On Friday, August, 27, Congressman Charles Djou (R-Hawaii) toured a construction job in Honolulu, Hawaii. AGC member company Watts Constructors, LLC, hosted the Congressman at the Arizona Memorial Visitor Center Replacement project. 

AGC encourages members to host Members of Congress at job sites around the country to help educate them about the construction industry and to demonstrate how decisions made in Washington, D.C., affect our industry.

The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission upheld OSHA's multi-employer citation policy in a reversal of a decision the Commission made during the previous administration. Under the policy, OSHA inspectors may cite employers on multi-employer worksites for violations that do not expose their own workers to occupational hazards. For example, a general contractor who controls the worksite may be responsible for violations created by a subcontractor whose workers are exposed to safety or health hazards.

In reaching its Aug. 19 decision, the Commission agreed with an earlier decision by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, which had rejected the Commission's previous contrary view that employers are only legally responsible for protecting the safety and health of their own workers. The case under consideration involved Summit Contractors Inc., a general contractor constructing an apartment complex in Lebanon, Pa., in 2005. An OSHA compliance officer cited Summit for a safety violation after observing workers of a subcontractor using electrical equipment that lacked ground fault circuit interrupters and had been brought onto the worksite by Summit.

The Transportation Construction Coalition and Americans for Transportation Mobility continued efforts for passage of the long-delayed highway and transit bill on Tuesday with the unveiling of new billboard and online advertisements in Columbia. Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) participated in the event and shared his support for passing a multi-year surface transportation bill. Clyburn agreed that enacting a highway and transit bill will be the best boost we can give to the economy right now.

The effort, which will cover dozens of states during the coming weeks, is designed to educate the public about why passing a federal transportation bill is essential to improving road conditions in states like South Carolina.

In mid-August, AGC helped launch the multi-state campaign in South Dakota, and will unveil new ads in Iowa next week.

Read about the effort and take action here.

The news was covered by several local television stations, including WBTV,WACH andWSAV, in addition to the Charleston Post and Courier, Columbia Business Report and Charleston Regional Business Journal, to name a few.

Once again, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) initially required that a contractor submit an executed project labor agreement (PLA), this time on an Army Reserve project in Los Alamitos, California.  Over the past week, AGC members and staff made inquiries to the Louisville District Command in charge of the project, demanding justification for including a PLA mandate in a solicitation. Like previous efforts, the inquiries questioned how it determined that the conditions listed in President Obama's executive order on PLAs were present. On September 1, USACE informed potential bidders that the requirement had been removed. 

AGC pointed out that the executive order leaves the agency free to refrain from requiring a PLA on the Patrick Air Force Base project and that it permits the agency to require a PLA only if the USACE has determined that all of the following conditions exist:

1.    The project will cost the federal government $25 million or more;
2.    Use of a PLA on the project will advance the federal government's interest in achieving economy and efficiency in federal procurement;
3.    Use of a PLA on the project will advance the federal government's interest in producing labor-management stability;
4.    Use of a PLA on the project will advance the federal government's interest in ensuring compliance with laws and regulations governing safety and health, equal employment opportunity, labor and employment standards, and other matters; and
5.    Use of a PLA will be consistent with law.

This is the latest of AGC's continuing efforts to educate government agencies about PLA issues and implications.  While AGC neither supports nor opposes PLAs in general, AGC strongly opposes government mandates for PLAs on publicly funded construction projects.  AGC is committed to free and open competition in all public construction markets and believes that publicly funded contracts should be awarded without regard to the lawful labor relations policies and practices of the government contractor.

Following the weeklong process of counting the absentee ballots for Alaska's primary, Fairbanks Attorney General, Joe Miller (R), was pronounced the official winner of the Alaska Republican senatorial primary by a mere 1,469 votes.  The Alaska Secretary of State announced on August 31, just seven days following the primary election, that Miller, the "Tea Party" candidate who was endorsed by former vice presidential candidate and former Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin, had defeated sitting senior Senator Lisa Murkowski (R).  Murkowski was first appointed to the Senate seat in 2002 by her father, Frank Murkowski, who vacated the Senate seat after he was elected Governor.

Louisiana held its primary on August 28 and announced current Senator David Vitter (R) would remain the party's nominee on the ticket.  Vitter beat out two opponents - Nick Accardo and Chet Traylor - with an overwhelming 88 percent of the vote.

West Virginia held a special Senate primary election on Saturday, August 28, to decide on two party nominees to fill the seat of late Sen. Robert Byrd (D).  Republicans chose businessman John Raese, who will face current West Virginia Democrat Governor Joe Manchin in November.

September 14, the second "Super Tuesday" primary date is right around the corner.  Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin will all vote.  Please deliver AGC PAC checks for any candidates in these states before the primary date.  For any other state, please deliver AGC PAC checks before September 30, the FEC filing deadline for campaigns.

