Backend Category: Advocacy

A Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rule banning non-compete clauses is set to go into effect on September 4, 2024. Under the rule, non-competes are broadly defined as any arrangement that prohibits, penalizes, or functionally prevents a worker from getting a new job or starting a business after leaving their employment, even if the agreements are not labelled as non-competes. In short, the rule bans employers from entering into non-competes with workers covered by the rule. It also imposes an obligation on businesses to notify former employees and contractors with whom they previously entered into non-competes, that these agreements are now unenforceable. There is an exception for agreements with senior executives related to the bona fide sale of a business and for situations where a dispute arose about whether the non-compete was breached before the effective date of this rule.

To help businesses understand this rule and how to comply with it, the FTC has prepared a business and small entity compliance guide. The guide contains step-by-step instructions for complying with the rule, along with FAQs further explaining the rule. Additionally, the FTC recorded a compliance webinar for businesses on May 14^th. The video and transcript are available here.

You can read more about the final rule on the FTC website and in this fact sheet. The text of the rule and model notices regarding compliance with the rule’s notice requirement are available on the FTC website. You can also contact the FTC at noncompete@ftc.gov if you have further questions.

MCAA Lobbying Firm, Longbow Public Policy Group prepared a summary of the FTC’s final rule following its publication. The summary offers further guidance and answers questions about industry-specific matters, such as the application of this rule to training repayment agreements and the jurisdictional limits that prevent application of this rule to bona fide non-profit entities, such as 501(c)(3) training funds.

As part of its ongoing commitment to protecting your livelihood and setting the stage for a bright future, MCAA has secured the services of Longbow Public Policy Group to advise our MCAA Government Affairs Committee (GAC). GAC Chair, Jim Gaffney will be passing along information relative to our industry on a regular basis.

On Friday, May 3, 2024 MCAA Lobbying Firm, Longbow Public Policy Group provided the following information:

This week, as Congress returned from the one-week Passover recess, the focus in the House was on whether Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) would force a vote on her motion to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-GA) following passage of a foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and U.S. allies in Asia. On Tuesday, House Democrats announced they will vote to table any motion to remove Johnson from the Speakership, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries saying it was “time to turn the page on this chapter of Pro-Putin Republican obstruction.” Despite Democrats’ announcement, however, Greene said on Wednesday that she will move next week to oust Johnson. Notably, Greene said she was moving forward despite Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley, who was handpicked by former President Trump, personally asking Greene not to move forward with her motion to vacate. Once Greene makes her motion “privileged,” the House will have two legislative days to hold a vote on the motion or a vote to table it. Speaker Johnson responded to Greene’s announcement saying he did not think she was proving to be a serious lawmaker. Depending on what day Greene makes good on her threat, it may complicate the House schedule during the CEA National Issues Conference and the Hill meetings MCAA members are supposed to have while in D.C. Another interesting new dynamic around the CEA National Issues Conference is that Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar, who was invited to speak at our conference on Tuesday, was indicted today along with his wife on charges of taking more than $600,000 in bribes from two foreign entities. MCAA did not invite Cuellar, and at this we have not heard that he is cancelling his appearance, although the association that invited him has not been able to confer with anyone in his office about this late Friday development. We are making plans to cover any gap in the schedule if Rep. Cuellar ends up not coming on Tuesday. 

As to more substantive matters, the MCAA lobbying team was busy this week rallying opposition to a recently introduced Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to nullify the Federal Acquisition Regulatory (FAR) Council’s MCAA-supported file rule implementing President Biden’s Executive Order on Project Labor Agreements, as discussed in more detail below. We were also busy on the House side with Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su’s appearance before the House Education and the Workforce Committee to testify on President Biden’s fiscal year 2025 budget request for the Labor Department. We also continued fighting the CRA resolutions to nullify the Department of Labor’s final rules on Davis-Bacon and Independent Contractor status.

On the Senate side, Senate lawmakers this week labored to pass the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization ahead of a May 10^th expiration. Advancing the legislation has been a slog, however, as Senators argue over whether to include certain non-germane amendments to the must-pass legislation, including provisions related to cannabis banking, cryptocurrency, compensation for Cold War-ear nuclear worker exposed to radiation, and more. On Wednesday, the Senate voted 89-10 to begin consideration of the bill and is expected to resume consideration of the bill when Senators return to D.C. next week. Among the issues of interest to MCAA in this bill is continued authorization for billions of dollars in funds to modernize airport terminals that was initially included in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

On the regulatory front, we were busy following up with DOL about our concerns over the recently proposed apprenticeship rule and getting some answers to our questions about the final FTC rule banning non-competition agreements.

