Under the backdrop of Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) announced his intention to seek the nation’s highest office. He is the first person to officially declare his national candidacy in either party. The earliness of his move suggests he is preparing for an involved constitutional legal battle since questions surround his eligibility to run for president.
The AGC Financial Issues Committee (FIC) Summer Meeting will be held June 8-9, 2015 at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo. The link to the meeting’s registration page is here. The meeting is geared toward member company AGC member company CFOs, Treasurers, Finance Directors, Controllers, Tax Directors and other senior accounting professionals. Members have an opportunity to learn as well as formulate positions on tax and accounting matters that directly affect the bottom line and operations of AGC member companies of all sizes and specialties. Current FIF projects include helping construction companies to prepare for the new Revenue Recognition Accounting Standard Update that goes into effect in 2017.
The AGC Financial Issues Committee (FIC) Summer Meeting will be held June 8-9, 2015 at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo. The link to the meeting’s registration page is here. The meeting is geared toward member company AGC member company CFOs, Treasurers, Finance Directors, Controllers, Tax Directors and other senior accounting professionals. Members have an opportunity to learn as well as formulate positions on tax and accounting matters that directly affect the bottom line and operations of AGC member companies of all sizes and specialties. Current FIF projects include helping construction companies to prepare for the new Revenue Recognition Accounting Standard Update that goes into effect in 2017.
On Wednesday, the House Ways and Means Committee approved H.R. 1105, the Death Tax Repeal Act, which was the first vote of its kind in a decade, to repeal the estate tax for small businesses and farms.
AGC and its industry partners from the Waters Advocacy Coalition met with the Office of Management & Budget (OMB) to discuss the federal water quality standards (WQS) regulation proposed by EPA and its interaction with the proposed change in the definition of “Waters of the United States.”
On March 25, two committees in the House—the Small Business and Armed Services Committees—took action on AGC-supported construction procurement reform legislation. The House Small Business Committee unanimously approved a construction procurement reform bill and the House Armed Services Committee introduced a Department of Defense-specific procurement reform bill that would both:
Rep. Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.) introduced AGC-supported legislation that would help prohibit reverse auctions for direct-federal construction services contracts. The Commonsense Contracting Act of 2015, H.R. 1444, would prohibit reverse auctions for all federal small business set-aside construction contracts, including for the performance of construction work for facility, infrastructure and environmental restoration projects as well as the delivery and supply of construction materials to construction sites. Please ask your representatives to co-sponsor H.R. 1444.
Take Part in the Hardhats for Highways Ten-Week Grassroots Blitz
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) established a pilot program that will allow state and local governments to use local geographic hiring preferences on their federal-aid highway and federal transit assisted contracts. The pilot program is effective immediately and will last one year. DOT also issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to make these changes permanent by altering existing Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) regulations. Read the pilot program proposal here and the Notice of Proposed Rule Making here.
On Wednesday, the House approved a Fiscal Year 2016 budget resolution, H. Con. Res. 27, by a 228-199 vote, with 17 Republicans voting in opposition. The pivotal vote for successful passage of a final version came minutes earlier, when House Republicans voted 219 to 208 to adopt a substitute amendment that increased the limit on war spending to $96 billion and removed a requirement that any of it to be offset, a rare voting strategy used by leadership to give conservatives a chance to vote on their priority, while also allowing a vote on an amendment that leadership and defense hawks needed for final passage.
