other materials costs; however, providing unprecedented power to federal authorities is not the way forward. ABC also remains concerned that the precedent set by this bill will vastly expand the enforcement authority of the FTC and could lead to other price control efforts that would expose the construction industry to unwarranted enforcement. It is clear that inflation is a factor in almost every construction input category. According to ABC analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index data, construction input prices are up 23.7% from a year ago, while nonresidential construction input prices are 24.0% higher. Input prices were up in 10 of 11 subcategories in April, with the largest price increases coming from natural gas (+16.9%) and unprocessed energy materials (+10.3%). Congress must look to commonsense, bipartisan solutions that address needs of our nation’s economy and better ensure affordable prices.

On Thursday, May 5, ABC sent a letter on the Senate Budget Committee's hearing, “Should Taxpayer Dollars Go to Companies that Violate Labor Laws?”.

ABC member contractors perform a significant amount of federal construction contracts, ABC is troubled by misleading allegations at the heart of today’s hearing at the expense of the rights and due process protections afforded to workers and employers awarded federal contracts.

On March 30, ABC sent ABC sent a letter to the U.S. House Committee on Small Business Subcommittee on Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Workforce Development to comment on the workforce development challenges facing small construction businesses for their hearing titled “Skill, Upskill, and Reskill: Analyzing New Investments in Workforce Development.”

On March 17, the House passed H.R. 963, the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal (FAIR) Act by a vote of 221 - 209, which saw all Democrats as well as Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) supporting the bill on final passage.  The bill seeks to prohibit companies from requiring arbitration agreements in any type of workplace or consumer dispute. As written, the FAIR Act bans parties from agreeing in advance to resolve disputes by arbitration. Currently, parties are allowed to agree in their contract to resolve future disputes with arbitration as an alternative to litigation. If the FAIR Act becomes law, parties would only be able to enter into an agreement to arbitrate after a dispute arises.

ABC sent an opposition letter to members of the House, saying “ This legislation would strip workers, employers and consumers of the pre-dispute arbitration process—a fair, efficient method to resolve disputes that helps parties avoid costly, time-consuming and resource-depleting litigation.” ABC also noted that “the FAIR Act assumes that pre-dispute arbitration agreements disadvantage consumers and workers when the opposite is true. Arbitration ensures due process rights of the involved parties are protected, and neutral arbitrators provide an independent evaluation of the circumstances and appropriate remedies.”