MCAA Issues and Interests 

Project Labor Agreements

MCAA Letter Opposing Resolution Seeking to Nullify PLA Final Rule 

As Congress returned this week, Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) introduced a new Congressional Review Act resolution (H.J. Res. 132) to nullify the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council’s MCAA-supported final rule on project labor agreements (PLAs). Consistent with the plans laid with GAC Chair Gaffney on Wednesday, the MCAA lobbying team submitted a letter signed by Chair Gaffney to the leadership of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee opposing the CRA. The letter highlighted points from Independent Project Analysis (IPA) study that the Mechanical Contractors Association Fund commissioned and that MCAA cited at length in its comments supporting this final rule. MCAA’s rapid and substantive letter was appreciated by Ranking Member Jamie Raskin’s (D-MD) staff, who reached out to discuss the CRA. In these discussions we learned that Rep. Higgins is currently attempting to add his CRA resolution to the agenda for an upcoming Committee mark-up. The staff was also very interested in the IPA study and believed it would help them to argue against nullifying this final rule. Having shared our arguments with the relevant committee, we then began reaching out to other members to make the case against this CRA resolution. 

NLRB Joint Employer Rule

Today, President Biden finally made good on his promise to veto the CRA resolution to nullify the MCAA-supported NLRB Joint Employer Rule. MCAA has been lobbying to get the President to fulfill his pledge early this year to veto this CRA and we are pleased that he has made good on it. The President and his team seem comfortable rejecting CRA resolutions on high-profile labor issues, which is helpful if we cannot bottle up other pending CRAs we are currently fighting on Capitol Hill. White House staff did, however, make clear that unions and their employer partners need to “fight the good fight” and not take White House vetoes for granted. It certainly helped that this CRA passed by the narrowest of margins in the Senate. So we need to ensure we keep votes on future CRAs close to encourage White House engagement should it be required.

Davis-Bacon

Continuing to Fight CRA Resolution to Rescind Davis-Bacon Rule

In addition to advocating against the PLA CRA above, the MCAA policy team was busy this week following up on our advocacy to defeat the CRA to rescind the Department of Labor’s recent MCAA-supported Davis-Bacon rule. We continue to feel confident that we can defeat this effort.

Independent Contractor

This week we continued our lobbying against the CRA resolution to nullify the independent contractor rule. We view this as a harder fight than the CRAs on Davis-Bacon and PLAs. We continue meetings and still feel we have a fighting chance to prevail on this even if we are not as confident as we are on other CRA fights.

Acting Labor Secretary Su Testifies on DOL’s FY2025 Budget Request 

Heading into Wednesday, the MCAA lobbying team laid the groundwork to push back on attacks we knew would be made against Labor Department Rules we support during the House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing on the Department of Labor’s fiscal year 2025 budget at which Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su testified. As anticipated, at the hearing, Republicans criticized the President’s DOL budget for requesting funds to implement the MCAA-supported independent contractor rule and the MCAA-supported Davis-Bacon rule. MCAA did not disagree with all of the Republican grievances aired at the hearing. Specifically, Republicans attacked the DOL’s proposed rule on “National Apprenticeship System Enhancements,” albeit for reasons different from the ones MCAA and the UA raised in joint comments on the rule in March and in subsequent lobbying on the rule. Republicans also threatened to subpoena Su for information on the Department’s return-to-work plan, saying DOL, “has failed to make any meaningful efforts to respect taxpayer dollars and return to work in person.”

For their part, Democrats on the Committee, led by Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA), applauded Su for her leadership of the Labor Department, saying that under her leadership, “the Department of Labor has supported registered apprenticeship and championed a pro-worker regulatory agenda” that includes the rulemakings MCAA is now defending against CRA resolutions of disapproval.

The hearing largely followed the narrative we expected and we developed some goodwill by providing staff useful background information on the issues in advance.

Apprenticeship and Worker Training 

DOL Rule on “National Apprenticeship System Enhancements”

This week the MCAA lobbying team continued trying to persuade the Labor Department and members of Congress with authority over the department to address concerns raised about the recently issued proposed rule on “National Apprenticeship System Enhancements” on which MCAA filed joint comments with the UA. The proposed rule continues to face bipartisan opposition for a myriad of different reasons. Members of both parties, however, continue to agree with the MCAA that the rule as proposed does more harm than good. Over the coming weeks we will continue pressing lawmakers to echo specific suggestions for improving the rule that were highlighted in the joint MCAA-UA comment letter. 

ETA to Hold Meetings of the Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship on June 4 and 5, 2024

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) announced public meetings of the Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship (ACA) on June 4 – 5, 2024 to onboard the new membership and address the following agenda items: (1) updates on the National Apprenticeship System—which may extend to discussion of the pending apprenticeship proposed rule MCAA is lobbying; (2) a discussion on federal, state, and international initiatives and partnerships; (3) a discussion on the ACA Road Map and planned activities for the future term; and (4) public comments. Meeting and agenda updates will be posted on the ACA website here.

The meetings will be held on June 4, 2024 from 1:30pm to 4pm ET and on June 5, 2024 from 9:30am to 4:30pm ET. The meetings will be available to the public as follows: (1) in-person at the Department of Labor, Frances Perkins Building located at 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC, 20210; (2) virtually through Webex; and (3) by teleconference. Those who intend to participate in-person must register by email to AdvisoryCommitteeonApprenticeship@dol.gov by May 28, 2024.

There is no registration requirement for those who intend to participate virtually, and the meetings can be accessed: (1) here on June 4, 2024 using access code 2824 377 2245 and password Welcome!24; and (2) here on June 5, 2024 using access code 2831 404 4991 and password Welcome!24. The telephone number for both meetings is 877-465-7975, and the access codes and passwords are as follows: (1) for June 4, 2024, the access code is 2824 377 2245 and the password is 93526631; and (2) for June 5, 2024, the access code is 2831 404 4991 and the password is 93526631.

