On June 22, AGC along with over 100 other trade associations voiced their strong opposition to any attempts to roll back the 20 percent deduction for pass through businesses—S-corps, partnerships, limited liability companies—enacted in the Trump tax cuts under Section 199A of the federal tax code. Despite the opposition, Chairman Ron Wyden announced on July 20 that he would move forward with a bill to phase out Section 199A. AGC will oppose this bill that will increase taxes on small business construction companies.

The U.S. Department of Labor has announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to establish standards and procedures to implement and enforce Executive Order 14026, “Increasing the Minimum Wage for Federal Contractors,” signed by President Biden on April 27, 2021.

On July 16, AGC submitted regulatory comments on the U.S. Treasury Department's interim final rule governing how state, local, territorial and Tribal governments can spend $350 billion from a COVID-relief fund established under President Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief law: the American Rescue Plan Act. AGC’s regulatory comments urge the Department to, among other things: (1) confirm and expand eligibility for all forms of infrastructure and building construction investments and related revenue streams; and (2) drop any reporting requirements encouraging government-mandated project labor agreements, local hiring requirements and the expansion of prevailing wage laws beyond the status quo. And, in a victory for AGC and the construction industry, the Department provided new guidance clarifying that losses of revenues from gas taxes and vehicle licensing fees incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic are eligible to be replenished using these recovery funds. AGC will continue to monitor the distribution of these recovery funds.

According to the latest Contractor Compensation Quarterly (CCQ) published by PAS, Inc., contractors are projecting 2021 construction staff wages to increase an average of 3.23%, as reported by over 300 companies in the 38th edition of the Construction / Construction Management Staff Salary Survey. For pay increase comparison, according to the WorldatWork, across all industries exempt professionals saw 2020 actual increases of 2.9% and they are projecting 2021 increases of 2.9%. For construction WorldatWork reported a 3.4% increase in 2020 and are projecting 3.3% for 2021.

AGC’s National Construction Industry Workforce Summit to Take Place on Oct. 13 Registration is now open for the 2021 Construction HR and Training Professionals Conference to be held October 14-15, 2021, in St. Louis, Missouri.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently announced an extension of the flexibilities in rules related to Form I-9 compliance that was initially granted last year. Due to the continued precautions related to COVID-19, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will extend this policy until Aug. 31, 2021.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has issued an interim final rule implementing the special financial assistance provisions of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to assist financially troubled multiemployer pension plans. (Click here for more background on ARPA’s multiemployer pension provisions.)

Negotiators conducting collective bargaining between January and June of this year agreed to raise construction craft workers’ wage and fringe benefits by an average of 2.6 percent or $1.57 during the first contract year, according to the Construction Labor Research Council’s (CLRC) latest Settlements Report. This compares to 2.8 percent or $1.58 for the same period in 2020 and 2.8 percent or $1.62 for all of 2020.

Construction employment in June remained below the levels reached before the pre-pandemic peak in February 2020 in 39 states, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of government employment data released today. Association officials noted that many construction firms are struggling to cope with supply chain challenges and rising materials prices, which is undermining demand for new projects and impacting firms’ ability to hire new workers.