A surge of legislative and regulatory activity since the first days of spring drives home what members of the federal construction lobby have known for some time: 2003 will go down in the books as one of the most important years ever to a) lock up funds for key, volume-heavy construction markets; and b) make sure lawmakers are up to speed on the day-to-day concerns of material producers and their customers. With help from all national groups representing concrete production interests — especially National Ready Mixed Concrete Association and Portland Cement Association — the lobby is building support on Capitol Hill for greater commitments to transportation, aviation, drinking water and clean water state revolving loan fund programs.

Preliminaries for the biggest prize, the bill succeeding the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, are coming together favorably. In late March, House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska) jump-started the TEA-21 reauthorization with a bold, six-year plan that would place FY 2004 funding at $50 billion, up from this year's $31.6 billion. From that level, funding would climb to $75 billion by 2009. The Transportation Construction Coalition, chaired by American Road & Transportation Builders Association and Associated General Contractors, has taken the lead in lobbying for TEA-21 reauthorization.

Rep. Young's plan provided a backdrop for an April 29-30, Washington, D.C. “fly in” TCC hosted so members and industry leaders could have face time with their senators and representatives. Following closely on that event will be this month's Political Partners for Concrete Results — 2003 Government Affairs Conference of the Concrete and Cement Industries, with American Concrete Pavement Association joining PCA and NRMCA as lead sponsors.

The importance of construction interests having a strong voice on Capitol Hill for both legislative (TEA-21, AIR-21) and regulatory (DOT, OSHA, EPA) matters was highlighted prior to the TCC fly in and Political Partners gathering, as the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration's (FMSCA) released new hours-of-service (HOS) rules for operators of 10,000 lbs.-plus GVW trucks. “The science-based HOS final rules will improve highway safety and help reduce the number of truck crashes and related fatalities and injuries by addressing commercial motor vehicle driver fatigue,” Transportation Department officials contend. Announced April 23, the rule allows drivers to operate vehicles for up to 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty, and continues to restrict them to 60-hour or 70-hour schedules over seven or eight consecutive days, respectively.

NRMCA staff stresses that the new rule, effective January 2004, maintains a special provision for the construction industry whereby a driver's weekly on-duty clock is reset after 24 consecutive hours off duty (versus a 34-hour reset provision covering most conventional heavy-haul drivers). The 24-hour reset provision is widely acknowledged in helping mixer and dump fleet operators cope with the scheduling variables arising in a business like construction. It was originally inserted in FMCSA drivers hours guidelines in 1995 at the urging of AGC and NRMCA, and timed with the National Highway System designation. Both groups contributed to what was a pool of more than 53,000 written comments solicited when FMCSA initially posted a notice of the proposed rulemaking — with tighter restrictions for construction-vehicle operators — three years ago.

In addition to submitting written comments, NRMCA participated in all eight of the public hearings FMCSA held across the country leading up to the new rule. The investment of months of NRMCA staff and member company time helped ensure that certain onerous HOS guidelines never saw the light of day.

e-mail: dmarsh@primediabusiness.com