Non-Competes – FTC Releases Final Rule Banning Noncompete Agreements 

On April 23^rd, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) adopted by a 3-2 vote a revised, final version of its Noncompete Rule. This final rule will formally publish in the Federal Register on May 7, 2024 and will take effect 120 days after publication. Once it takes effect, people can report information about a suspected violation of the rule to the FTC Bureau of Competition by emailing noncompete@ftc.gov. It is already subject to a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in federal court in Texas.

The FTC rejected the suggestion in MCAA’s comments to exempt construction from the rule. In general terms, the final rule will: (1) apply to all entities subject to FTC jurisdiction (most notably excepting bona fide non-profits); (2) ban new non-competes; (3) apply to “workers,” broadly defined to include independent contractors, apprentices, volunteers, etc.; and (4) require rescission of existing non-competes and use of prescribed notices to workers that “existing” non-competes are not enforceable, provided that existing agreements with “senior executives,” as defined in the rule, may remain in force, but new ones may not be imposed. The final rule also allows non-competes in the context of the bona sale of a business and removes an ownership threshold in the proposed rule for such transactions. 

Having devoted considerable time to reading the entire 570 pages of the pre-publication version of the final rule, we are increasingly convinced that it will not apply to most scholarship loan agreements because of limitations on the FTC’s jurisdiction over bona fide nonprofit entities under the rather unique analysis the FTC uses as explained in the final rule. This of course assumes that these agreements are entered into by jointly-trusteed training funds that are bona fide tax-exempt 501(c)(3) entities. We think these jurisdictional limits may also address concerns we have about this rule’s application to restrictions that curtail the ability of UA retirees who are taking their pension to return to work on the trade that could otherwise be deemed non-competes under this final rule. These issues and more aspects about the rule are part of the Longbow presentation for Monday’s GAC meeting and we will have a fulsome overview of the final rule with our next regulatory report. 

Other Interesting Things Since Our Last Report 

Thursday May 2^nd

• While in Wilmington, NC, the President announced $3 billion in EPA funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to replace toxic lead pipes, and an additional $90 million in HUD funding to reduce residential health hazards in public housing, including lead-based paint hazards, carbon monoxide, mold, radon, fire safety, and asbestos. The Biden EPA released more details on the $3 billion in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding to identify and replace lead service lines in every state and territory to prevent exposure to lead in drinking water. The Lead Service Line-specific formula used to allot these funds allows states to receive financial assistance commensurate with their need, meaning that states with more projected lead service lines receive proportionally more funding. The EPA also released a new memorandum clarifying how states can use this funding. A separate memorandum from the Office of Water that includes the allotments for each state is available here.

• The U.S. Commerce Department and tech giants Intel and Micron announced a partnership to boost women’s participation in the semiconductor construction workforce with the launch the voluntary CHIPS Women in Construction Framework for companies, contractors, unions and others to recruit and retain women and other economically disadvantaged individuals. Under the program companies will offer services such as childcare and transportation and invest in training as well as prevent and address harassment and discrimination. Intel and Micron are the first companies to commit to the program. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo issued a statement saying: “If we are going to meet the national and economic security imperatives of the CHIPS Program, we are going to have to figure out how to fill the hundreds of thousands of jobs we are creating, and we won’t fill those jobs without growing our construction workforce to include more women.”

• The FBI, CISA, EPA, and other federal agencies issued an advisory yesterday warning North American water treatment system operators that pro-Russia activities are “targeting and compromising” operational technology platforms that underpin wastewater and water treatment systems, at times posing physical threats to safety.

• OSHA released a new safety overview entitled “Working in Outdoor and Indoor Heat Environments” in which it recommends steps to prevent heat injury and illness in indoor and outdoor settings. Recommended actions include: “Engineering controls such as air conditioning, with cooled air, and increased air flow, leading to increased evaporative cooling, can make the workplace safer. Other options for keeping body temperatures down in warm environments include making changes to workload and schedules. For example, empower supervisors and workers to slow down physical activity like reducing manual handling speeds or scheduling work for the morning or shorter shifts with frequent rest breaks in the shade or at least away from heat sources. Supervisors can encourage workers in warm environments to drink hydrating fluids. At a minimum, all supervisors and workers should receive training about heat-related symptoms and first aid.”

• The Biden Labor Department (DOL) announced $98 million in YouthBuild program grants, ranging from $700,000 to $1.5 million each, to 72 organizations in 30 states and Guam to support pre-apprenticeships for young people aged 16-24, who are neither enrolled in school or in the labor market, for jobs in construction and other high-demand industries, including manufacturing and logistics, healthcare, hospitality, information technology, and culinary arts. 

