Book Your Room Before Sept. 10
Managing an Intergenerational Workforce; Using Job Data to become more Productive; What’s on the Congressional Agenda after the Midterms? – these and other timely topics will be addressed as part of the Joint Contractors Conference, scheduled for Sept. 29-Oct. 1 in Crystal City, Virginia (DC area). In addition, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has been invited to discuss President Trump’s infrastructure and regulatory reform agenda.
Other issues covered will include:

• Controlling the Shift in Ownership of Non-Traditional Risk


• Robotics: The Next Big Innovation in Construction


• New Developments in Tunneling Technology


• AGC’s Underground Utility Damage Prevention Program        


• Challenges and Solutions Building Washington’s South Capitol Street Bridge

On August 31, President Trump signed an executive order designed to make it easier for smaller businesses to band together and offer retirement plans to employees. The order directs the Departments of Labor and Treasury to propose regulations allowing unrelated businesses to offer “association retirement plans” by relaxing the requirement that small business have a common interest to form a multiple employer plan, or open MEP. These plans are retirement vehicles designed for small, nonunion employers and shouldn’t be confused with multiemployer pension plans. The idea is similar to association health plans, which received a regulatory boost in June when DOL finalized a rule to make it easier for small businesses to join groups or associations to offer insured health coverage in the large group market at potentially more favorable pricing with less restrictive requirements.
The order also urges the Labor and Treasury Departments to consider ways to reduce paperwork and administrative burdens that might prevent businesses from offering retirement savings plans and makes a request that the Treasury Department explore lowering minimum required distributions for 401(k)s or individual retirement accounts so retirees can continue saving for a longer period of time.
For more information, contact Jim Young at [email protected] or 202-547-0133 or Claiborne Guy at [email protected] or 703-837-5382.

Impacted AGC Members Should Comment and Contact their Representatives
As previously reported, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced that it is seeking public comment on revising four specific areas of the current hours-of-service regulations. AGC is preparing a response to the proposal on behalf of its member companies; however, we also encourage individual members to submit comments by the Sept. 24 deadline. For additional information or to leave a comment please click here.
AGC is also working in support of the HOURS Act, which would expand the logging exemption for short-haul drivers from 100 to 150 miles, expand the on-duty time to 14 hours and eliminate the 30-minute rest requirement. Certain paperwork requirements would also be eased, and the Federal Motor Carrier Administration would be encouraged to move expeditiously to finalize a rule on the use of sleeper berth to meet off duty provisions. AGC is urging members to contact their Congressional representatives through AGC’s Legislative Action Center.
For more information, contact Brian Deery at [email protected] or (703) 837-5319 or Sean O’Neill at [email protected] or (202) 547-8892.

Part One Kicks Off on Sept. 27 with a Look at Pollution Liability
AGC’s WebEd series on risk management is presented in three parts that focus on identifying pollution liabilities, understanding and insuring risk, and positioning subcontractor bonds to meet industry needs.  Join AGC on September 27, 2018 (2:00pm-3:00pm ET) for part one in the series and explore how to identify pollution liabilities and risk transfer solutions throughout the construction life cycle.
This session is designed to help environmental managers and risk managers recognize the various pollution exposure they may face; provoke questions they should be asking of the owner/developer; and suggest mechanisms with which they can manage pollution risk either via insurance, their contracts, or best practices.  Speakers are Sharon Burger with IMA Financial Group and Dave Liverseed, PG, CHMM, CSP, with M.A. Mortenson Company.
Go to http://meetings.agc.org/webed/risk/ for registration and details on all three parts in AGC’s WebEd Series on Construction Risk Management!

On Aug. 23, the Department of Treasury issued a proposed rule that seeks to limit the availability of a tax planning technique that some northeastern states have adopted in the wake of tax reform. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act – passed in December 2017 – limited the amount of state and local taxes that an individual can deduct to $10,000 per year.  Since then, a number of states – including New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut – have adopted new laws that allow taxpayers in those states to pay their state taxes to a state-sponsored “charity” and receive a partial credit from the state for those taxes paid.
For example, under New York’s proposal, individuals can “donate” a dollar to a state sponsored charity and receive an 85 percent credit against their state tax liability, and 95 percent against their local tax liability.  In theory, under this proposal, because charitable contributions were left uncapped in tax reform, an individual would be able turn their (capped) state tax payments into (uncapped) charitable contributions.
However, the rule proposed by Treasury last week seeks to severely cut back on the utility of these workarounds. Under the proposed rule, a taxpayer would only be able to deduct the uncredited portion of their payment to the state. So, in the New York example above, a taxpayer who makes a $100 contribution to the state-sponsored charity and receives and $85 credit from the state, would only be able to deduct $15 on their federal return.  This proposed rule could also impact additional states that have set up similar arrangements for private school vouchers.
Importantly, this rule does not affect proposals that some states are considering that would provide relief to owners of pass-through businesses, of which AGC is supportive.
For more information, contact Matt Turkstra at [email protected], or (202) 547-4733.

