2018 National Safety Stand-Down May 7-11. After adding more than 30,000 jobs in January alone, the construction industry shows no signs of slowing down. With more workers comes more responsibility for safety. Falls from heights are still the leading cause of death in the private construction industry and lack of proper fall protection is the most frequently cited violation by OSHA. That is why each year; the construction industry dedicates a week of safety events to stopping fatal falls. Jobsites across the country and internationally pause work so that employers and workers can talk about fall prevention and commit to on-the-job safety. The combined effort from OSHA, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and CPWR–The Center for Construction Research and Training is known as the National Safety Stand-Down. Last year marked the fourth annual Stand-Down with nearly 150 free public events reaching more than 1 million workers. By continuing to reach workers and employers, OSHA ...

115th Congress, First Session ABC Priority Issues POTUS Activity On Nov 22, President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (H.R. 1), a bill that delivers the first comprehensive tax reform in more than 30 years, and gives our industry a simpler and fairer tax code that will lead to more economic freedom and global competitiveness. On Oct 16, Michael D. Bellaman, president and CEO of ABC, was appointed by U.S. Department of Labor Secretary R. Alexander Acosta to the Task Force on Apprenticeship Expansion, created by President Trump’s June 15 Executive Order 13801. On Oct. 12, President Trump signed the Presidential Executive Order Promoting Healthcare Choice and Competition Across the United States, which would expand access to association health plans and allow small businesses to have quality, affordable health care coverage. On Aug. 1, President Trump Welcomed ABC Small Business Leaders to a White House event highlighting small businesses titled, &ld ...

This week the House and Senate were in session, with the Senate voting to approve the latest disaster relief package and the House voting today to narrowly approve, by a vote of 216-212, the Senate passed Budget Resolution (H.Con.Res. 71) that will position Congress to move forward with comprehensive tax reform. ABC key voted the budget resolution, you can view a copy of the letter here. The disaster relief package provides $36.5 billion to help residents of Puerto Rico, Florida and Texas and includes $16 billion in debt forgiveness for the National Flood Insurance Program. The President is expected to sign the bill, which has already passed the House. The budget resolution allows for tax cuts of $1.5 trillion, requiring approximately $4 trillion in offsets to adhere to the overall plan that is expected to cost nearly $5.5 trillion. One of the most highly reported revenue sources has been the state and local tax (SALT) deduction, which, if eliminated, would result in an estimated $1.3 trillion of ta ...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 16—Michael D. Bellaman, president and CEO of Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), has been appointed by U.S. Department of Labor Secretary R. Alexander Acosta to the Task Force on Apprenticeship Expansion, created by President Trump’s June 15 Executive Order 13801.  “I am excited to join Secretary Acosta’s task force to expand opportunities to citizens nationwide who want to live the American Dream while helping to build and rebuild our country,” said Bellaman. “As the president promised in his election night acceptance speech, every single American will have the opportunity to realize his or her fullest potential under his administration. That sentiment will drive this task force as we work to promote affordable education and rewarding jobs for all Americans.” According to the order, the task force will submit to the president strategies and proposals focused on four areas: Federal initiatives to promote apprenticeships; ...

WASHINGTON, May, 30–Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) today applauded Gov. Eric Greitens (R-Mo.) for signing legislation into law that will promote fair and open competition on contracts for construction services funded by Missouri taxpayers. SB 182 ensures controversial project labor agreements (PLAs) cannot be mandated by the government on state, state-assisted and local construction projects, guaranteeing that the almost three out of four members of Missouri’s private construction workforce who have chosen not to join a labor union can fairly compete to work on projects funded by their own tax dollars. “Taxpayers cannot receive the best product at the best price from responsible contractors when government caters to special interests by mandating PLAs, which steer contracts to unionized firms. This creates a labor monopoly for unionized workers, who make up about a quarter of Missouri’s private construction workforce and just 14 percent of the construction industry nati ...

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 6– Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) today applauded the U.S. Senate for joining the U.S. House of Representatives in passing legislation (H.J. Res. 37) that will block implementation of the Obama administration’s controversial Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order 13673, commonly referred to as “blacklisting,” through the Congressional Review Act (CRA). “Associated Builders and Contractors commends Congress for taking action to free the contracting community and taxpayers from the disastrous effects of the Obama administration’s illegal blacklisting rule," said ABC Vice President of Regulatory, Labor and State Affairs Ben Brubeck. “Since first proposed as an executive order, ABC has led the fight against this policy—which a U.S. District Court correctly ruled would violate federal contractors’ due process rights by treating non-adjudicated and often nefarious and frivolous claims of violations the same as actual ...

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday, January 30, requiring that for every new federal regulation implemented, two must be rescinded. “This will be the biggest such act that our country has ever seen,” Trump declared moments before signing it in the Oval Office. “There will be regulation, there will be control, but it will be a normalized control where you can open your business and expand your business very easily. And that's what our country has been all about.” The executive order signing, which fulfills a campaign pledge, comes after the president held a listening session with small-business leaders. “If you have a regulation you want, No. 1, we’re not gonna approve it because it’s already been approved probably in 17 different forms,” Trump said. “But if we do, the only way you have a chance is we have to knock out two regulations for every new regulation. So if there’s a new regulation, they have to knock ou ...

WASHINGTON, D.C. Feb. 2– Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) today commended the U.S. House of Representatives for passing legislation (H. J. Res. 37) that will block implementation of the Obama administration’s Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order 13673, commonly referred to as “blacklisting,” through the Congressional Review Act (CRA). Implementation of the blacklisting rule’s reporting and disclosure requirements was temporarily blocked on Oct. 24, 2016, when a U.S. District Court judge for the Eastern District of Texas ruled in favor of ABC’s lawsuit and granted a preliminary injunction against the reporting provisions of the rule, which were scheduled to take effect Oct. 25, 2016. Under the CRA, Congress may pass a resolution of disapproval to prohibit a federal agency from implementing a rule without congressional authorization with a majority vote in both houses of Congress. If President Trump signs the CRA resolution into law, it will block the bl ...

January 30, 2017 - Republicans in the House and Senate took the first steps Monday to repeal a labor regulation from the Obama administration that requires all federal contractors bidding on contracts over $500,000 to report any labor law violations they’ve had in the last three years. Reps. Virginia Foxx (N.C.), Jason Chaffetz (Utah), Steve Chabot (Ohio) and Paul Mitchell (Mich.), along with Sens. Ron Johnson (Wis.) and Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), issued a joint resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to block the labor regulation that opponents have dubbed the "blacklisting rule.” The CRA gives lawmakers 60 legislative days to repeal a rule through a resolution after it's been finalized. The rule, finalized in August, requires prospective contractors to disclose any violation of the 14 basic workplace protections, including wage and hour, safety and health, collective bargaining, family and medical leave, and civil rights protections. In October, a fed ...

January 11, 2017 - In 2009, President Obama signed Executive Order 13502, which encourages federal agencies to mandate project labor agreements (PLAs) on large-scale federal construction projects exceeding $25 million in total cost on a case-by-case basis. Many merit shop advocates of fair and open competition predicted the order would steer billions of dollars’ worth of federal construction contracts to unionized contractors and their all-union workforces—without true competition from qualified merit shop contractors and their nonunion employees, who compose 86.1 percent of the U.S. construction workforce. Industry experts feared the executive order would result in taxpayers needlessly paying nearly 20 percent more per federal contract procured with a PLA requirement. Faced with finite building budgets, it would generate less building and create fewer jobs for the experienced men and women employed by merit shop contractors who deliver projects safely, on time and on budget every day to the ...