Wednesday, May 1^st 

• The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) published a final rule on reduced costs for use of federal land for renewable energy projects that relies on BLM’s inherent authority to set lease terms for federal lands to adopt 20% cost-reduction incentives for solar and wind projects that use a project labor agreement (PLA) or build with domestically sourced iron, steel, and construction materials. The final rule discusses at length the benefits to the government of using PLAs. This final rule is a significant policy development because BLM created the incentive to use PLAs in the absence of any congressional directive to do so akin to language in the Inflation Reduction Act. This final rule could serve as a model for other agencies to rely on general permitting and resource protection authorities to impose similar incentives for PLAs and labor standards that encourage the use of unionized construction even in the absence of congressional direction to do so. Such actions are something that MCAA and its partners in the unionized construction industry have been encouraging. We now need to see if we can replicate this model elsewhere.

Tuesday, April 30^th

• The Labor Department (DOL) issued a blog post highlighting the first annual Youth Apprenticeship Week that will be held from May 5 – 11, 2024, during which there will be a series of events touting the benefits and value of Registered Apprenticeship programs for those aged 16–24.

• The Energy Department (DOE) announced more than $78 million in funding from the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law through the Energy Improvements Rural or Remote Areas program for 19 projects in Illinois, Alabama, Maine, Alaska, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Washington State, Colorado, Montana, Kentucky, North Carolina, and West Virginia to develop and deploy sustainable clean energy solutions and expand access to reliable and affordable energy in rural and remote communities. A list of the projects selected to receive funding is available here.
  
• The Energy Department (DOE) finalized energy-efficiency standards for a range of residential water heaters, requiring most common-sized electric water heaters to achieve efficiency gains with heat pump technology. The new standards are estimated to save households approximately $7.6 billion per year on energy and water bills and reduce 332 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, equivalent to the combined annual emissions of nearly 43 million homes.

Monday, April 29^th

• The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) published “Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace” to reflect developments in the EEOC’s interpretation of and process for enforcing the discrimination laws under its purview. The EEOC proposed the new guidance for public comment last October and received over 38,000 comments on it. The final guidance clarifies the standards of liability for harassment and a hostile work environment with numerous examples of impermissible conduct across the various anti-discrimination laws the EEOC enforces. The new guidance supersedes the following longstanding EEOC enforcement guidance documents: (1) Compliance Manual Section 615: Harassment (1987); (2) Policy Guidance on Current Issues of Sexual Harassment (1990); (3) Policy Guidance on Employer Liability under Title VII for Sexual Favoritism (1990); (4) Enforcement Guidance on Harris v. Forklift Sys., Inc. (1994); and (5) Enforcement Guidance on Vicarious Employer Liability for Unlawful Harassment by Supervisors (1999). Along with the final guidance, the EEOC issued a “Summary of Key Provisions,” a document for employees, and a fact sheet for small businesses. The final guidance highlights: (1) the EEOC’s 2023 Promising Practices for Preventing Harassment in the Federal Sector technical assistance document, which provides practical tips for preventing and addressing harassment within the federal civilian workforce; (2) the EEOC’s 2017 Promising Practices for Preventing Harassment technical assistance document; and (3) the EEOC’s 2016 Report of the Co-Chairs of the Select Task Force on Harassment in the Workplace, which included findings and recommendations about harassment prevention strategies.
  
• The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2024-36 to announce the 2024 allocation round of the Section 48C, “Qualifying Advanced Energy Project Credit” to allocate approximately $6 billion of Section 48C credits from the President’s Inflation Reduction Act. The Section 48C Portal will open no later than May 28, 2024 for owners of clean energy manufacturing and recycling projects, greenhouse gas emission reduction projects and critical material projects to submit a concept paper and begin the process of seeking a Section 48C credit allocation.
  
• The Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division released a new Field Assistance Bulletin, 2024-01 entitled, Artificial Intelligence and Automated Systems in the Workplace under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Other Federal Labor Standards. The bulletin warns employers that artificial intelligence (AI) systems used to monitor worker productivity, breaktime, waiting time, and geolocation will often not suffice to provide compliant records regarding matters like an employee’s hours worked. It also explains how the data measured and captured by AI software will not often be congruent with FLSA concepts like “hours worked.” Finally, the Bulletin also details issues that may arise with an employer’s compliance with the Family and Medical Leave Act, the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act, and other federal leave laws if employers rely on AI systems without adequate human intervention to ensure compliance with these laws and to avoid unlawful retaliation.

• The Energy Department (DOE) announced a series of actions delivering on key elements of the Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), including issuing reports on AI’s near-term potential to support the growth of America’s clean energy economy and long-term opportunities and challenges in AI. DOE also launched a new website that showcases DOE-developed AI tools and foundation models useful for basic and applied science. DOE also announced it is investing $13 million in the VoltAlc Initiative to use AI to streamline siting and permitting at the federal, state, and local levels, and establishing the Powering AI and Data Center Infrastructure working group to provide recommendations on meeting energy demands for AI and data center infrastructure.