On August 24, AGC filed joint comments in support of a proposal by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concluding the existing regulatory framework adequately prevents and contains discharges of hazardous substances.  AGC supports the agency’s proposal not to initiate a new regulatory regime addressing spills of hazardous substances under section 311 of the Clean Water Act. The joint letter expands upon the legal justification for EPA’s proposal, affirms that EPA has the authority to take this action, and augments the agency’s information on the “potential overlap between existing requirements under statutes and regulations implemented by EPA and by other federal agencies...”.
In addition to the overlapping regulations evaluated by EPA in the proposal, the joint letter highlights additional, related protective (and punitive) requirements within the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System program, pretreatment programs relating to effluents entering a publicly owned treatment works, spill cleanup liability, and release reporting that serve to protect against releases. These existing requirements further support EPA’s proposal that additional regulation would provide de minimis regulatory benefit.

On the joint letter, AGC was joined by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, American Chemistry Council, American Forest & Paper Association, American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, National Mining Association, and Utility Solid Waste Activities Group.

For more information, contact Leah Pilconis at [email protected] or (703) 837-5332.

Impacted AGC Members Should Comment and Contact their Representatives
As previously reported, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced that it is seeking public comment on revising four specific areas of the current hours-of-service regulations. AGC is preparing a response to the proposal on behalf of its member companies; however, we also encourage Individual members to submit comments by the September 24 deadline. For additional information or to leave a comment please click here.
AGC is also working in support of the HOURS Act, which would expand the logging exemption for short-haul drivers from 100 to 150 miles, expand the on-duty time to 14 hours and eliminate the 30-minute rest requirement. Certain paperwork requirements would also be eased, and the Federal Motor Carrier Administration would be encouraged to move expeditiously to finalize a rule on the use of sleeper berth to meet off duty provisions. AGC is urging members to contact their Congressional representatives through AGC’s Legislative Action Center.
For more information, contact Sean O’Neill at [email protected] or (202) 547-8892.

As Congress returns from their August recess, unresolved issues towards enacting a comprehensive infrastructure plan remain.  As previously reported, House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bill Shuster released a discussion draft to make significant investments in our nation's infrastructure. Whether or not this proposal or any other infrastructure plan is successful depends upon you, and other construction industry professionals, collectively calling upon your federally elected officials to put partisanship aside and do what is right for our nation. Contact your U.S. representative so that they can hear YOUR voice and understand that investing in and improving our nation’s infrastructure helps America prosper.
The Shuster plan calls for investing a significant sum in America's aging and over-burdened infrastructure, streamlining the federal environmental permit and review processes to help deliver needed projects faster, calling for long-term solutions to funding existing federal infrastructure programs, including the Highway Trust Fund and the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund.
For more information, contact Sean O’Neill at [email protected] or (202) 547-8892.

In-Depth Analysis of Autodesk/AGC Workforce Survey Data & More
Register today for the AGC member complementary ($79 for non-members) WebEd entitled: “The Construction Workforce Outlook: Challenges, Best Practices and Solutions” scheduled for Thursday, September 6 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. eastern time. During this WebEd, registrants will from a panel of experts who will review the results of the 2018 AGC Construction Workforce Survey supported by AutoDesk, detailing national, regional and state workforce data, and highlight a number of best practices and solutions to workforce shortages.
For more information or to register, click here.

AGC Releases Workforce Development Plan 2.0
Eighty percent of construction firms report they are having a hard time filling hourly craft positions that represent the bulk of the construction workforce, according to the results of an industry-wide survey released today by Autodesk and the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC). Association officials said shortages pose a significant risk to future economic growth.
AGC also released a new Workforce Development Plan that identifies steps federal officials should take to support construction workforce development, including doubling the funding for career and technical education over five years and allowing more people with construction skills to legally enter the country. The plan also outlines new recruiting steps the association is taking, including launching a targeted digital advertising recruiting campaign and investing in innovative workforce solutions.
For more information, contact Jim Young at [email protected] or (202) 547-0133 Claiborne Guy at [email protected] or 703-837-5382.