This week the House Education and Workforce subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions held a hearing on the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs’ recent regulatory and enforcement actions. The OFCCP is responsible for ensuring federal contractors follow federal nondiscrimination hiring requirements.  The agency has announced several proposals that will make advanced significant changes to its regulatory and enforcement policies that could create additional costs and challenges for employers and workers in the construction industry.

Despite the lack of authorizing legislation, nevertheless the Senate Appropriations Committee today approved funding for transportation programs for FY 2013 which begins October 1, 2012.

Next week the Senate could consider a resolution providing for disapproval of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rule on representation-case procedures. AGC opposed the NLRB rule which will become go into effect April 30, 2012, unless Congress acts.

One of three amendments adopted during the debate of H.R. 4348. The Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2012, Part II, was a modified version of Congressman Charles Boustany’s (R-LA) Realizing America’s Maritime Promise (RAMP) Act.  H.R. 4348 is serving as the vehicle to get the House to a conference committee with the Senate on their surface transportation reauthorization bill which passed last month.

By a vote of 293-127, the House approved HR 4348, a 90 day extension of the surface transportation programs through Sept. 30, 2012. The legislation will act as a vehicle to conference with the Senate on a longer term transportation reauthorization bill. H.R. 4348 was amended on the House floor to include the environmental streamlining provisions from H.R. 7, the American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act, the five year comprehensive transportation reauthorization bill that was reported from the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee earlier this year but was lacking sufficient support for passage on its own.

AGC’s 2012 Federal Contractors Conference attracted nearly 400 people to Washington, D.C., this week to meet with 20 federal agencies and review procurement and contracting issues.

AGC of America has released a white paper discussing the impact federal and nonfederal contractors, as well as other interested parties, can have on the accuracy of Davis-Bacon wage determinations.  The white paper, titled "Impacting Davis-Bacon Wage Determinations:  A Guide for Contributing to the Accuracy of Published Prevailing Wage Rates in Construction", is available for download on the AGC website.

Following the 2012 AGC Federal Contractors Conference, the next opportunity to tell Congress to “Make Transportation Job #1” is at the Transportation Construction Coalition’s 2012 Legislative fly-In.  As is apparent from the inability of Congress to complete action on longer term transportation reauthorization legislation, the transportation construction industry must continue to make the case that the time to act is now.

In May 2011, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) issued draft guidance on “Identifying Waters Protected by the Clean Water Act.”  As this guidance document moved from proposed to final form, the concerns, including those raised in AGC’s comments, were not addressed. 

As early as next week the Senate could consider a resolution providing for disapproval of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rule on representation-case procedures. AGC opposed the NLRB rule which will become go into effect April 30, 2012, unless Congress acts.