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ABC is currently accepting online applications for the ABC National Diversity Excellence Awards. 

ABC is committed to supporting a diverse and fully inclusive industry by recognizing members that display exemplary diversity leadership in their company, workforce, supply chain and community with best-in-class recruitment policies, retention practices, training and mentoring. If this description sounds like your company, we encourage you to apply. Honors are awarded to top performers in several membership categories: associates, general contractors (over $33 million), general contractors (under $33 million), small and emerging contractors, subcontractors and suppliers. 

In addition to recognition during ABC’s National Excellence in Construction^® Awards, winners of the National Diversity Excellence Awards will be acknowledged at the 2019 Diversity & Inclusion Summit and in ABC’s Construction Executive^® magazine and will be invited to serve on ABC’s Diversity Committee. 

Visit diversity.abc.org to view application criteria or to apply now.

Excellence in Disability Inclusion Award Comments Requested
 
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs and the Office of Disability Employment Policy are joining efforts to recognize excellence in contractor compliance practices. The Excellence in Disability Inclusion Award will highlight the successful practices and strategies of contractors that have expanded and improved recruitment, hiring, retention and promotion opportunities for individuals with disabilities. Members who create an inclusive culture by removing barriers and improving the work experience for the disabled are encouraged to submit comments on the new programs by Dec. 4, 2018. Stay tuned for more information on applying for the award.

ABC’s Disability Resource Group is available to provide resources, education and support for members facing a disability. Visit the Diversity Resource Group webpage to contact the Disability Resource Group leader with any questions or inquiries. 

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Dwana Grace and Stacia Brightmon, apprentices from ABC member S&B Engineers and Constructors, attended an event at the White House on Oct. 31 to highlight the Pledge to America’s Workers, which continues to gather commitments from the business community to expand workforce development. 
 
The event was hosted by President Trump, Senior Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump and members of the administration. ABC pledged to educate and develop an additional 500,000 construction professionals through the initiative at a White House event earlier this year.  
 
“Following my career in the Marine Corps, I found myself unemployed, working a bunch of dead-end jobs,” said Brightmon at the event. “I was looking for something more than just a job when I agreed to enter the women’s apprenticeship program at S&B. Not only do I have a job now, I have a career.” 
 
S&B works to attract women to well-paying jobs in the skilled craft professions through its Women’s Training Program. Brightmon is the valedictorian of her pipe fitting class at the Houston-based company.
 
ABC members invest $1.1 billion on workforce development to educate more than 475,000 industry employees annually, and ABC chapters have set up more than 800 apprenticeship, craft training and safety programs across the United States. Yet more than 80 percent of ABC members report they have trouble finding skilled labor, which impacts construction firms of all sizes. 

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National nonresidential construction spending fell 0.3 percent in September but remains historically elevated, according to an ABC analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. Total nonresidential spending stood at $767.1 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized rate in September, an increase of 8.9 percent on a year-ago basis.

Note that August’s estimate was revised almost a full percent higher from $762.7 billion to $769.1 billion, the highest level in the history of the series. Private nonresidential spending increased 0.1 percent in September while public nonresidential spending decreased 0.8 percent for the month.

“Virtually no weight should be placed upon the monthly decline in nonresidential construction spending that occurred in September,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “Rather, we should focus on the massive upward revision to August’s spending data. That revision finally aligns construction spending data with statistics on backlog, employment and other indicators of robust nonresidential construction spending. On a year-over-year basis, nonresidential construction is up nearly 9 percent, an impressive performance by any standard.

“Unlike previous instances of rapid construction growth, this one is led by a neatly balanced combination of private and public spending growth,” said Basu. “Among the leading sources of spending growth over the past year are water supply, transportation, lodging and office construction. This is not only consistent with an economy that continues to perform splendidly along multiple dimensions, but also with significantly improved state and local government finances, which has helped to support greater levels of infrastructure spending.

“Given healthy backlog and indications that the economy will continue to manifest momentum into 2019, contractors can expect to remain busy,” said Basu. “The most substantial challenges will continue to be rising workforce and input costs. That said, there are indications of softening business investment, which could serve to weaken U.S. economic growth after what is setting up to be a strong first half of 2019.”

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On Oct. 29, ABC announced that Timothy Mongeau has been appointed as director of workforce development.

With more than 15 years of experience designing and implementing construction education programs, Mongeau will spearhead ABC’s workforce development strategies and initiatives at the state and local level. Mongeau will also be tasked with creating new opportunities to increase the pipeline of skilled construction professionals and support workforce public policy efforts.  

“Tim’s breadth of workforce development experience will be a boon to ABC, our chapters and the merit shop construction industry,” said Greg Sizemore, ABC’s vice president of health, safety, environment and workforce development. “With an estimated 500,000 open construction positions in the United States right now, recruiting new people to the construction sector, as well as retaining and upskilling our current workforce, are top priorities. We’re excited about the new ideas Tim will bring to the table to help us fill the skills gap.”