The final state primary prior to November's general election will be held September 18, in Hawaii.

Solicitations requiring bidders on certain U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) construction projects to submit an executed project labor agreement (PLA) prompted AGC to write and call agency officials expressing strong concern.  On August 18, the agency called AGC to announce that it was withdrawing the PLA requirement and to thank AGC for educating them on the issue.

On August 12, AGC sent a letter to the USACE's Mobile District demanding information about the agency's justification for including a PLA mandate in a solicitation for the construction of an Air Force Technical Applications Center at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida. The letter questioned how it determined that the conditions listed in President Obama's executive order on PLAs were present. The requirement, along with similar mandates by other contracting agencies and information about pressure from higher in the Administration, also prompted AGC to send a letter calling on President Obama to protect contracting officers from such political pressure, and to send an "unmistakable and public" message that political appointees should not cross the line between politics and procurement.

Read more here.

As part of the Transportation Construction Coalition and Americans for Transportation Mobility, AGC launched a new national effort to push for passage of the long-delayed bill that provides federal funds to fix aging roads and unsafe bridges. In conjunction with AGC of South Dakota, the campaign began with the unveiling of a new billboard, and radio and print advertisements in Rapid City, Sioux Falls and Aberdeen.

The effort, which will cover dozens of states during the coming weeks, is designed to educate the public about why passing a federal transportation bill is essential to improving road conditions in states like South Dakota. The Rapid City Journal announced the start of the campaign on the front page this week, and the story was also covered in the Argus Leader and on the local ABC station, among other local media outlets.

The news conferences were hosted by the state's Secretary of Transportation Darin Bergquist.  The mayor of Rapid City and the Sioux Falls city engineer also took part in the events.

In addition to funds contributed by the coalitions to support these events, AGC of South Dakota contributed an additional $10,000 to help finance the effort. Visit AGC's website for more information and to let Congress know you support long-term investment in transportation.

The massive healthcare bill enacted in March contained a provision which requires businesses to send Form 1099s for all business-to-business transactions for services and goods equaling $600 or more in a year.  The provision was justified as a way to identify businesses that are not reporting or underreporting income to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the provision would raise $17 billion to offset a small portion of  the healthcare bill,  but AGC members know it will be a tremendous burden on businesses and increase paperwork and compliance costs.

Legislation has been introduced in both the House and Senate to modify and repeal the 1099 requirement. AGC supports full repeal of the provision rather than a modification, which is why AGC supports H.R. 5141 and S. 3578, the Small Business Paperwork Mandate Elimination Act. 

The House considered legislation prior to the August recess that would have repealed the provision; however, the bill ultimately failed.   The Senate is scheduled to vote on two amendments to a small business jobs bill when they return in September: one that would repeal the provision and one to modify the provision. Because the proposed modification would not repeal the 1099 requirement, but would instead put in place new exemptions, AGC does not believe the amendment would provide adequate relief for business.

AGC continues to request members write their Senators and Representative in support of H.R. 5141 and S. 3578 and in support of a full repeal of the burdensome 1099 reporting requirement.  For more information on the 1099 reporting requirement and to write your Members of Congress, use the AGC Legislative Action Center.

A provision in the massive healthcare bill enacted in March requires businesses to send Form 1099s for all business-to-business transactions equaling $600 or more in a year.  The provision was passed to help identify businesses that are not reporting or underreporting income to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the provision would raise $17 billion to help pay for the healthcare bill.  However, the new requirement will be a tremendous burden on businesses, increasing their paperwork and compliance costs.

Legislation has been introduced in both the House and Senate to modify and repeal the 1099 requirement. AGC supports repeal of the provision rather than a modification, which is why AGC supports H.R. 5141 and S. 3578, the Small Business Paperwork Mandate Elimination Act.  The House considered legislation prior to the August recess that would have repealed the provision; however, the bill ultimately failed.   The Senate is scheduled to vote on an amendment to a small business jobs bill that would repeal the provision when they return in September. 

AGC is requesting members write their Senators and Representative in support of H.R. 5141 and S. 3578 and in support of a full repeal of the burdensome 1099 reporting requirement.  For more information on the 1099 reporting requirement and to write your Members of Congress, use the AGC Legislative Action Center.

Nearly a dozen AGC member companies, including host George J. Igel & Company, participated in an event arranged by the Ohio Contractors Association with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Representative Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Ohio) in Columbus.

During the event, contractors and their employees expressed concern over what would happen when stimulus money runs out. Secretary LaHood and Rep. Kilroy agreed that a six-year transportation bill would be a logical sequel to the stimulus.

Watch the local NBC affiliate's coverage here or read coverage from the Columbus Dispatch.