On Oct. 29, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, introduced a “skinny” National Defense Authorization Act. (NDAA) of Fiscal Year 2020.  Despite both the House and Senate passing their versions of the NDAA over the summer, conference negotiations have stalled between the chambers.

This week, AGC joined a group of 59 trade groups to call on Congressional leaders to pass legislation extending a number of tax provisions that have either recently expired or are set to expire at the end of the year (commonly called the “tax extenders”). The letter calls for extending these provisions through at least 2020.

On Nov. 4, the Federal Highway Administration released a table showing the cut, known as a rescission, to each state’s federal highway funding as required by the FAST Act.

On Oct. 15, AGC and coalition partners made the case to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)—in response to the agency’s request for information—to include more engineering and work practice control methods that effectively limit exposure to silica for the equipment and tasks currently on Table 1.

On Oct. 8, AGC, along with the Wyoming Contractors Association and High Country Construction, hosted U.S. Representative and Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney for a tour of a local highway construction project in Fremont County, Wyoming.

On Oct. 9, the president signed two executive orders (EO) that would make it more difficult for federal agencies to regulate through guidance and policy documents that are not otherwise subject to public comment or notice requirements under law.

On Sept. 19, Jamey Sanders, Vice President of Choctaw Transportation and Division Chair of AGC of America’s Federal and Heavy Construction Division, testified before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on the importance of water resource infrastructure to the U.S. economy. 

On Sept. 25, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced a final rule updating the earnings thresholds necessary to exempt executive, administrative, or professional employees from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) minimum wage and overtime pay requirements and allowing employers to count a portion of certain bonuses (and commissions) towards meeting the salary level. The final rule includes many of AGC’s policy recommendations. 

In a Sept. 24 letter to the California Air Resources Board, the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency initiated a process to resolve deficiencies in several of the state’s plans to improve air quality.

On Sept. 19, the Senate Appropriations committee approved its version of the fiscal year (FY) 2020 funding package for U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) programs. The Senate bill, like the House bill passed in June, includes the full $46.365 billion FAST Act obligation limitation for the federal-aid highway program, a $1.1 billion increase over 2019. In addition, the bill includes $2.7 billion discretionary appropriations for highway programs, almost the exact same amount as the House but with different priorities. However, as it appears that the full House and Senate will not approve these bills or negotiate final spending figures prior to the September 30 end of the fiscal year, funding for U.S. DOT programs will be included as part of the Continuing Resolution that will be necessary to keep federal government programs operating.