The difference between AGC of America’s Federal Contractors Conference and other federal construction meetings is that at FedCon, construction contractor attendees drive the agenda! For this year’s conference—June 20-22 in Washington, D.C.—AGC is currently seeking your questions for consideration in meetings with headquarters leaders of the federal agencies.

 

On April 27, Kari Karst, President and Chief Executive Officer of BX Civil and Construction and an active member of the AGC of South Dakota, testified for AGC of America before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. In her testimony, she highlighted the challenges of finding enough skilled workers to rebuild our nation’s infrastructure. Specifically, she mentioned how the administration’s recent attempts to prioritize the selection of projects based on labor preferences and the mandate on project labor agreements through executive order paper over the real problems facing the construction workforce and miss the mark. She stressed that these policies will neither attract nor prepare workers for a long-term career in construction. They attempt to treat the symptoms—not the root causes—of workforce shortages.

 

On May 4, the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed the bipartisan Water Resources and Development Act of 2022 (WRDA 2022). 

 

On April 20, AGC joined the Delaware Contractors Association, Delaware Department of Transportation, and member Diamond Materials in hosting Senator Tom Carper, Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on a project jobsite tour. This roadway improvement project along Elkton Road in Newark, Delaware will reconstruct deteriorating pavement, improve traffic capacity and operations, add pedestrian and bicycle facilities, and improve safety, all important goals of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Senator Carper played a key role in passing. Additionally, AGC and Diamond Materials spoke with the Senator about the needs of the construction workforce and the current supply chain disruptions and historic material price increases affecting the delivery of construction projects. AGC thanks Senator Carper for his steadfast support of infrastructure funding and looks forward to continuing to work together on the issues facing the construction industry.

 

Would your company like to host your member of Congress on a project site tour? Contact Isabella Armstrong at isabella.armstrong@agc.org.

 

AGC filed a joint April 18 “friend-of-the-court” brief in the case Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency at the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court will take a fresh look at what are “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) under the Clean Water Act (CWA), which may limit federal agencies’ permitting and enforcement authority over construction work in isolated wetlands and ephemeral streams. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (Corps) will need to factor the Court’s decision into their planned WOTUS rulemakings.

 

On March 30, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) issued new carbon standards under its Facilities Standards for the Public Buildings Service (P-100) to require the use of lower carbon concrete products and asphalt paving practices for all GSA design and construction contracts that involve at least 10 cubic yards of those materials. The general contractor now must source concrete that meet specific carbon requirements; collect and maintain documentation associated with both materials; and, in the case of asphalt, employ carbon reduction practices such as recycled content or reduced mix temperatures. AGC is analyzing these new requirements and will provide further updates.

 

On April 28, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) published a request for comment on proposing to issue a transitional waiver to comply with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s new Buy America requirements.

 

AGC of America and our survey partner, HCSS, are asking all highway and transportation members help us improve work zone safety by completing this brief survey. We want to collect information on the number, severity, impacts and potential solutions to highway work zone crashes. We will use the results of this survey for a media and public education campaign we will launch the week before Memorial Day to encourage motorists to be more careful in work zones.

Please take a few minutes to complete this important highway work zone safety survey by May 13: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RN3PGJD. And of course, please do not hesitate to contact Brian Turmail at 703-459-0238 or brian.turmail@agc.org with any questions, comments or concerns about this survey and our plans to use it to promote highway work zone safety.

 

Construction employment edged up by 2,000 jobs between March and April as contractors scrambled to find workers in an increasingly tight labor market, according to an analysis by AGC of America of new government data. Association leaders urged officials in Washington to address both short- and long-term worker shortages with expanded permits for foreign-born workers and support for career training and education to enable more workers to acquire the skills for high-paying construction careers.

Read about why a robust safety, storm and disaster readiness plan is a must for your construction firm in our cover story, "Disaster Preparedness: What to Consider." Other highlights include: "No Recession in Sight for Construction," "Safety in the Spotlight" and "Credit Where Credit Is Due."