For the past 10 years, Mongeau was the manager of craft development centers with the Zachry Group in San Antonio, Texas. In this role, he designed and implemented a multimillion-dollar craft education center and employee retention program. Previously, he worked for BE&K Construction Company in Birmingham, Alabama, as a training manager.

Active in the merit shop construction community for more than a decade, Mongeau has been a member of ABC and NCCER workforce development and assessment committees, as well as a research committee for the Construction Industry Institute. Mongeau served 11 years active duty and two years in the reserves of the U.S. Navy and has an associate degree in applied science from Kaplan University. He will be based in San Antonio, Texas.

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The U.S. economy expanded at a 3.5 percent annualized rate during the third quarter of 2018, according to an ABC analysis of U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis data. This represents the first time there have been two consecutive quarters of 3 percent-plus growth since the beginning of 2015.

Despite the broader economic growth, fixed investment inched 0.3 percent lower in the third quarter. Nonresidential fixed investment increased at just a 0.8 percent annualized rate, a stark reversal from the 11.5 percent and 8.7 percent growth observed in the first and second quarters, respectively. Investment in structures plummeted 7.9 percent after increasing by 13.9 percent and 14.5 percent in the previous two quarters.

“While the GDP increased, business investment, including investment in structures, was generally disappointing,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “Today’s GDP release is consistent with other data indicating a recent softening in capital expenditures, which caught many observers by surprise. Coming into the year, the expectation among many was that corporate tax cuts would translate into a lengthy period of rising business investment.

“As always, there are multiple explanations for the observed slowing in capital expenditures,” said Basu. “The first is simply that this represents an inevitable moderation in fixed business investment after the stunning growth in investment registered during the year’s initial two quarters. A second explanation, however, is not nearly as benign. This explanation focuses on both the growing constraints that businesses face due to a lack of trained workers available to work on new equipment, as well as the impact of rising input costs. Corporate earnings are no longer as consistently surprising to the upside, an indication of the impact of rising business costs. It may be that the dislocation created by ongoing trade skirmishes is also inducing certain firms to invest less in equipment and structures.

“If the first explanation is correct, one would expect a bounce back in capital expenditures,” said Basu. “The logic is that the U.S. business community has taken a bit of a breather to digest all of the capital investments undertaken during the first half of 2018. However, the second would indicate economic growth and the pace of hiring to soften in 2019. That obviously would not be a welcome dynamic for America’s construction sector.”

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Last week, ABC government affairs staff traveled to the Grand Canyon state to visit members of the Arizona Builders Alliance. They visited 140 ABA member companies in the Tucson and Phoenix areas, delivering important “get-out-the-vote” information and industry-specific election materials, including the ABC Votes and We Build America websites. 

In the evenings, staff volunteered for Rep. Martha McSally’s campaign, knocking on doors in the greater Phoenix area in support of her bid to represent Arizona in the U.S. Senate. McSally, a Republican, is the U.S. representative from Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District, and is the ABC-endorsed candidate in the Senate race against democratic Rep. Krysten Sinema for the seat of Sen. Jeff Flake, who will be retiring.

Next week, ABC staff will be traveling to Indiana to visit member companies around the state and volunteer on former Rep. Mike Braun’s campaign to unseat the incumbent senator, Democrat Joe Donnelly.

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On Oct. 23, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a proposed rule that would allow small and mid-sized businesses to band together and offer 401(k) plans to their employees through Association Retirement Plans.

According to a DOL news release, the proposal, officially titled “Definition of an ‘Employer’ Under Section 3(5) of ERISA–Association Retirement Plans and Other Multiple Employer Plans,” would allow Association Retirement Plans to be offered by associations of employers in a city, county, state or multi-state metropolitan area or in a particular industry nationwide. Additionally, association plans could be sponsored through Professional Employer Organizations, which are human resource companies that contractually assume certain employment responsibilities for their client employers. 

The proposed rule comes from President Trump’s Executive Order 13847 on “Strengthening Retirement Security in America,” which ordered the U.S. secretary of labor to allow more small and mid-sized businesses to adopt multiple employer plans as a workplace retirement option.

The EO also required the secretary to issue a proposal or guidance on expanding access to MEPs for part-time workers, sole proprietors, working owners and other entrepreneurial workers with non-traditional employer relationships.

The period for public comment on the proposed rule ends Dec. 24, 2018.

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On Oct. 23, the U.S. Departments of Labor, Treasury and Health and Human Services jointly issued a proposed rule, Health Reimbursement Arrangements and Other Account-Based Group Health Plans, that seeks to expand the availability of affordable health insurance for hardworking Americans by increasing the usability of health reimbursement arrangements.

According to a DOL press release, HRAs are designed to give workers and their families greater control over their health care by providing an additional way for their employers to finance quality, affordable health insurance. If finalized, the rule would also provide opportunities for employers, especially small and mid-size employers who currently do not offer coverage or that face large administrative burdens in offering coverage, to finance individually selected health insurance on a tax-preferred basis.

