12 Additional Federally Funded Projects Designated
Recently, the Common Ground Alliance (CGA) opened their State of Damage Prevention Survey that is open to all UID members. Please take a moment to fill it out to ensure that the excavator perspective is included. The CGA is asking all damage prevention stakeholders to share their thoughts on the most pressing issues, priorities and policies/practices they believe have the most potential to reduce damages to buried utilities. These survey results are used to inform Best Practices and other reports that the CGA releases. Please take a few minutes to complete it before it closes on October 27th!
THE LATEST: At the expense of YOUR highway and bridge projects and construction jobs, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is moving to force states to spend their federal-aid highway funds, meant for road and bridge construction, to pay for buses, Amtrak trains, and electric vehicle (EV) charging stations.
Congressman Emanuel Cleaver speaks at the new Kansas City Current Stadium project on the first day of Construction Inclusion Week 2023
In its latest Settlements Report, the AGC-supported Construction Labor Research Council (CLRC) advises that construction-industry collective bargaining agreements settled from January through September of 2023 provide an average 4.6 percent increase in the first contract year. The CLRC notes that the multi-year settlements are now seeing the full effects of the surge in inflation. Because most unions will have negotiated new rates by the end of 2025, the CLRC projects that the steep growth in increases will slow. Measured by dollar value, the first-year increases during the first part of 2023 was $2.97, a substantial $1.32 jump from 2020. The CLRC projects first-year increases to average $3.40 in 2025. Regionally every region except New England has seen increases and nearly every craft has seen increases, some with notable increases.
State construction laws and case law interpreting those laws dramatically impact your contract and, thereby, your risk profile on a project. Before you sign or bid on your next construction contract, it is wise to have a system to navigate these laws. ConsensusDocs is presenting a webinar on November 9th (Register here), providing a systematic approach to navigating critical construction laws and the latest trends. Specific laws covered will include hot-button state construction laws, such as pay-if-paid, indemnification, prompt pay, and notice requirements.