Establishes New Office to Root Out Inefficiency
AGC of America brought Infrastructure Week to a close last Friday with President Donald Trump at the Transportation Department.  In his speech, President Trump criticized the red-tape associated with obtaining project permits and approvals, which can delay projects by a decade or more.  He signaled a new urgency to reform the permitting for infrastructure and announced a new office – housed within the Council for Environmental Quality – charged with modernizing and streamlining the process. The president also called for agencies to be held accountable for missing permitting deadlines.
AGC has been leading the charge on permitting reform. Both Congress and the White House have turned to AGC for common-sense recommendations. AGC has delivered solutions to the White House, to the regulatory agencies, and in testimony and letters to Congress.
For more information, contact Melinda Tomaino at tomainom@agc.org or (703) 837-5415.

Per the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) request, AGC provided 30 pages of comprehensive and detailed recommendations for EPA’s regulatory evaluation in line with recent executive orders and presidential initiatives. In its submissions, AGC highlights the regulatory burden the construction industry bears and offers specific program modifications and solutions relating to water issues, oil spills prevention and preparedness, air and climate issues, lead-based paint issues, contaminated sites and liability, as well as compliance and enforcement initiatives.  To view the complete set of AGC submissions to EPA, click here, here and here.
For more information, contact Leah Pilconis at pilconsl@agc.org or Melinda Tomaino at tomainom@agc.org.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it is seeking public input on its evaluation of existing rules pursuant to President Trump's government-wide Executive Order 13777 on Enforcing the Regulatory Agenda and Executive Order 13771 that directs agencies to “identify” at least two existing regulations for elimination whenever any new rule is proposed or issued (the 2-for-1 EO, Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs).
April 13th's Federal Register published an EPA notice titled Evaluation of Existing Regulations directing the public to submit comments by May 15.  AGC will provide EPA with detailed recommendations on existing regulations that should be considered for repeal, replacement or modification to make them less burdensome.  Click here to access the online docket.
For more information, contact Leah Pilconis at pilconisl@agc.org or (703) 837-5332.

AGC Provides Comprehensive, Detailed Response
In a comprehensive, 64 page response, AGC answered the Dept. of Commerce’s (DOC) request for information (RFI) on the impact of federal permitting/regulatory requirements on the construction and expansion of domestic manufacturing facilities. AGC noted a host of federal environmental permitting hurdles and other regulatory burdens that extensively delay and increase costs for construction of these facilities.
For more information, contact Jimmy Christianson at 703-837-5325 or christiansonj@agc.org.

AGC Updates on Major Regulations/Executive Orders
On March 22, the federal regulatory freeze put in place by the Trump administration since January 20 came to a close. As a result, federal agencies will look to move ahead with their regulatory agendas by proposing new regulations and finalizing ones in the cue. However, over the last 60 days, the president has issued several executive orders calling for the elimination of two regulations for each new regulation and the establishment of deregulatory task forces at each agency.
How agencies’ regulatory operations will work in conjunction with these new executive actions is yet to be seen. It is unlikely that the flood gates of new regulations will be open with the end of the regulatory freeze. Similarly, deregulatory actions will also take time to undertake. There are still many agency heads that have not been confirmed by the Senate, and many others continue to review pending or recent regulations.
AGC continues to take action on the regulatory front and has detailed analysis and updates on major regulations and executive orders impacting—or potentially impacting the construction industry. For the latest on the 2017 Regulatory Road Ahead, click here. For the latest on President Trump’s Executive Actions/Orders, click here.
For more information, contact Jimmy Christianson at 703-837-5325 or christiansonj@agc.org.

