On Tuesday, AGC of America joined 113 other national trade associations in calling for members of the US House of Representatives to support H.R. 2101 - the Prior Approval Reform Act. You can help our efforts by contacting your representative and urge them to cosponsor H.R. 2101 – the Prior Approval Reform Act.
This bill, introduced by Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV-2), would repeal the Federal Election Campaign Act’s “prior approval” requirement for corporate member trade association political action committees (PACs). In summary, this requirement discriminates against these associations by making their PACs the only political committees that must first obtain exclusive permission from member corporations before soliciting eligible employees for support. The Act’s onerous prior approval requirement is a relic from the past that is discriminatory, restricts First Amendment rights, and creates burdensome compliance costs and confusion.
For more information, contact David Ashinoff at [email protected] or (202) 547-5013.

Senate Slowly Moves Closer to Ending Health Care Debate
Today, Senate Republicans unveiled their much anticipated version of health care reform several months after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the American Health Care Act (AHCA). Despite today’s action, the past six months of heated and contentious negotiations among Republicans and the administration on the process of repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is bound to continue. Today’s announcement is one step closer to disposing of the health care debate in Congress so focus can shift towards other AGC priorities such as advancing infrastructure investment and tax reform.
AGC opposed the ACA because we did not believe that it created a framework to reduce health care costs, but instead increased new compliance and complexity problems for employers. AGC’s quick read of the Senate version shows it is designed to reduce complexity and compliance problems for employers and help reduce the cost of health care so employers can maintain and expand the health care benefits they offer their employees. AGC has long supported the employer-provided health care model while, at the same time, ensuring that it is easy and affordable for employers to provide coverage to their employees. AGC supports increased flexibility for construction employers to allow them the ability to expand coverage to their employees, while limiting the financial hardships of purchasing health care services and the repealing of onerous taxes will lead to health insurance premium savings. While the bill does repeal most of the ACA tax increases, it only delays the Cadillac tax until 2026 due to procedural restrictions in Congress. AGC would like to see health care reform repeal all the Obamacare taxes not just some of them.
A vote in the Senate could occur as early as next week. The bill is likely to change prior to that happening. AGC will continue to compare the repeal bills against AGC policy priorities and advocate for additional reforms.
For more information, contact Jim Young at [email protected] or (202) 547-0133.

This week, the House and Senate revealed their respective bills to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).  Prior to the bills being released, the AGC co-chaired Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) sent letters in support of increased funding for the FAA’s main infrastructure funding program, the Airport Improvement Program (AIP) and raising the cap on the Passenger Facility Charge (PFC).  The House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee and the Senate Commerce Committee will mark up their respective bills next week.
Although both bills provide slight increases for AIP – from $3.35 billion to $3.817 billion in 2023 in the House bill and to $3.75 billion in 2021 in the Senate bill– they fail to modernize the PFC, which has been capped at $4.50 and hasn’t been raised since 2000.   Without significant increases in AIP and lifting the cap on PFC, airports will have a difficult time addressing the estimated $20 billion in annual infrastructure improvements. AGC was able to secure language in the Senate bill that increases the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) size standard for the AIP program, while also ensuring that there is one size standard for all businesses participating in the AIP DBE program.
The starkest and most controversial difference between the bills is that the House version hands over the FAA’s Air Traffic Control operations to a new non-profit corporation, while leaving the FAA in charge of safety regulation and airport grants.  This proposal faces a significant level of bipartisan opposition in the House and Senate and could potentially delay the bill from passing prior to the Sept. 30 expiration of the current FAA authorization.
For more information, contact Sean O’Neill at [email protected] or (202) 547-8892.

Discuss Federal Agency Reforms
On June 9, AGC met with senior officials at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to discuss ways to restructure federal agencies, improve the functions of federal procurement, and prevent agencies from duplicating and directly competing with the private sector for activities already performed by construction companies. On March 13, the President signed an Executive Order that aims to make the federal government more efficient, effective, and accountable. This Executive Order directs the Office of Management and Budget to present the president with a plan that recommends ways to reorganize the executive branch and eliminate unnecessary programs within government agencies.
Among some of the reforms AGC urged were:

• Rescind President Obama’s Executive Order mandating government agencies to use Project Labor Agreements (PLA) in large-scale federal construction projects where the total cost to the government is $25 million or more;


• Eliminate the General Services Administration’s PLA preference policy that gives additional points to contractor bids for including a PLA;


• Reform the federally assisted construction acquisition processes;


• Recalibrating the federal real estate portfolio management system for long-term savings;


• Dispose of excess civilian federal real property;


• Streamline the federal environmental review & permitting processes;


• Evaluate the disadvantaged business enterprise program for effectiveness; and


• Shorten and standardize the statute of limitation for challenges to claims seeking judicial review of an environmental permit, license or approval issued by a Federal agency for an infrastructure project.