Thursday, April 25^th

• The Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) announced the designation of additional federally funded construction projects in its Mega Construction Project (Megaproject) Program. The Megaproject Program is an effort to assist contractors and subcontractors on federal construction projects valued at $35 million or more to recruit and hire from a diverse applicant pool that includes workers from underrepresented communities. The 16 selected projects include: (1) the Appalachian Hydrogen Hub in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Ohio; (2) the Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems (ARCHES) Project in California; (3) the Brightline West High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail System Project in California and Nevada; (4) the Chicago Union Station Mail Platform Reactivation Project in Illinois; (5) the Gateway Hudson Tunnel Project in New York and New Jersey; (6) the Heart Butte Safety of Dams Modification Project in North Dakota; (7) the HyVelocity Hydrogen Hub Program in Texas; (8) the Midwest Alliance for Clean Hydrogen Project in Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan; (9) the Pajaro River at Watsonville Project in California; (10) the Penn Station Access Program in New York; (11) the Raleigh to Richmond Innovating Rail Program in North Carolina; (12) the Road Improvements to U.S. 49 from Bentonia to Yazoo City Project in Mississippi; (13) the Transforming Rail in Virginia Phase 2 FSP Application Project in Virginia; (14) the Upper Mississippi River – Illinois Waterway System Project in Illinois and Missouri; (15) the Upper Ohio Navigation Project in Pennsylvania; and (16) the U.S. 64 Corridor Improvements Project in New Mexico. The list of newly-designated projects is available here.

• The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced the award of $76 million from the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for 45 airport-related projects in Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Montana, North Dakota, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, and Washington State. Among the airports receiving funding include: (1) $6.4 million to Colorado Springs Airport to rehabilitate the existing terminal building to accommodate a 14,000 square foot Federal Inspection Service facility to allow passengers to clear customs more efficiently; (2) $3 million to Melbourne Orlando International Airport to fund the first phase of the terminal building rehabilitation; (3) $1.8 million to South Bend International Airport in Indiana to reconstruct 8,500 feet of the existing Taxiway B pavement that has reached the end of its useful life; (4) $2.4 million to Easton Airport in Maryland to improve the Runway 22 safety area to enhance the safety operations at the airport; and (5) $8.3 million to Bangor International in Maine to rehabilitate 7,436 feet of Runway 15/33 to maintain the structural integrity of the pavement and to minimize debris. The full list of airports receiving funding is available here.

• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a set of final rules to reduce pollution from fossil fuel-fired power plants. The set of final rules include: (1) a final rule for existing coal-fired and new natural gas-fired power plants that would ensure that all coal-fired plants that plan to run in the long-term and all new baseload gas-fired plants control 90 percent of their carbon pollution; (2) a final rule strengthening and updating the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards for coal-fired power plants, tightening the emissions standard for toxic metals by 67 percent and finalizing a 70% reduction in the emissions standard for mercury from existing lignite-fired sources; (3) a final rule to reduce pollutants discharged through wastewater from coal-fired power plants by more than 660 million pounds per year; and (4) a final rule that will require the safe management of coal ash that is placed in areas that were unregulated at the federal level. 
  
• The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) voted 2-1 to authorize construction of three natural gas projects over the objections of a Democratic FERC Commissioner. The approved projects are the: (1) El Paso Natural Gas Co.’s project in Hudspeth County, Texas to install a nearly two-mile 30-inch-diameter pipeline extension; (2) Great Basin Gas Transmission Company’s project in Douglas, Lyon, and Storey Counties, Nevada to install about 3.4 miles of upsized or looped pipeline segments; and (3) Florida Gas Transmission Company’s project in St. Landry, East Baton Rouge, and Washington Parishes, Louisiana and Perry County, Mississippi to upgrade four compressor stations. FERC Chairman Willie Phillips (D) joined with Republican Commissioner Mark Christie to approve the natural gas projects. Commissioner Allison Clements (D) voted against the projects over concerns about the projects’ greenhouse gas emissions. 

Wednesday, April 24^th

• The Department of Labor announced the launch of an interactive map to help unions, workers, and the public learn more about the tens of thousands of jobs being created nationwide by more than 1,000 planned energy projects. The map allows users to sort planned clean energy projects by sector and state and learn more about each project’s location, name, status and size, companies involved and the estimated number of construction jobs supporting the project.

• The Department of Energy (DOE) announced a final rule entitled, “Clean Energy for New Federal Buildings and Major Renovations of Federal Buildings.” The final rule, which implements the Energy Independent and Security Act of 2007, requires federal agencies to phase out fossil fuel usage in new federal building construction or major renovation by achieving a 90% reduction in fossil fuel use for new projects started between fiscal years 2025 and 2029 and eliminating on-site fossil fuel usage in new projects beginning in 2030. The rule applies to new construction and major renovations that exceed certain cost thresholds, including: (1) $3.6 million in 2024 dollars for federally owned public buildings; (2) $3.8 million in 2024 dollars for federally owned non-public buildings; and (3) $1.8 million in 2024 dollars for leased federal buildings. DOE estimates that over the next 30 years, the final rule will reduce carbon emissions from federal buildings by 2 million metric tons and methane emissions by 16,000 tons—an amount roughly equivalent to the emissions generated by nearly 310,000 homes in one year, while also reducing infrastructure costs. More information on the final rule is available on the DOE website here. 

• The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) announced $148 million in grants to Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, Texas, and Washington State under the first round of the Reduction of Truck Emissions at Port Facilities Grant Program created by the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. In this first round of grant awards, FHWA has funded 16 projects that reduce pollution in communities adjacent to ports. Specific truck emissions reductions implemented include: (1) constructing electric vehicle charging infrastructure; (2) replacing diesel-powered trucks serving ports with zero or low emissions electric or alternative fuel-powered trucks; (3) employing port roadway access improvements; and (4) studying technology enhancements to reduce truck emissions. The full list of grant awards is available here. 

