AGC joined other groups this week in commenting on draft regulations of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act . The regulations will largely dictate how the act is implemented and ultimately its effectiveness on training skilled construction workers. AGC supported passage of the bill last year as it streamlines the workforce development system, gives states greater flexibility to address worker shortages and strengthens employer engagement.

AGC joined other groups this week in commenting on draft regulations of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act . The regulations will largely dictate how the act is implemented and ultimately its effectiveness on training skilled construction workers. AGC supported passage of the bill last year as it streamlines the workforce development system, gives states greater flexibility to address worker shortages and strengthens employer engagement.

AGC CEO Stephen Sandherr joined with Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer and other association leaders during a June 17 media event to call on Congress to raise the highway user fee to pay for a new long-term surface transportation bill.

Legislation allowing veterans to use their education benefits from the GI bill for enrollment in Department of Labor-approved pre-apprenticeship programs was introduced today. The Veterans’ Entry Apprenticeship Act is a bipartisan bill co-sponsored by Representatives Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) and Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii). AGC supports the legislation, along with several other construction and national veterans’ organizations.

On Friday, May 1, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued its long-awaited confined spaces in construction standard. The new rule will cover activities on construction sites with one or more confined spaces such as manholes, crawl spaces, tanks and other confined spaces that are not intended for continuous occupancy with exemptions for work covered by the excavation and underground construction standards. The final rule is very similar to the general industry standard, but with some differences tailored to the construction industry. These differences include: controlling contractor requirements, continuous monitoring for hazards, and responsibilities of a competent person.

On April 29, AGC CEO Stephen Sandherr testified during a hearing held by the House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions on ways to further strengthen the multiemployer pension system. The bipartisan, noncontroversial hearing focused on the recommendations outlined in the joint labor-management proposal, Solutions Not Bailouts, to create a new “composite” type of multiemployer benefit plan that is distinct from either defined-benefit or defined-contribution plans. The new plan design was not included in last year’s bill that overhauled much of the multiemployer system, the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014, which tracked other policy recommendations from Solutions Not Bailouts.

The Department of Treasury and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) recently issued separate “requests for information” to aid in their development of regulations to implement the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act (MPRA) and AGC joined with other construction industry stakeholders to submit detailed comments toTreasury and PBGC on April 6, 2015.

AGC, along with a coalition of stakeholders, are urging Congress to reauthorize the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins). Perkins is an existing avenue that helps students prepare for secondary and postsecondary education by providing access to federal dollars to offset the cost of career and technical education (CTE) programs. The Perkins program’s authorization ended in 2013 but has been operating under annual funding bills since then. AGC hopes Congress will reauthorize and reform the program this year.

Recently, AGC sent a letter opposing the possible use of a project labor agreement (PLA) mandate posted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The letter addressed concerns about a possible PLA mandate for a command and control facility project at Fort Shafter, Hawaii.

Today, the House passed an AGC-supported resolution that would nullify the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) rule on representation-case procedures, which will go into effect on April 14, 2015. The vote fell mostly along party lines with Republicans supporting and Democrats opposing. The resolution passed the Senate earlier this month and will now be sent to the president’s desk. However, President Obama has indicated his intention to veto the legislation, which Congress will be unlikely to overturn. Therefore, a lawsuit making its way through the court system may be the best and last chance at blocking the rule before the implementation date.