AGC participated in a meeting June 23 with Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) who called together transportation and construction industry groups to lay out a very ambitous plan for release of a Committee draft bill, at least one hearing and Senate consideration of surface transportation reauthorization legislation before the end of July.

The House introduced the 20th short-term extension of the Federal Aviation Administration authorization.  The legislation, H.R. 2279, must be considered by the House by tomorrow afternoon because the House is not in session next week and the current extension expires June 30, 2011.  This extension would extend Airport and Airway Trust Fund taxes and Airport Improvement Program contract authority through July 22, 2011. 

On Wednesday, the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held a hearing on a draft bill that would improve the nation’s intercity passenger rail system by leveraging private sector investment and increase competition along the Northeast Corridor. The bill has the potential to create new jobs in rail construction, operation, and station-related development.

On June 22, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved H.R. 2018, by a vote of 35 to 20, that would shift certain regulating powers away from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and into the hands of the states by amending the Clean Water Act. The bill is backed by Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.), as well as Ranking Member Nick Rahall (D-W.V.). The legislation would give the states regulatory powers over water, wetlands and mountaintop-mining currently under the purview of EPA.

Deficit Reduction Meetings Continue Vice President Biden continues to lead bipartisan deficit reduction meetings with Congressional leaders as their self-imposed July 1, deadline for a plan on increasing the nation’s debt ceiling while making spending cuts and providing budgetary reforms approaches.  However, lead House negotiator Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) withdrew from the discussions today citing a need for Presidential leadership to take tax increases off the table before he returns to negotiation.

On June 22, 2011, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a proposed rule that would compress the time frame between a call by the unions for a vote and the election. This would be done by eliminating the pre-election request for review and any waiting period associated with such a review.  Among other changes, the proposed rule also calls for the disclosure by employers of employee phone numbers and email addresses before an election.

AGC sent a series of new letters to several Federal agencies concerning the potential use of Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) on upcoming construction projects. These letters are the latest of AGC’s continuing efforts to educate government agencies about PLA issues and implications:  

The bipartisan budget negotiations led by Vice President Biden resumed this week with participants from both parties citing that progress has been made.  Both parties have expressed their desire to resolve the negotiations prior to the July 4 recess. The group is working on a plan to reduce the deficit in order to win support in Congress to raise the debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion by August 2. 

As expected, the House Judiciary Committee introduced a bill mandating the use of E-Verify for all employers this week.  The Legal Workforce Act sets mandatory phase-in participation to the E-Verify system for all new hires, some beginning as early as six months from enactment for employers, based on the size of the company.  Re-verification of an employer’s existing workforce is an option; however it would be required in certain situations.   Currently, the E-Verify program is voluntary unless one is a federal contractor.

On Tuesday, June 14, the House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions held a hearing to review the state of private pension plans and the challenges facing plan sponsors, workers and retirees.   The challenges facing both single and multiemployer pension programs was not directly discussed in the hearing, however, this action indicates that Congress does realize that there are still challenges facing this retirement vehicle.