• House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-MO) and Tax Subcommittee Chair Mike Kelly (R-PA) announced the formation of ten “Committee Tax Teams,” comprised of Ways and Means Republican members, to study key tax provisions from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that are set to expire in 2025 and identify legislative solutions. The Tax Teams are comprised of Republican Committee members and are assigned specific areas of tax policy for review, including: (1) the American Workforce Tax Team which is chaired by Rep. Darin LaHood (R-IL) and includes Rep. Mike Carey (R-OH), Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-PA), and Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick; (2) the American Manufacturing Tax Team which is chaired by Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) and includes Rep. Greg Murphy (R-NC), Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX), Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), and Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY); (3) the Supply Chains Tax Team which is chaired by Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) and includes Rep. David Kustoff (R-TN), Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-GA), Rep. Michelle Fishbach (R-MN); and Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-IA); (4) the Working Families Tax Team which is chaired by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and includes Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT), Rep. Michelle Steel (R-CA), and Rep. Mike Carey (R-OH); (5) the Main Street Tax Team which is chaired by Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-PA) and includes Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL), Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL), Rep. Adrian Smith (R-NE), Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX), and Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX); (6) the Rural America Tax Team which is chaired by Rep. Adrian Smith (R-NE) and includes Rep. Michelle Fishbach (R-MN), Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-IA), Rep. David Kustoff (R-TN), and Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL); (7) the New Economy Tax Team which is chaired by Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ) and includes Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX), Rep. Greg Murphy (R-NC), Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), and Rep. Michelle Steel (R-CA); (8) the Community Development Tax Team which is chaired by Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) and includes Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), Rep. Darin LaHood (R-IL), Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT), and Rep. Mike Carey (R-OH); (9) the U.S. Innovation Tax Team which is chaired by Rep. Ron Estes (R-KS) and includes Rep. Michelle Steel (R-CA), Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ), Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-GA), Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK), and Rep. Greg Murphy (R-NC); and (10) the Global Competitiveness Tax Team which is chaired by Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK) and includes Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT), Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA), Rep. Ron Estes (R-KS), Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL), and Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-IA). 

Tuesday, April 23^rd

• The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) announced the publication of its final rule entitled, “Retirement Security Rule: Definition of an Investment Advice Fiduciary”, which updates the definition of an investment advice fiduciary under ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code. Specifically, the final rule and related amended prohibited transaction exemptions require trusted investment advice providers to give prudent, loyal, and honest advice free from overcharges. These fiduciaries must adhere to high standards of care and loyalty when recommending investments and avoid recommendations that favor the investment advice providers’ interests—financial or otherwise—at the retirement savers’ expense. Under the final rule and amended exemptions, financial institutions overseeing investment advice providers must have policies and procedures to manage conflicts of interest and ensure providers follow these guidelines. The updated definition of an investment advice fiduciary takes effect on September 23, 2024 and applies when trusted financial services providers give compensated investment advice to retirement plan participants, individual retirement account owners and plan officials responsible for administering plans and managing their assets. Additional information about this final rule is available on the EBSA website here.

• The Department of Labor (DOL) released its final overtime rule updating the salary thresholds below which workers must be paid overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The new final rule takes effect July 1, 2024, and requires employers to pay overtime to most workers paid below $844 a week ($43,888 annually) regardless of their job duties and titles. This is a significant increase from the current threshold of $684 a week ($35,568 annually). Workers above this threshold may be exempt from overtime if their duties qualify them as an exempt executive, professional, or administrative employee under Part 541 of the regulations interpreting the Fair Labor Standards Act (or certain other discrete exemptions, for groups such as outside sales and computer employees). The final rule also raises this threshold to $1,128 a week ($58,656 annually) effective January 1, 2025. Thereafter, the final rule has a mechanism to update this threshold every three years. More information on the final overtime rule is available on the DOL website here. 

Monday, April 22^nd

• The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a final rule to prohibit the disclosure of protected health information (PHI) related to lawful reproductive health care. Specifically, the final rule: (1) prohibits the use or disclosure of PHI when it is sought to investigate or impose liability on individuals, health care providers, or others who seek, obtain, provide, or facilitate reproductive health care that is lawful under the circumstances in which such health care is provided, or to identify persons for such activities; (2) requires a regulated health care provider, health plan, clearinghouse, or their business associates, to obtain a signed attestation that certain requests for PHI potentially related to reproductive health care are not for these prohibited purposes; and (3) requires regulated health care providers, health plans, and clearinghouses to modify their Notice of Privacy Practices to support reproductive health care privacy. The text of the final rule is available here and a fact sheet on the final rule is available here.

Around the Country 

Northeast 

• On April 30^th, New York state Sen. Timothy Kennedy (D-NY) won the special election for New York’s 26^th Congressional District previously represented by Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY).

• On April 30^th, a new poll found that Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) is leading Republican Dave McCormick 46% to 39% in the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate race. 

