The release of climate change legislation being drafted by Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) was once again delayed when Senator Graham pulled out of negotiations last weekend over Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) handling of negotiation on immigration legislation. However, the draft bill has been sent to the Environmental Protection Agency (with Senator Graham's consent) for an economic study that needs to be performed before the bill can be considered in the Senate.

It remains unclear in what form a fee on motor fuels will take.  AGC has been informed by one of the Senators writing the legislation that it will not be a "linked-fee" on motor fuels based on the price of carbon, but would instead require oil and gas producers to buy special, non-tradable emission allowances that would be pegged to the carbon market and retired at a certain date.  Questions remain as to what if any of the revenue generated from this mechanism of billing the oil and gas industry would be dedicated to the Highway Trust Fund.

AGC continues meeting with Senate offices to ensure that any money derived from fees on motor fuels be deposited into the Highway Trust Fund and used to finance a multi-year surface transportation bill.  Support this effort by sending a letter through AGC's Legislative Action Center.

In a related activity, the EPA continues plans to move forward with efforts to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.  AGC opposes this effort because it could lead to a requirement that EPA approve all building and land use permits.  Please urge your Senators and Congressman to support Congressional resolutions that would block EPA's efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.

On April 28, the House passed by voice vote a short-term extension of federal aviation programs set to expire this week.  This extension will allow the Federal Aviation Administration to continue collecting fuel and ticket taxes, make expenditures from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, and continue contract authority from the Airport Improvement Program through July 3, 2010.

This week, AGC sent a letter to Congress in response to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council's recent final rule implementing the use of government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) on federal construction projects. AGC opposed the final rule because it effectively compels both union and open shop contractors to alter their hiring practices, work rules, job assignments, and benefits in order to compete for or perform work on publicly funded projects. The use of a government-mandated PLA on a project not only constitutes inappropriate government interference with private labor relations, it amounts to an unfair government preference that can significantly impact the cost of public works.

AGC is urging Congress to pass the Government Neutrality in Contracting Act (S.90 and H.R. 983).  The bill would ensure fairness in the federal procurement process among all qualified firms, without regard to their lawful labor policies. Please take a minute to contact your elected officials and urge them support S.90 and H.R. 983 by using AGC's Legislative Action Center.

In addition, in meetings this week at AGC's Federal Contractors Conference, members had the opportunity to discuss in great detail their concerns over the president's executive order encouraging the use of government mandated labor agreements.

On Friday, April 23, Senate Majority Leader Reid (R-Nev.) announced that the Senate would soon turn to immigration reform and that he would be introducing a Democrat-only detailed proposal this week.   This action runs counter to the bipartisan negotiations that had been occurring between Senator Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senator Graham (R-S.C.) to develop a product that could get the support from both sides of the aisle as well as from the business community.  

As a result of the Reid announcement, the bipartisan negotiations have stalled.  AGC has seen a draft of the Democratic proposal and the document raises concerns on how it would affect the construction industry as well as business in general.  Of particular concern is the concept of making general contractors responsible and liable for the hiring practices of their subcontractors.  AGC will continue to remain in the discussions with both the Senate and the White House as things progress.

This week, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension (HELP) Committee and the House Education and Labor Committee held hearings on workplace safety.  The HELP Committee focused particularly on mine safety in the Tuesday hearing in response to the recent accident in West Virginia. 

During the hearing, lawmakers and regulators were urged to focus on creative policies that will help employers promote safer workplaces before accidents can happen.  The House focused on the portions of the Protecting America's Workers Act that cover whistleblower and victims' rights provisions.  Witnesses expressed to the committee the need for legislation to modernize federal laws that protect workers who blow the whistle on unsafe working conditions and ensure victims of workplace accidents have a voice during OSHA investigations. AGC is closely watching these issues and the impact the passage of any legislation will have on the construction industry.

Last week, the California Air Resources Board admitted that its earlier estimates of the emissions from the off-road diesel equipment in California were too high, and in light of both its mistakes and the downturn in the economy, agreed to amend its costly off-road rule. 

This action followed AGC's release of its own study of such emissions, where AGC found that the Board's original estimates exceeded actual emissions by at least 350 percent.  AGC also found and announced that - in the absence of any off-road rule - the construction and other regulated industries will exceed the Board's goals for emissions of particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) through 2020 and 2025, respectively.

