The AGC Safety Management Training Course (SMTC) provides attendees with three days of training on the basic skills needed to manage a company safety program in the construction industry. The SMTC program builds on Focus Four training and prepares attendees to manage key safety issues on the job site and provides techniques for delivering basic safety training to field personnel. Participants will receive intensive instruction and training that will allow them to return to their firms with readily applicable new skills to positively impact their company’s safety and health program. Visit the Safety Management Training Course page for more information.
For more information, contact Nazia Shah at (703) 837-5409 or nazia.shah@agc.org.

Join more than 250 industry professionals and participate in the development of regulatory and legislative activity on both a national and local level; assist in the development and creation of new safety training programs and products; and hear the latest initiatives from OSHA and other industry experts. Full details on the Conference and links to registration and the hotel room block can be found here. 
For more information, contact Nazia Shah at (703) 837-5409 or nazia.shah@agc.org.  

The AGC Financial Issues Committee (FIC) winter meeting will be held January 10-11 at the JW Marriott Turnberry Resort in Miami, Florida. Visit the meeting site to register and book your stay!
Member company CFOs, controllers, tax directors, sureties, and other senior accounting professionals who seek an opportunity to learn about and discuss financial issues facing the construction industry as well as formulate positions on tax and accounting matters for the association should attend. Meetings center around discussions with the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), practitioners, and financial officer breakout groups on topics including internal controls, project performance reviews, and cybersecurity solutions. Attendees also have an opportunity to network and discuss matters like audit issues, executive and congressional action on federal tax policy, and best practices for industry professionals.
At the committee’s earlier meeting this summer in Washington, D.C., U.S. Senator Steve Daines (R-Mont.) addressed attendees and provided them with a legislative update. He also addressed the recently passed tax reform legislation and discussed how it impacts the construction industry and industry priorities. The group was also privy to a presentation on the new “Opportunity Zones,” created in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act from Shay Hawkins, tax counsel to U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.), received an update on the implementation of new accounting standards, and heard from AGC Chief Economist Ken Simonson about the economic outlook for construction.
For more information, contact Matthew Turkstra at matt.turkstra@agc.org or (202) 547-4733.

Extends Lookback Time from Three to Five years
On Dec. 17, President Trump signed into law the Small Business Runway Extension Act (H.R. 6330), which modifies the method for assigning size standards for small businesses. Under the existing law, the Small Business Administration (SBA) requires that businesses report their average gross receipts over the previous three years to be categorized as a "small business,” including for federal contractors. The law modifies the SBA reporting requirements to allow businesses to report average earnings over the last five years, rather than three. The law will need to go through the usual SBA and FAR Council rulemaking process before small businesses receive the full benefits of the expanded lookback period.
For more information, contact Jordan Howard at jordan.howard@agc.org or (703) 837-5368.

President Trump is expected to sign into law criminal justice reforms in the FIRST STEP Act before the holidays. This legislation includes numerous policy changes with the goal to reduce recidivism and help ex-offenders lead productive lives after leaving the criminal justice system. Among those provisions that AGC supported are the employment and job training opportunities for ex-offenders. AGC recognizes the construction industry struggles to find qualified workers and ex-offenders struggle to find jobs.
For more information, contact Jim Young at youngj@agc.org or (202) 547-0133.

What Contractors Should Do in the Event of a Shutdown
If Congress fails to pass a funding bill by Dec. 21, several federal agencies—including the Department of Transportation, Department of Homeland Security, Environmental Protection Agency and General Services Administration—would face limited operations. Even if there were a partial federal government shutdown, it should be noted that federal-aid highway and transportation projects would by and large be unaffected. Nevertheless, AGC has resources for your company in the event such a government shutdown, which can be found here.
For more information, contact Jordan Howard at jordan.howard@agc.org or (703) 837-5368.

Join more than 250 industry professionals and participate in the development of regulatory and legislative activity on both a national and local level; assist in the development and creation of new safety training programs and products; and hear the latest initiatives from OSHA and other industry experts. Full details on the Conference and links to registration and the hotel room block can be found here. 
For more information, contact Nazia Shah at (703) 837-5409 or nazia.shah@agc.org.

The AGC Safety Management Training Course (SMTC) provides attendees with three days of training on the basic skills needed to manage a company safety program in the construction industry. The SMTC program builds on Focus Four training and prepares attendees to manage key safety issues on the job site and provides techniques for delivering basic safety training to field personnel. Participants will receive intensive instruction and training that will allow them to return to their firms with readily applicable new skills to positively impact their company’s safety and health program. Visit the Safety Management Training Course page page for more information.
For more information, contact Nazia Shah at (703) 837-5409 or nazia.shah@agc.org.

The AGC Financial Issues Committee (FIC) winter meeting will be held January 10-11 at the JW Marriott Turnberry Resort in Miami, Florida. Visit the meeting site to register and book your stay!
Member company CFOs, controllers, tax directors, sureties, and other senior accounting professionals who seek an opportunity to learn about and discuss financial issues facing the construction industry as well as formulate positions on tax and accounting matters for the association should attend. Meetings center around discussions with the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), practitioners, and financial officer breakout groups on topics including internal controls, project performance reviews, and cybersecurity solutions. Attendees also have an opportunity to network and discuss matters like audit issues, executive and congressional action on federal tax policy, and best practices for industry professionals.
At the committee’s earlier meeting this summer in Washington, D.C., U.S. Senator Steve Daines (R-Mont.) addressed attendees and provided them with a legislative update. He also addressed the recently passed tax reform legislation and discussed how it impacts the construction industry and industry priorities. The group was also privy to a presentation on the new “Opportunity Zones,” created in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act from Shay Hawkins, tax counsel to U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.), received an update on the implementation of new accounting standards, and heard from AGC Chief Economist Ken Simonson about the economic outlook for construction.
For more information, contact Matthew Turkstra at matt.turkstra@agc.org or (202) 547-4733.

This week Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, joined by the Chairs and Ranking Democrats on the Senate and House Appropriations Committees, announced the winners of the first round of Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) discretionary grants. The awards for FY 2018 totaled $1.475 billion and provided funding for 91 individual project grants in 49 states and the District of Columbia with 69 per cent going to rural projects. Overall, applicants in 2018 requested more than $10.9 billion in funding.
The BUILD grants replace the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program, which started 10 years ago as part of the ARRA recovery act legislation. The program has proven very popular with states and local agencies, with 851 applications submitted. The maximum grant award is $25 million for a single project, and no more than $150 million can be awarded to a single state. The grants can be used for highway, bridge, rail, transit, port and multimodal projects. Sec. Chao said that 59% of this year’s funding has been directed to road projects, a record high for the program.
FY 2018 funding was at the highest level since the program’s start in 2009 and was almost triple last year’s $487 million. Funding for FY 2019 is expected to drop somewhat as both the House ($740 million) and Senate ($1 billion) versions of the DOT appropriations bills are below this year’s level.
For more information, contact Brian Deery at deeryb@agc.org or (703) 837-5319.