West

• On May 3^rd, California Assemblymember Evan Low (D) won a recount in the race for California’s 16^th Congressional District and will face fellow Democrat Sam Liccardo in November to replace Rep. Anna Eshoo (D) who is retiring.

• On May 3^rd, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ordered a lower court to end a climate change lawsuit filed against the federal government by children for the second time, ruling that the children lacked standing because the courts cannot order the federal government to take sweeping, generalized action on greenhouse gas emissions.

• On May 3^rd, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed legislation that will result in sweeping bans of PFAS “forever chemicals” across a wide range of consumer products.

• On May 1^st, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that the Biden Justice Department, on behalf of the EPA and the California Attorney General, filed a civil complaint against the city and county of San Francisco. The complaint seeks financial penalties and improvements to remedy San Francisco’s repeated and widespread failures to operate its two combined sewer systems and three sewage treatment plants in a manner that keeps untreated sewage out of San Francisco Bay and its tributaries, streets, beaches and other areas with risk of human contact, which represents a violation of the Clean Water Act and its permits.

• On May 1^st, the Transportation Department (DOT) announced that the Build America Bureau has approved its first Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan for up to $26.8 million for the Mt. Vernon Library Commons Project in Washington State. The project will include, among other things, a multi-use building with a public library, community center, and electric vehicle chargers along the I-5 Alternative Fuel Corridor.

Midwest 

• On May 1^st, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that Webster, Kentucky will receive technical assistance through the Energy Communities Technical Assistance Pilot Program to enhance community planning capacity related to clean energy transition, including by boosting opportunities for workforce development, training and apprenticeships, leveraging private sector and philanthropic funding assistance, and cleaning up and redeveloping abandoned power plant and mining areas. 

• On April 30^th, the Labor Department (DOL) announced that it will host an information session on May 8, 2024 in Overland Park, Kansas for current and former nuclear weapons workers and their families employed at covered facilities to discuss the benefits available under the federal Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act, answer questions, assist in filing claims, and provide updates on existing claims.

• On April 30^th, a new poll found that Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) is leading Republican Eric Hovde 48% to 41% in the Wisconsin U.S. Senate race. 

Southeast

• On May 1^st, the Labor Department announced a hybrid meeting of the Advisory Board on Toxic Substances and Worker Health for Part E of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act on May 8 – 9, 2024 from 9am to 5pm and 8:30am to 11:30am, respectively, at the Comfort Inn Oak Ridge, 433 S. Rutgers Ave., Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 37830. Information on how to attend, whether in-person or virtually, will be made available on the Board’s website here no later than 72 hours before the meeting date.

• On April 30^th, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana rejected Louisiana’s new congressional district map that added “two Black opportunity districts,” finding it violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

• On April 30^th, the Labor Department (DOL) announced a statewide survey seeking input from the North Carolina highway construction industry to assist the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division in establishing prevailing wage rates for construction workers on federally funded and assisted construction projects. The survey is available here. There will be two online briefings, on May 21, 2024 and May 23, 2024, to describe the survey process and offer instructions for completing the survey, and registration is available here.

• On April 29^th, Aaron Dimmick, a former naval aviator, filed to run in the Republican primary for Florida’s 1^st Congressional District against Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL).
  
• On April 26^th, Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL) announced he will not seek reelection to Florida’s 8^th Congressional District and endorsed former Florida State Senate Mike Haridopolos (R) for the seat. 

Southwest

• On April 30^th, a new poll showed Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) leading Republican Kari Lake 45.3% to 43.1% in Arizona’s U.S. Senate race.

• On April 29^th, it was reported that there is a growing schism between former President Trump and Arizona Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake. Trump has reportedly ruled her out as a running mate and is openly questioning if she can win the Senate seat in a state that is critical to Trump’s re-election prospects.

As part of its ongoing commitment to protecting your livelihood and setting the stage for a bright future, MCAA has secured the services of Longbow Public Policy Group to advise our MCAA Government Affairs Committee (GAC). GAC Chair, Jim Gaffney will be passing along information relative to our industry on a regular basis.

On Friday, April 19, 2024 MCAA Lobbying Firm, Longbow Public Policy Group provided the following information:

Prompted by Iran’s attack on Israel last weekend, the House is working into the weekend to pass a $95 billion foreign aid package to provide aid to Israel, Ukraine, and allies in the Indo-Pacific region. To placate House conservatives opposed to the aid (particularly to Ukraine), Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) also included legislation to require Chinese-owned ByteDance to divest from social media app TikTok. A fifth bill that contained immigration and border security provisions from the House-passed H.R. 2 that has been universally opposed by Democrats was removed from the foreign aid package and will get a separate vote on suspension requiring two-thirds support. 

Earlier today, the House passed a rule providing debate for the foreign aid package and the TikTok ban by a large, bipartisan majority of 316-94, but more Democrats (165) provided “yes” votes on the rule than Republicans (151). This bipartisanship further angered conservative lawmakers in the House and raised the prospect that Speaker Johnson could face a motion to vacate seeking to remove him from the Speakership. While Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has not yet made her motion to vacate “privileged,” which would force a vote on it, it is gaining momentum as Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ) announced they would cosponsor the motion. In the closely divided House, support for the motion from Greene, Massie, and Gosar could be enough to remove Johnson from the Speakership if Democrats join with disgruntled republicans, as they did when former Speaker McCarthy (R-CA) was removed last October. 

