Congress – Concrete Products

Report prioritizes transportation infrastructure resilience assessment

September 18, 2021September 18, 2021 Concrete News

To ensure routine and deliberate attention to resilience in transportation investments, Congress should consider requiring all projects that are candidates for federal funding undergo resilience assessments to account for natural hazards, according to a new National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report. Despite significant progress made over the last decade in integrating resilience criteria into transportation decision-making, authors find…

Coalition states case for Miller Act bond threshold indexing exemption

June 9, 2021June 9, 2021 Concrete News

The Surety & Fidelity Association of America (SFAA) and National Association of Surety Bond Producers (NASBP) in Washington, D.C. endorse House legislation that will maintain essential payment protections for subcontractors, suppliers, and workers on federal construction contracts of $150,000 or more. Sponsored by Congresspersons Nydia Velasquez (D-N.Y.) and Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), H.R. 2949 exempts the threshold in the Miller Act—a…

Multiemployer pension reform carries into new Congress

January 20, 2019 Concrete News

Although a late-2018 deadline passed without a formal proposal, members of the U.S. Senate Joint Select Committee on the Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans vowed to continue pursuing a solution to the funding crisis engulfing organized labor retirement systems. In a joint statement, co-chairs Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and his retiring colleague, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), noted:

House approves Concrete Masonry Products Promotion Act

November 15, 2016 Concrete News

Source: National Concrete Masonry Association, Herndon, Va. On the opening day of the 114th Congress lame duck session, the U.S. House of Representatives approved HR 985, the Concrete Masonry Products, Research, Education and Promotion Act of 2015 by a 355–38 vote. The legislation authorizes the concrete masonry industry to pursue the creation of an industry-wide check-off program. Such programs have…

AGENCY RULES TAX STATE COFFERS, UNDERMINE FUNDAMENTAL RELATIONSHIPS

October 10, 2016 Concrete News

In their “Growing Burden” report, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Senior Vice President, Environment, Technology & Regulatory Affairs William Kovacs; Executive Director, Federal Regulatory Process Review & Analysis Joseph Johnson; and Senior Policy Counsel and Managing Director Keith Holman weigh an issue central to Environmental Protection Agency mandates, How did Congress intend the Federal-State relationship to work?:

New Labor Department rules spike OSHA civil penalty amounts

July 11, 2016 Concrete News

Sources: U.S. Department of Labor; CP staff

Abiding the 2015 Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Improvements Act, through which Congress aims to advance violation fines’ effectiveness, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and sister agencies are directed to adjust penalty scales annually using what Labor Department officials describe as a much more straightforward method than previously available.

Materials Group: Highway authorization warrants years, not months

August 11, 2014 Concrete News

Sources: Portland Cement Association, Washington, D.C.; CP staff

On behalf of members representing concrete and asphalt interests, the Highway Materials Group calls on Congress to pass a longer term transportation authorization bill following a temporary highway and bridge funding patch approved as Capitol Hill approached an August recess.

Civil Engineers debunk Highway Trust Fund myths

July 28, 2014 Concrete News

In conjunction with the mid-June launch of a campaign-style website, www.fixthefund.org, and federal construction interests’ Rally for Roads on Capitol Hill, American Society of Civil Engineers’ Becky Moylan offered perspective on past, present and future of the federal transportation program.

DOT’s Foxx, 11 predecessors eschew short-term highway funding mind set

July 22, 2014 Concrete News

Sources: U.S. Department of Transportation; CP staff

As Congress confronts Highway Trust Fund shortfalls, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and 11 of his predecessors have informed federal lawmakers that their work does not end with a proposed measure maintaining highway, bridge and transit program funding levels through May 2015.