How dramatically the Board will change the rule remains to be seen.  While it admitted to making a mistake, the Board maintained that it had overestimated emissions by no more than 100 percent, and did not make any specific commitments.  It did, however, agree to consider the following:

• Greater reliance on turnover to Tier IV equipment (which will not become available in the higher horsepower equipment until 2015) to improve air quality;
• While maintaining the structure of the current rule, streamlining its requirements;
• Providing some additional delay in the enforcement of the rule (which the Board has already agreed to stay until the U.S Environmental Protection Agency gives the Board the legal authority to enforce it);
• Reducing the retrofit, repower and replacement requirements that would otherwise take effect before 2015; and
• Classifying more vehicles as low use, and therefore exempt from the rule.

The Board also sought to reassure the contractors that have already complied with the rule, indicating that it will give these contractors credit for anything they have already done to reduce their emissions.

AGC of America and both of its California Chapters will continue to monitor the situation carefully.  AGC has already asked the Board to delay all of the requirements for retrofitting, repowering, replacing or retiring existing equipment until 2015, and to eliminate all of the requirements specifically for NOx.   At this point, it remains far from clear that the Board is willing to go that far.  On the other hand, AGC has yet to review or comment on ways that the Board estimated the size of its earlier mistake, or to hold any follow-up discussions with the decision makers.

On April 27, Senator Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and cosponsors Kit Bond (R-Mo.), Mike Crapo (D-Idaho), and John Kerry (D-Mass.) introduced the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Investment Act  (S. 3262). The legislation will remove state volume caps on private activity bonds for water and wastewater projects and lead to the investment of billions of dollars in private money flowing into our nation's water infrastructure. 

S. 3262 is the Senate companion to H.R. 537, a bill authored by Congressman Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) that passed the House in March as part of the Small Business and Infrastructure Tax Act.  AGC, along with the National Association of Water Companies and American Water, led the coalition effort in seeking the introduction of the Senate bill.

U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) Wednesday introduced the "America's Commitment to Clean Water Act" (H.R. 5088) to "clarify" federal jurisdiction over waters and wetlands under the Clean Water Act.  The bill would remove the term "navigable" from the Act and replace it with the phrase "waters of the United States." 

The bill is a revision to previously-introduced legislation, the "Clean Water Restoration Act."  Oberstar said during a press conference Wednesday that the legislation would ensure that the Clean Water Act covers the same waters it did prior to two U.S. Supreme Court rulings in 2001 and 2006, which placed limits on the reach of federal jurisdiction regulatory agencies were asserting at that time.

AGC, along with the broad-based Waters Advocacy Coalition (WAC), has opposed the "Clean Water Restoration Act" and is concerned that the new proposal does not address concerns that the legislation would subject all waters and wet areas, however remote or intermittent, to federal regulations and permitting under the Clean Water Act and delay the construction of buildings and infrastructure nationwide.

As AGC and other stakeholders place a full court press on the U.S. Senate to include any revenue from additional fees on transportation motor fuels into the Highway Trust Fund, the Senators drafting the bill seem to be backing away from any fees that could be viewed as a gas tax. 

The bill is tentatively set to be introduced Monday, April 26, and among other controversial issues yet to be resolved is a so-called "linked-fee" on motor fuels.  This fee would likely increase the federal gas tax by approximately 15 cents per gallon without dedicating the revenues from the fee to the Highway Trust Fund.  AGC continues to work with key Senators to gain support for dedicating any revenues from an increased fee on motor fuels to the Highway Trust Fund. 

Use AGC's Legislative Action Center to communicate on this issue with your Senators.

Following passage of the health care bill, President Obama and congressional Democrats now seek to reform the country's financial sphere with a financial overhaul bill.  The 1,336-page bill includes key provisions that would negatively impact commercial real estate, such as risk-retention provisions, regulation of over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives, and new reporting requirements for real estate investors.

A March 25 letter, signed by AGC and more than 20 other organizations, to Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) urged the Senators to re-think the bill's current language regarding securitization, new accounting standards, and new regulatory capital guidelines.  The letter states that these provisions "create tremendous uncertainty and impact credit availability."