AGC CEO Encourages President Obama to Offer HTF Solutions On Wednesday, AGC and other transportation stakeholders joined in support of Oregon Democrat Congressman Earl Blumenauer as he introduced his bill H.R. 3636, the Update, Promote, and Develop America’s Transportation Essentials Act (UPDATE Act) at a press conference at the Capitol.  The bill would phase-in a 15 cent gas tax increase starting in 2014, indexes the gas tax to inflation, and then confirms Congress’s intention to replace the gas tax with a more equitable, stable source of funding by 2024.

With no public meeting of the House and Senate budget conference this week, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) continue to meet behind the scenes to craft a limited budget agreement they can unveil by early next week and have Congress pass before their Dec. 13 deadline.

On Dec. 3, AGC Naval Engineering Facility Command Committee Chair Randall Gibson—president of a federal small business, Whitesell-Green, Inc., in Pensacola, Fla.—testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on the federal government’s use of design-build contracting. In his testimony for the association, Mr. Gibson addressed the need for federal agencies to: (1) reasonably limit one-step design-build procurements; and (2) reasonably limit the second step of the two-step design-build process to three to five finalists.

Jan. 9-10, 2014 | Miami, Fla. Join AGC member company CFOs, CEOs and other senior accounting professionals for the Winter 2014 AGC Financial Issues Forum (formerly the AGC Tax and Fiscal Affairs Meeting). The conference will feature in-depth discussions with fellow contractors, congressional and administration representatives and AGC staff, and delve deep into the latest financial and accounting issues impacting the construction industry. Confirmed speakers include senior staff from FASB's parent organization, former staff director of Ways and Means, author of Showdown at Gucci Gulch, and tax accounting experts from around the country. In accordance with NASBA standards, attendees are eligible to earn up to 10 CPE credits. Learn more and register here.

Last week, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) also released its statement of regulatory priorities for the next year. Of those priorities, federal construction contractors should be most interested in SBA’s desire to release regulations that would extend the availability of mentor-protégé programs to all small business concerns. SBA currently has a mentor-protégé program for the 8(a) Business Development Program that is intended to enhance the capabilities of the protégé and to improve its ability to successfully compete for Federal contracts. The various types of assistance that a mentor will be expected to provide to a protégé include technical and/or management assistance; financial assistance in the form of equity investment and/or loans; subcontracts and/or assistance in performing prime contracts with the government in the form of joint-venture arrangements.

This week, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3309, the Innovation Act.  This bill aims to block abusive patent litigation. The bill enjoys bipartisan support; it passed the House by a vote of 325-91 and passed the Judiciary Committee by a vote of 33-5.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released its Semiannual Regulatory Agenda – Fall 2013. The agenda provides a good indicator of issues the agency wants to address in the near future, however, often times the agencies do not adhere to the target dates listed. The agenda highlighted nearly 70 rules that they plan to address in the next 12 months along with 6 long-term regulatory efforts not expected to be considered in the next year. Many of the items have a significant impact on the construction industry and AGC will be providing comments where appropriate. An overview of some of the most significant items for the industry include:

TAKE ACTION: Urge Your Senators to Support Counting Lower-Tier Small Businesses This week, Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) introduced an AGC-supported small business reform amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2014, S. 1197.  Please take action now and urge your U.S. Senators to support the Coons/Wicker Amendment #2286 to S. 1197.

AGC Continues to Advocate for the Construction Industry’s Priorities On Nov. 20, select members of the House and Senate—called conferees—gathered to begin work on resolving the discrepancies between the two chambers respective Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) bills in a conference committee. AGC has been active throughout the WRDA legislative process and advocated for the construction industry’s WRDA priorities in a letter to all conferees, detailing which provisions and policies in both bills should be included in a final WRDA bill.

Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) has introduced the Water Infrastructure Investment Act with the support of senior Republicans on the water infrastructure authorizing Committees - Rep. Duncan (R-Tenn.), Rep. Whitfield (R-Ky.), Rep. Hanna (R-N.Y.) and Rep. Petri (R-Wis.).  The introduction of the bipartisan Water Infrastructure Financing Act is both important and timely as we look to potentially address shortfalls in our nation's infrastructure funding through ongoing Budget negotiations.