Construction Law

The infrastructure investment included in the Biden Infrastructure Plan would be funded through a variety of broad tax increases, primarily aimed at multinational corporations, but that would also impact domestic C-corporations, including some construction firms. Increased taxes on pass-through businesses, individual tax rates, estate taxes, capital gains taxes, and payroll taxes, are expected in the next “human infrastructure” package to be released in the near future. The primary funding mechanism would be to increase the corporate tax rate from the current 21% rate to 28%.

Late last week, the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) continued its campaign to persuade the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to change the way it decides whether to forgive Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans of over $2M.  The specific target of AGC’s campaign is a Loan Necessity Questionnaire that has greatly surprised and frustrated the borrowers of such loans, as they now seek forgiveness of them.      

Association Weighs Legal Options

Together, AGC of America and its Michigan Chapter have extended the association’s long string of successful efforts to establish that the commercial general liability insurance (CGL) policy sold to construction contractors across the United States does provide coverage for property damage resulting from unexpected and unintended defects in a subcontractor’s workmanship (unless one of the policy’s specific exclusions applies).  On June 29, 2020, the Michigan Supreme Court became the latest of many state supreme courts to agree that such damage is an “occurrence.”