President Signs New Regulatory Reform Order
On March 1, the House passed three AGC-backed regulatory reforms that will help eliminate regulations that are obsolete, ineffective, overly burdensome or duplicative. These reforms bills come on the heels of several others that passed the House in January with AGC support.
While these reforms advance in Congress, the president issued another executive order aimed at reducing the regulatory burden. The Executive Order on Enforcing the Regulatory Agenda establishes task forces within each federal agency whose mission is to evaluate existing regulations and make recommendations to the agency head regarding their repeal, replacement or modification. This order complements the president's previous order that requires agencies to eliminate two regulations for each new regulation it issues.
For more information, contact Jimmy Christianson at christiansonj@agc.org or (703) 837-5325.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee passed three AGC-backed regulatory reform bills on Tuesday. The Searching for and Cutting Regulations that are Unnecessarily Burdensome (SCRUB) Act, Regulatory Integrity Act, and Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) Insight, Reform and Accountability Act collectively would establish mechanisms to unwind obsolete, duplicative, overly burdensome, and ineffective regulations. The bills will likely move to the House floor for consideration in the coming weeks.
AGC also supported several other regulatory reform bills that the House passed in January. Those bills are pending action in the Senate, which has been preoccupied with protracted cabinet confirmations.
For more information, contact Jimmy Christianson at christiansonj@agc.org or (703) 837-5325.

Urge Your Senators to Repeal Blacklisting
Following a concerted AGC advocacy effort coordinated in conjunction with business organization partners, the House today voted 236-187 to repeal the regulations implementing former-President Obama’s “Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces”—commonly called Blacklisting—Executive Order. Now, action moves to the Senate. Please contact your U.S. Senators and urge them to repeal the blacklisting regulations.
Under the blacklisting regulations, both prime and subcontractors must report violations and alleged violations of 14 federal labor laws and “equivalent” state labor laws during the previous three years, and again every six months, on federal contracts over $500,000. Prime contractors would also be responsible for evaluating the labor law violations of their subcontractors at all tiers during both contract solicitation and contract performance. A single alleged violation could lead a contracting officer to either (1) deny a prime contractor the right to compete for a federal contract; or (2) remove a prime contractor or subcontractor from an ongoing project. A federal court halted implementation of the Blacklisting regulations on Oct. 24, 2016. That litigation continues.
A Senate vote on repealing the Blacklisting regulations may come as soon as early next week. This is one of a handful of regulations issued in the final months of the previous administration—typically referred to as midnight regulations—that Republicans plan to repeal under what is called the Congressional Review Act, which only requires a simple majority (51 votes) in the Senate for a regulation repeal bill to pass. There are 52 Republican Senators in Senate.
Again, please contact U.S. Senators and urge them to repeal the Blacklisting regulations. For more information on the Blacklisting regulations and AGC’s advocacy efforts against them since 2014, click here.
For more information, please contact Jimmy Christianson at christiansonj@agc.org or (703) 837-5325.

Calls for Removal of Two Old Rules for Every New Rule
President Trump this week issued an executive order requiring two regulations to come off the books for each new one issued, allowing agencies to offset the cost of new regulations by eliminating existing ones. However, it is unclear how this executive order will be implemented. The Administrative Procedures Act (APA)—the law governing the regulatory process—requires a number of steps that agencies must undertake to remove—or even tweak—an existing regulation. Agencies may be subject to court challenges during the course of repealing regulations under the APA if they fail to meet various legal criteria.
AGC will continue to review this executive order and others issued to date. For more AGC analysis on President Trump’s executive actions, click here.
For more information, please contact Jimmy Christianson at christiansonj@agc.org or (703) 837-5325.

Places a Freeze on all Federal Regulations
During his first week, President Trump is quickly moving to implement his agenda via executive order, presidential memoranda and other directives.  AGC has published a comprehensive document, President Trump’s Executive Actions, analyzing important executive directives – such as the border wall, Obamacare, and Buy America requirements – and how they may impact AGC-member businesses. It is important to note that the details of implementation of many of these actions remain to be seen, as federal agencies will have to write them.
In addition, AGC has put forth a comprehensive document entitled “The 2017 Regulatory Road Ahead” to help construction contractors better understand the regulatory state of play under the Trump administration. The regulations and actions discussed in this document include the current standing of the silica rule, overtime rule, federal clean water act permits, and paid sick leave executive order, among many others.
For more information, contact Jimmy Christianson at christiansonj@agc.org or (703) 837-5325.