The Open Shop, Union Contractors, and Workforce Development Committees jointly presented a forum on Best Practices in Craft Training at AGC's Annual Convention on March 4. The program featured presentations by Glenn Hillegas, executive vice president of the San Diego Chapter AGC's open-shop Apprenticeship and Training Trust (AGCSDATT), and William K. Irwin, Jr., executive director of the union Carpenters International Training Fund (CITF).

Irwin informed the audience about the CITF training program and award-winning International Training Center. The center opened in Las Vegas in 2001, the train-the-trainer facility has been expanded in recent years and is planned for continued expansion to reach over 1 million square feet. Hillegas talked about AGCSDATT's three centers offering apprentice training in seven different crafts based on needs assessment and curriculum developed with help from the chapter's Education Committee. The chapter also offers journeymen leadership, instructor professional development, and safety training courses.

For more information about the Carpenters training program, contact Irwin at (702) 938-1111 or visit www.carpenters.org.  For more information about the San Diego Chapter program, contact Hillegas at (858) 558-7444 or visit www.agcsdatt.org.

For the first time at AGC's Annual Convention, it offered 32 educational tracks on 6 different subjects - construction law, executive management, green construction, marketing, financial management and risk management - while also offering continuing education credits for each session. In line with current events, the hottest topics were green construction and executive management where many of the classes were filled to standing room only. Not surprisingly, many of the more popular financial management sessions were geared to the more technical financial subjects. On an average, the classes held between 50-75 students each. In total, 650 participants applied for credits, with particular interest in ABA CLEs and NASBA CPEs.

AGC is proud to have offered credits from the following credentialing bodies at its 90th Annual Convention:

International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET)

Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS)

American Institute of Architects Continuing Education Systems (AIA CES)

National Association of State Boards of Accountancy, (NASBA CPE)

American Bar Association, (ABA CLE)

Please look for AGC's 2010 Call for Presentations in the coming weeks.

The AGC Municipal & Utilities Division hosted Mr. Steven Allbee from the EPA Office of Water at AGC's 90th Annual Convention in San Diego. Albee a 30-year veteran of the EPA, serving as the primary author of the EPA Clean and Drinking Water Gap Analysis and one of the leaders in establishing the State Revolving Fund Program. He is widely regarded as one of the leading national experts on water infrastructure needs and advanced asset management approaches. Allbee was featured in the AGC funded documentary Liquid Assets: The Story of Our Water Infrastructure.

Allbee gave a compelling presentation about the significant challenges facing our aging water infrastructure and the critical role that contractors play in ensuring public health and water quality. His thorough and entertaining presentation was well received by the audience of fifty-plus contractors. Allbee noted that the level of attention and funding for water and wastewater was unprecedented and lauded AGC for its support in raising awareness in Congress and throughout the nation with Liquid Assets.

Albee commented that he thought that a Trust Fund for Clean Water would never happen, but was extremely optimistic given recent developments in water infrastructure, including the $7.4 billion contained in the stimulus for clean and drinking water, the recent passage of H.R. 1262, which contains $19.4 billion over five years in authorization of appropriations for wastewater infrastructure projects including $13.8 billion program for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, and the President's 2010 Budget which called for $3.9 billion for the Safe Drinking and Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund Programs. Establishment of a of Clean Water Trust Fund is one of AGC's top legislative priorities in the 111th Congress and AGC anticipates the introduction of legislation in the coming months.

For more information or a copy of Mr. Allbee's presentation, contact Perry Fowler at (703) 837-1983 or fowlerp@agc.org.

The Highway and Transportation Division previewed a new safety product to protect highway workers from job site injuries, which was recently completed by an AGC task force and Zurich. The Highway Worker Safety Program has been underway for two years and is a collaborative product with input from AGC's Highway and Transportation Division, Safety and Health Committee and Zurich. It includes training videos, Power Point presentations and text books for students and instructors. Highway contractors can use the materials as a full blown training program or use video and Power Point segments for daily or weekly tool box talks. Filmed at AGC member highway construction projects, the DVD footage presents real-world examples of job site hazards and preventative practices.

The Highway and Transportation Division was also focused on the recently enacted federal stimulus legislation and this year's effort by Congress to reauthorize the federal surface transportation programs. Gary Gallegos, San Diego Association of Governments, discussed the difficulties of getting transportation improvement projects under construction in the current economic conditions. He welcomed the federal stimulus funds and said they would be put to work immediately. The Division also learned that the Highway Trust Fund is operating on close to a zero balance and achieving a good transportation reauthorization bill will require political activism at the national, state and local levels.

For more information, contact Brian Deery at (703) 837-5319 or deeryb@agc.org.

Thirty-three chapter executives took advantage of a session offered by AGC of America that explained the many services available to AGC chapters. Perry Fowler, director of municipal and utilities, outlined how AGC can help chapters organize events around Liquid Assets, the documentary that details the state of the nation's water infrastructure. Ken Simonson, chief economist, offered various economic services, including speaking engagements, state fact sheets and information for local media. Senior director of public affairs, Brian Turmail, offered op/eds for local newspapers on topics of interest and media event planning, as well as assistance on any media relations matter.

