On Tuesday, February 9, NRMCA kicked off its first Quarterly DC Days for 2016. As part of the official schedule, a congressional briefing was held with the Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute, the National Concrete Masonry Association and the Portland Cement Association along with the offices of Senators Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Bill Nelson (D-FL). The briefing was titled "Mitigating the Rising Costs of Natural Disasters" and was moderated by Steve Szoke, senior director, codes and standards, at the Portland Cement Association. Speakers on the panel included: Cary Chors, CEO of American Cement Company; Tom Chizmadia, senior vice president of public relations and sustainability of Lehigh Hanson; James Ryan, CBO code administrator for the city of Overland Park, KS; Tom Stokes, president of Truland Homes (FORTIFIED Builder); Leslie Chapman-Henderson, president and CEO for Federal Alliance for Safe Homes, Inc (FLASH) and Lionel Lemay, senior vice president, structures and sustainability of NRMCA.

The briefing highlighted the human, environmental and economic costs of natural disasters, mitigation strategies on how to build safer and stronger before and after a disaster and disaster savings legislation. Mr. Stokes even provided an overview of the FORTIFIED standards he implements when building homes in the Gulf Coast region and the benefits to homeowners who purchase these homes. The briefing was widely attended by House and Senate staff and resilient construction coalition and industry partners.
                               

In addition to the briefing, NRMCA met with members of Congress to address other critical advocacy issues impacting the ready mixed concrete industry, including pension reform, and reauthorization of the Water Resources Reform Development Act and National Flood Insurance Program. The day ended with an industry event co-hosted by NRMCA and other association partners in support of the Honorable Dan Lipinski (D-IL) who is running for re-election in Illinois. Congressman Lipinski was a big champion of the ready mixed concrete industry during the recently passed Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act.

If you or someone from your company would like to participate in the next Quarterly DC Days, please contact NRMCA’s Jill Landry at jlandry@nrmca.org. For more information, contact Kerri Leininger at kleininger@nrmca.org.