AGC continues to be at the forefront of federal reform in order to create a contractor-friendly environment and help federal owners and contractors deliver construction projects in a safe, efficient and timely manner. Late last year, AGC shared its federal agency regulatory, compliance and enforcement plan – titled “Make Federal Agencies Responsible Again” – with members of the Trump Presidential Transitional Team.
For more information, contact [email protected] or (703) 837-5368.

The sixth district of Georgia saw a huge turnout of more than 200,000 voters in Tuesday evening’s match-up between Republican candidate Karen Handel and Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff. Ms. Handel, the former Georgia Secretary of State who was supported by AGC PAC, topped ex-congressional aide Jon Ossoff by a 52-48 percent margin. Ms. Handel takes Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price’s former congressional seat.
Simultaneously, over 200 miles away in central South Carolina, AGC PAC-backed Republican Ralph Norman claimed the special congressional election with a close 51-49 percent win over Democrat Archie Parnell from a small turnout of just over 87,000 voters. Norman started his career helping to build his father’s property and construction business and later moved into real estate development. Office of Management & Budget Director Mick Mulvaney left open this seat to assume his national position.
For more information, contact David Ashinoff at [email protected] or (202) 547-5013.

Transportation Construction Coalition Helps Secure Support
This week, 253 bipartisan members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to the House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and Ranking Democrat Richie Neal (D-Mass.) calling for a fix to the Highway Trust as part of any comprehensive tax reform proposal from the Ways & Means Committee.  AGC thanks all of our members as well as TCC members who contacted their Representatives through Hardhat for Highways, in-district visits and the TCC fly-in.
AGC, along with our partners in the Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC), worked closely with the letter’s authors – Highways and Transit Subcommittee Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and Ranking Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-District of Columbia) – to help secure support from a majority of the Republicans (119) and the Democrats (134).
The letter was significant for many reasons including the fact that it sent a clear message that a majority of both House Republicans and Democrats want to see an end to general fund transfers that federal highway and transit programs have relied on since 2008 and, instead, are calling for any Highway Trust Fund solution that “entail[s] a long-term, dedicated, user-based revenue stream.”
For more information, contact Sean O’Neill at [email protected] or (202) 547-8892.

Prioritizes Workforce Training, Regulatory Reform 
AGC CEO Stephen Sandherr and members of AGC’s Government Affairs staff met with Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta this week to discuss working with him and the Trump Administration on workforce development, labor and employment issues, and regulatory reform. In advance of the meeting, AGC provided a list of Labor Department regulatory requirements that could be abandoned or modified to ease the regulatory burden on contractors and address the skills gap.
AGC’s hopes to work with the Labor Department on keeping American workers safe and healthy while stimulating economic growth and creating jobs. AGC identified ways to achieve these goals through regulatory reduction and streamlining, strengthening the symbiotic partnership between DOL and the construction industry and enhancing present regulatory compliance education and collaboration initiatives.
For more information, contact Jim Young at [email protected] or (202) 547-0133.

On June 14, AGC hosted a meeting between AGC members and officials from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). OFCCP requested the meeting for the purpose of identifying problems that construction contractors have in meeting affirmative action requirements related to recruiting and asking for suggestions to improve compliance assistance tools.
AGC facilitates these types of meetings to connect the federal agencies with the construction industry they are required to regulate. These are unique opportunities for AGC to help educate federal officials on how their rulemakings translate at the practical level and identify additional opportunities for partnership. AGC looks forward to continuing to work with the OFCCP and other federal agencies on behalf of its membership.
AGC members interested in participating in future meetings with OFCCP may contact Claiborne Guy at [email protected] or 703-837-5382.

Reduce Regulations, Increase Competition
On June 9, AGC met with Jack St. John, the Chief of Staff for the General Services Administration (GSA) and currently the agency’s highest ranking political appointee, to discuss the Agency’s current and future role and provide AGC guidance on improving GSA. Among the topics discussed, AGC encouraged GSA to continue to consolidate and reduce federal footprint and reduce short-term leased facilities. At the end of fiscal year 2015, the total domestic federal inventory of office and warehouse space was 705.4 million square feet, a 3.4 percent reduction from fiscal year 2012. Additionally, AGC suggested ways that GSA could improve their construction procurement process.
AGC also urged the agency to rescind their Project Labor Agreement (PLA) preference policy that gives additional points to contractor bids that include PLA’s. Of the major federal construction agencies, the GSA is the only one that includes a bid preference for construction services proposals that include a project labor agreement. AGC neither supports nor opposes contractors’ voluntary use of PLAs but strongly opposes any government mandates or preferences for contractors’ use of PLAs.
For more information, contact [email protected] or (703) 837-5368.