For more information, contact Brian Turmail at (703) 837-5310 or turmailb@agc.org.

AGC CEO Steve Sandherr and the economic stimulus team presented "The Economic Stimulus - Putting People Back to Work," and fielded many questions from a large crowd of convention attendees. The team explained where stimulus funds will be distributed and how they will affect long term federal spending programs. They also explained how changes in tax code will make it easier for companies to preserve capital and make capital investments.

AGC maintains a Web page devoted to stimulus news and updates. For more information, contact Jim Young at (202) 547-0133 or youngj@agc.org.

Eli Lustgarten, senior vice president of Longbow Securities, teamed up with AGC's chief economist, Ken Simonson, to present a depressing outlook for the economy and nonresidential construction at the economic issues forum and luncheon sponsored by Allied North America. Lustgarten even subtitled his talk, "There's a Lot More Pain Before Any Gain." Despite the negative news, more than 600 people attended.

"The next several quarters will be a difficult period for most industrial manufacturing companies," Lustgarten predicted. "Housing, which fell 32 percent to about 905,000 starts in 2008, is still looking for a bottom. Current best guess is another 20 percent to 30 percent decline or more in 2009 to about 675,000 with hopefully some stabilization becoming visible over the next 2 to 4 quarters. Nonresidential construction spending, which rose 12 percent in 2008 (15 percent private, 7 percent public) is expected to fall about 5 percent to 15 percent in 2009 and likely a similar amount in 2010."

Simonson expressed optimism that the new federal stimulus legislation would buoy public nonresidential construction enough in 2009 to hold losses to a range of -3 to -9 percent. He predicted that single-family spending would level off in 2009 but multifamily construction would continue to slide. On a brighter note, Simonson forecast a drop of as much as 4 percent in construction materials costs in 2009 but warned that prices could spike again as early as 2010. He also foresaw wage increases slowing to a 3 to 4 percent range after having risen nearly 5 percent in 2008.

AGC released new standards that will allow sharing of data and key information between different construction programs. This new tool, known as agcXML, is expected to save construction companies up to the $15.8 billion a year currently spent in lost productivity because many construction software programs are not currently compatible.

"The most expensive walls in some construction projects are the ones that divide essential software programs," said Stephen E. Sandherr, the association's chief executive officer. "This new tool will deliver significant savings by making the industry more efficient and productive."

Because data exchanged between architects, engineers, contractors, subcontractors, material suppliers and building owners is still commonly shared in paper documents, or their electronic equivalent, it often leads to costly delays and inefficiencies. The new agcXML will allow all parties to exchange information more efficiently, including documents such as owner/contractor agreements, schedules of values and requests for information.

For more information about agcXML, please visit www.agcxml.org, or contact Monique Valentine at (703) 837-5338 or valentinem@agc.org.

During AGC's 90^th Annual Convention in San Diego, AGC launched its new national philanthropic effort, known as AGC Charities, Inc. Thomas Brown, the President of California-based Sierra Pacific West Inc. will chair the effort, while James Clemens, Chairman of Philadelphia-based Clemens Construction, will serve as the vice chairman.

"The construction industry has a long and rich tradition of making a positive difference in communities nationwide," said Doug Pruitt, president of the Associated General Contractors of America. "This group will turn our members' local good deeds into the construction industry's national good works."

Pruitt noted that AGC Charities Inc. will be the focal point for the Associated General Contractors' charitable activities by encouraging local chapters to adopt Operation Opening Doors, an effort to retrofit the homes of wounded soldiers and others with disabilities so they are accessible, and highlighting chapters for outstanding community service through its AGC in the Community awards program.

The board also includes the following members: Michael Andersen of WILLIS National Construction; Douglas Barnhart, chairman of J. Reese Construction; Art Daniel, chief operating officer of AR Daniel Construction Services Inc; Harvard P. Schulz of Welfl Construction Corp; Victor Weston, president of Tri-State Road Boring Inc; Scott Williams, president of Hamilton Construction; Eric Wilson, vice president of Hensel Phelps Construction Co; and, Jose Vizcarrondo, president & CEO of Desarrollos Metropolitanos LLC.

For more information, contact Brian Turmail at (703) 837-5310 or turmailb@agc.org.

AGC's new officers began their 2009-2010 term in the final days of Convention in San Diego. J. Doug Pruitt, chairman and chief executive officer of Sundt Construction Inc., Tempe, Ariz., will serve as president; Ted Aadland, president of Aadland Evans Constructors, Inc., Portland, Ore., will serve as senior vice president; Kristine Young, CEO of Miller the Driller, Des Moines, Iowa, will serve as vice president; and Samuel Hutchinson, president of Interface Construction Corp., St. Louis, Mo., will serve as treasurer. The officers will serve in these positions until March 2010, at which point Aadland will move into the position of president.Pruitt will lead the officers in a national effort to improve the productivity of the nation's construction companies, oversee the group's advocacy efforts on behalf of the industry and help builders weather today's challenging economic conditions. During his speech at the opening session, Pruitt called on the industry to challenge existing ways of doing business and make the profession more attractive to young professionals and students.

For more information, contact Carolyn Coker at (703) 837-5306 or cokerc@agc.org.