Industry/Government Pilots Highlighted

On Apr. 3, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) used AGC’s 100th Convention as the venue to release “A Playbook to Build Tomorrow's Highway Construction Workforce,” which highlights successful practices from around the country to identify, train and place job seekers into the construction workforce. FHWA, state departments of transportation and local departments of labor funded workforce development boards with AGC chapters for the past two years in twelve pilots on a highway construction worker development program. The idea grew out of discussions at the AASHTO-AGC-ARTBA Joint Committee. The pilots focused on efforts that are currently underway in the local areas and identified what has worked and what has not. A panel that included Arizona AGC, Colorado Contractors Association (AGC) and AGC’s Wyoming Contractors Association discussed what happened in their locales. FHWA has developed a “#Roads to Your Future” website that captures the results and the “Playbook” is intended to help other areas of the country to implement their own coordinated highway construction worker development programs.

For more information, contact Brian Deery at [email protected]. 

The construction industry is experiencing record economic activity with low unemployment and little expectation that the current domestic workforce can alone meet employment demand. Currently, our nation's immigration system provides the high-tech sector, agricultural businesses, and seasonal employers with options for guest workers. It does not for the construction industry.

Contact your members of Congress and tell them to support “The Workforce for an Expanding Economy Act,” which would allow contractors to hire year-round construction guest workers while protecting American jobs and reducing incentives for individuals to enter the country illegally.

For more information contact James Young at [email protected] or (202) 547-0133.

Pending Court Approval; AGC Calls for More Time to Comply

Pending court approval, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced on April 3 its intention to require private employers with 100 or more employees and federal contractors with 50 or more employees to submit the Obama-era pay data portion of the EEO-1 report (which requires 3,660 data fields per employer location) by September 30, 2019. However, the deadline to submit the EEO-1 report’s “traditional” race and gender data (which requires 180 data fields per employer location) remains May 31, 2019. AGC and business allies submitted an amicus brief calling on the court to provide at least 18 months for contractors to prepare their systems for the new pay data requirements. AGC will continue to consider its legal options as more unfolds.
A federal court recently reinstated the Obama administration EEOC pay data reporting requirement—which was halted under the Trump administration—as part of the federally mandated filing of the EEOC’s EEO-1 report.  The reinstated pay data report will require applicable employers to report the total number of employees and total number of hours worked for 12 different pay bands (pay ranges) for 10 different EEO-1 job categories and 14 different gender and race/ethnicity groups.

There may be additional challenges or delays to the implementation of this pay data reporting requirement. Nevertheless, applicable AGC members—pending court approval—should plan as though they need to report pay data by the current May 31, 2019 deadline. Many AGC member companies will need to identify how to pull this payroll and demographic information. This may require advanced planning, as many firms use separate systems to maintain demographic data versus compensation data.

AGC previously opposed this pay data reporting requirement, calling upon the Trump administration and Congress to rescind it. AGC submitted comprehensive comments explaining its position to the EEOC in April and August 2016.

For more information, contact Claiborne Guy at [email protected].

From college students to CEO opportunities, AGC assists all levels of construction professionals in advancing their career. This episode of the AGC Constructor Cast will help guide listeners in ways to advancing their construction careers with scholarships, courses, and peer-to-peer knowledge exchanges.

To access this episode, click here.

Headlines Federal Contractors Session on April 2

General Services Administration (GSA) Emily Murphy will headline the Federal and Heavy Construction Division Session (April 2 at 9:00 am MT) at AGC’s 100th Annual Convention taking place on April 1 - 4, 2019 in Denver, Colorado.  Administrator Murphy leads a staff of more than 11,000 employees nationwide, overseeing approximately 368 million square feet of property, and approximately $55 billion in annual contracts.  Following Administrator Murphy’s remarks there will be a presentation on the recent Laredo Land Port of Entry project by GSA and Brasfield & Gorrie, LLC.
For more information on the AGC convention, including registration, click this link.

For more information, contact Jordan Howard at [email protected] or (703) 837-5368.

On March 28, by a vote of 95-1, the Senate approved AGC-supported nominee Nicole Nason to serve as the 26th Federal Highway Administrator. Nason has a strong background in transportation having served as the Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NTSHA) in the George W. Bush Administration. She also served as an assistant secretary at U.S. DOT and worked on SAFETEA-LU transportation authorization legislation. AGC met with Nason several times in her prior Trump administration position of Assistant Secretary of State to discuss U.S. embassy construction issues. The FHWA Administrator position has been vacant for the past two years as President Trump’s original nominee withdrew from consideration.
Brandye Hendrickson, FHWA Deputy Administrator, has been leading the agency since. Ms. Hendrickson will address AGC’s Highway and Transportation Division on April 2 during AGC’s 100th Convention in Denver. AGC pressed the Senate to support Nason’s nomination.