The Department of Treasury estimates that once employers and employees have fully adjusted to the new rule, roughly 800,000 employers will provide HRAs to pay for individual health insurance coverage for more than 10 million employees.

The proposed rule comes at the direction of President Trump’s Executive Order 13813, “Promoting Healthcare Choice and Competition Across the United States,” which asks the secretaries of the treasury, labor and HHS to “consider proposing regulations or revising guidance, to the extent permitted by law and supported by sound policy, to increase the usability of HRAs, to expand employers’ ability to offer HRAs to their employees and to allow HRAs to be used in conjunction with nongroup coverage.”

The public will have the opportunity to provide feedback on proposed rule. ABC plans to submit comments before the Dec. 28 deadline. 

For more information, read the White House’s fact sheet or visit the DOL Employee Benefits and Security Administration’s website.

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On Oct. 17, the Trump Administration released its Fall 2018 Regulatory Plan and Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. The agenda lists upcoming rulemakings and other regulatory actions from each agency that the administration expects to publish through the end of the year and in 2019.

Additionally, the administration provided an update on the implementation of President Trump’s Executive Order 13771, “Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs,” which requires agencies to eliminate two existing regulations for every new regulation and offset any new regulatory costs. They announced that they achieved historic and meaningful regulatory reform, issuing 12 deregulatory actions for every one new regulatory action, saving American families and business owners $23 billion in fiscal year 2018. 

U.S. Department of Labor

The DOL announced its plans to continue to revise many of the burdensome rules issued under the Obama administration as well as issue new regulatory proposals that impact the construction industry.

This week, the DOL released two proposed rules listed on the department’s agenda. The first, Definition of an “Employer” Under Section 3(5) of ERISA—Association Retirement Plans and Other Multiple Employer Plans, would make it easier for small businesses to offer retirement savings plans to their workers through Association Retirement Plans, which would allow small businesses to band together to offer 401(k) plans to their employees. The second proposal, jointly issued with the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Treasury, would expand the availability of affordable health insurance for hardworking Americans by increasing the usability of health reimbursement arrangements.

In December 2018, the DOL Employment and Training Administration plans to issue a proposed rule, Apprenticeship Programs, Labor Standards for Registration, Amendment of Regulations. This proposed rule comes at the instruction of President Trump’s E.O. 13801, “Expanding Apprenticeships in America,” which asks the secretary of labor, in consultation with the secretaries of education and commerce, to consider proposing regulations that establish guidelines for third parties to certify industry-recognized apprenticeship programs. 

The Wage and Hour Division announced plans to issue a proposal to clarify when two or more employers are considered joint employers for purposes of complying with the Fair Labor Standards Act. The proposed rule is targeted for December 2018. Also, the WHD plans to issue a proposal in March 2019 to update its white-collar exemption regulations, often referred to as the overtime rule, by determining the appropriate salary level for exemption of executive, administrative and professional employees under the FLSA.

Additionally, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration plans to solicit public feedback on the 2016 silica final rule through a request for information to determine if revisions to Table 1 may be appropriate. Effective Oct. 23, 2017, OSHA began fully enforcing all appropriate provisions of the Silica in Construction Standard. 

Other OSHA rules on the agenda include:

• Powered Industrial Trucks: Request for Information, October 2018
• Lock-Out/Tag-Out Update: Request for Information, October 2018
• Standards Improvement Project IV: Final Rule, December 2018
• Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses: Final Rule, June 2019
• Occupational Exposure to Beryllium and Beryllium Compounds in Construction and Shipyard Sectors: Final Rule, June 2019

National Labor Relations Board

The NLRB is currently accepting comments on its proposal to establish an updated standard for determining joint-employer liability under the National Labor Relations Act. Additionally, the NLRB will be revising its representation election regulations, with a specific focus on amendments to the board’s representation case procedures adopted by the 2014 “ambush” election final rule. The item is currently listed as a long-term action. 

Environmental Protection Agency

The Environmental Protection Agency, along with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, will continue with plans to rescind the 2015 Clean Water Rule, also known as the definition of Waters of the United States final rule. The agencies expect to release a final rule rescinding the 2015 WOTUS rule and recodifying the regulatory definition that existed prior to the 2015 final rule in March 2019 and a proposed rule to redefine WOTUS in October 2018 (with a final rule expected in September 2019). 

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

• Amendments to Regulations Under the Americans With Disabilities Act: Proposed Rule, June 2019
• Amendments to Regulations Under the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008: Proposed Rule, June 2019

Department of Transportation

• Operations of Small Unmanned Aircraft Over People: Proposed Rule, October 2018
• Registration and Marking Requirements for Small Unmanned Aircraft: Final Rule, December 2018

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ABC members and chapters have a new tool to engage college students in construction-related degree programs nationwide. A new video shows how the ABC National Student Chapter Network gives faculty members and college students real-world information and experience through membership meetings, guest speakers, internships, community service projects, fundraisers, career fairs, jobsite tours and more.

Watch the video below to learn more!

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