AGC Witness Calls for Highway Trust Fund Fix 
 
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) invited AGC to participate in a July 10 hearing to kickoff consideration of legislation to reauthorize the federal highway and transit programs under the FAST Act before it expires September 30, 2020. Sen. Barrasso stated his intention for the committee to take the lead in the reauthorization effort and report out a bill before the congressional summer recess in hopes of avoiding the need for any short-term extensions. AGC’s Highway and Transportation Division Chair Max Kuney of Spokane, Washington, expressed during his testimony the importance of completing a highway bill on time and informed lawmakers of the disruption that can be caused to state highway construction programs and contractors when there is uncertainty about federal funding. Kuney also noted that Congress must provide the revenue necessary to keep the Highway Trust Fund from becoming insolvent and expressed AGC’s support alongside “our many partners in the business community and organized labor” in calling for a motor fuels tax increase. 

 

On June 25, the House of Representatives passed — on a partisan vote of 227-194 — the FY 2020 funding bills for the U.S. Departments of Transportation, Interior, Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, the Environmental Protection Agency as well as military construction agencies. While the bills provide additional resources for federal construction accounts, it is not certain if they will be realized absent a budget agreement on the topline federal funding figures for defense and non-defense spending for FY 2020. 

 

 

 

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently updated the web-based portal for the reinstated collection of 2017 and 2018 EEO-1 Component 2 data with several resources to assist employers. Specifically, the EEOC provided a series of Frequently Asked Questions (“FAQs”) regarding the new requirements and a More Info Page. The More Info page provides additional resources such as a sample form, an instruction booklet, a user’s guide, a fact sheet, and reference documents.

 

On June 25, AGC submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) revising and clarifying the responsibilities of employers and joint employers to employees in joint employer arrangements. In 2017, the DOL withdrew the previous administration's sub-regulatory guidance regarding joint employer status that did not go through the rulemaking process that includes public notice and comment. The NPRM’s emphasis on the actual exercise of control as a prerequisite to a joint employer finding encourages cooperation between businesses without exposing them to potential liability under an uncertain standard.

 

As demand for construction in most parts of the country continues to expand and the number of unemployed construction workers hits record low levels, AGC of America and Autodesk are working to better quantify where these shortages are taking place, how severe they are, and what steps firms are taking to both cope with tight labor markets and improve the supply of new, qualified workers. That is why we are asking members to take a few minutes to complete the workforce survey that we have prepared. The more people understand the scope, and consequences, of a tight construction labor market, the more likely they are to act on the measures we are promoting to make it easier for school systems, local associations and private firms to establish career and technical education and training programs. The more members who take the survey, the better able we all will be to describe labor market conditions where you operate.

 

Construction employment increased by 21,000 jobs in June and by 224,000, or 3.2 percent, over the past 12 months, while the number of unemployed jobseekers with construction experience fell, according to an analysis of new government data by AGC of America. Association officials noted that firms continue to increase pay as they work to attract new hires from an ever-tighter labor market.