For more information, contact Brian Deery at [email protected]. 

On March 26, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held a hearing focused on the chronic underinvestment in our nation’s airports and potential solutions. Prior to the hearing AGC urged support for increasing airport infrastructure, including increasing the Passenger Facility Charge (PFC).  The PFC is a local airport user fee used for airport facility expansion and renovation that has a federally mandated cap on how high an airport can set the fee. Raising or eliminating the cap on the PFC will allow local airports to meet there short and long-term infrastructure needs. AGC is a proud member of the Beyond the Runway Coalition and will continue to work with our partners for increased airport infrastructure funding.

For more information, contact Sean O’Neill at [email protected].

Would Help Retail, Restaurant Renovation Projects

On March 25, a bipartisan group of members of the House of Representatives – led by Reps. Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.) and Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.)— introduced AGC-supported legislation to correct a drafting error from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA, the 2017 tax reform law), that inadvertently extended the depreciation schedule for interior improvements to commercial properties from 15 years to 39 years. This legislation mirrors legislation already introduced by Senators Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Doug Jones (D-AL).  AGC has heard from many contractors and service providers that this error is materially impacting construction projects across the country, forcing building owners to delay or reconsider projects.
Prior to passage of TCJA, any interior improvements to commercial properties (designated in the tax code as “restaurant, retail and leasehold improvements”) could be depreciated over 15 years.  The TCJA included a provision that sought to simplify this section of the code by consolidating multiple classes of infrastructure eligible for the 15-year depreciation schedule into a new definition, called “qualified improvement property” or QIP.

Additionally, under this section of the Internal Revenue Code, QIP was intended to be eligible for temporary 100 percent bonus depreciation, thus allowing these commercial improvements to be expensed in one year until the temporary full expensing expires in 2023.  However, due to a drafting error, the TCJA inadvertently changed QIP’s depreciation schedule from 15 years to 39 years.  This is a substantial change, and significantly affects cost-recovery and must be addressed to help many of these construction improvement projects get back on track.
With bipartisan legislation introduced to “fix the glitch” in both the House and Senate, AGC is hopeful that this error can be corrected this year.

For more information, contact Matt Turkstra at [email protected].

Part of Updating Overtime Rules

On March 28, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) unveiled a proposed rule that would update the regulations governing regular rate requirements for the first time in more than 50 years. Regular rate requirements define what forms of payment employers include and exclude in the "time and one-half" calculation when determining workers' overtime rates. The proposed rule focuses primarily on clarifying whether certain kinds of perks, benefits, or other miscellaneous items must be included in the regular rate. AGC will provide input to the DOL on the impact this update might have on the construction industry and will notify members of any developments.
Specifically, the proposed rule includes clarifications to confirm that employers may exclude the following from an employee's regular rate of pay:

• • The cost of providing wellness programs, onsite specialist treatment, gym access and fitness classes, and employee discounts on retail goods and services;

• • Payments for unused paid leave, including paid sick leave;

• • Reimbursed expenses, even if not incurred "solely" for the employer's benefit;

• • Reimbursed travel expenses that do not exceed the maximum travel reimbursement under the Federal Travel Regulation System and that satisfy other regulatory requirements;

• • Discretionary bonuses, by providing additional examples and clarifying that the label given a bonus does not determine whether it is discretionary;

• • Benefit plans, including accident, unemployment, and legal services; and

• Tuition programs, such as reimbursement programs or repayment of educational debt.

The proposed rule also includes additional clarification about other forms of compensation, including payment for meal periods, "call back" pay, and others.
For more information, contact Claiborne Guy at [email protected] or 703-837-5382.

Would Establish Government Neutrality in Federal and Federally-Assisted Contracts

During the week of March 25, U.S. Sens. Todd Young (R-Ind.) and David Perdue (R-Ga.), and Reps. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) and Francis Rooney (R-Fla.) introduced legislation (S. 907 and H.R. 1858) that falls in line with AGC’s long standing position on government-mandated project labor agreements. That position is that AGC neither supports nor opposes contractors’ voluntary use of PLAs on government projects, but strongly opposes any government-mandate for contractors’ use of PLAs. To view more details on AGC efforts opposing government mandated PLAs, click here.

For more information, contact James Young at [email protected].