In the Senate this week, the democratic majority summarily dismissed the impeachment charges against Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas by a 51-49 party-line vote, depriving Republicans of a trial they could use to attack the Administration’s immigration policies. The Senate is now busy trying to pass reauthorization of post-9/11 surveillance authorities referred to as FISA, and awaiting the House foreign aid package. The tax package that passed the House last month continues to remain stalled in the Senate.

Both the House and Senate are scheduled to depart town when they finish their pending business on foreign aid and FISA reauthorization.   

As detailed below, the MCAA policy team was very busy throughout the last two weeks on an array of legislative and regulatory matters.

MCAA Issues and Interests 

Misclassification

Appropriations Subcommittee Hearing on DOL Budget with Acting Labor Sec. Su

On April 17^th, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education held a hearing with Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su to discuss the Department of Labor’s fiscal year 2025 (FY25) budget request. During the hearing, Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) attacked the Wage and Hour Division’s MCAA-supported independent contractor rule, saying it will devastate small businesses and limit opportunities for individuals to work as independent contractors. Su countered that the independent contractor rule would not impact bona fide independent contractor relationships, adding that it simply enacts a test that aligns with decades of federal case law on whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor. These attacks against the DOL Independent Contractor Rule come as MCAA continues lobbying against pending Congressional Review Act resolutions to rescind the regulation. 

Subcommittee Democrats, including Rep. Barbrara Lee (D-CA), Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), and Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL), asked Acting Secretary Su what actions DOL is taking to ensure women and workers of color can access good jobs in in-demand occupations, including construction. Acting Secretary Su responded that DOL’s FY25 budget requests additional funding for investments in workforce training programs that help to create opportunities for women and minorities, including the DOL Office of Contract Compliance Programs’ “Mega Project Program,” which assists contractors and subcontractors on federal construction projects valued at $35 million or more in recruiting and hiring women and minorities. She also highlighted efforts to expand apprenticeships and other on-the-job training programs to reach more workers. Su said DOL has significantly expanded apprenticeships by working with over 11,000 employers to create more programs in in-demand industries beyond construction. 

Finally, Subcommittee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) asked Acting Secretary Su what DOL was doing to respond to an increase in child labor violations. Su noted that the FY25 budget request seeks an increase for the Wage and Hour Division to fund more investigators to address child labor violations, as well as other types of Wage & Hour violations, including wage theft and misclassification. 

House Subcommittee Hearing Focused on DOL Independent Contractor Rule

The Independent Contractor Rule faced more focused attacks at an April 11^th House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Workforce Protections hearing entitled, “Unlocking Opportunity: Allowing Independent Contractors to Access Benefits.” Subcommittee Chair Kevin Kiley (R-CA) attacked the DOL independent contractor rule and said that he is in favor of providing “portable benefits” to independent contractors to “build a bridge from traditional employment to the modern workforce without putting families at risk.” Full Committee Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA) expressed views aligned with MCAA about the need for the rule and the extent to which critics are misstating what it does. Rep. Kiley pledged to continue pressing his Congressional Review Act Resolution to rescind the Independent Contractor rulemaking that MCAA is lobbying against.  

House Passes CRA Resolution to Rescind NLRB Joint Employer Rule 

On April 10^th, the Senate voted 50-48 to pass the House-passed H. J. Res. 98, a Congressional Review Act resolution to nullify the National Labor Relations Board’s joint employer final rule. Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), and Angus King (I-ME) voted with Republicans in favor of the CRA resolution, while Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) voted with Democrats to oppose it. The resolution now heads to President Joe Biden, who has vowed to veto it.

Apprenticeship and Worker Training

DOL Apprenticeship

MCAA is continuing to try to persuade DOL regarding concerns raised about the recently-issued Apprenticeship Modernization Rule on which MCAA filed joint comments with the UA. The rule has drawn bipartisan opposition—albeit for a number of reasons. But members of both parties agree with MCAA that, as proposed, on balance the rule in its entirety does more harm than good. We are now trying to get key members of Congress to echo specific suggestions to improve the rule that were highlighted in our joint comment letter.

Passage of A Stronger Workforce for America Act 

On April 10^th, the House passed A Stronger Workforce for America Act (H.R. 6655) by a vote of 378-26. The bill seeks to make changes to the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, including: (1) dedicating 50% of the adult and dislocated worker funding toward upskilling workers through “individual training accounts” and on-the-job learning; (2) prioritizing employer-led initiatives that equip workers with the skill sets to fill jobs in critical industries and help currently employed workers to upskill to avoid displacement; (3) streamlining the “eligible training provider list” to ensure programs are aligned with the skill and hiring demands of employers and fully implementing the performance accountability system to hold states and local workforce boards accountable for achieving positive outcomes for program participants; (4) emphasizing work-based learning for youth, codifying a program to help individuals released from incarceration transition back to employment, and enhancing workforce education programs at community colleges that align with in-demand jobs; and (5) creating a demonstration authority for targeted state and local boards to reimagine their workforce systems and providing technical assistance to employers on implementing skills-based hiring practices. The legislation now heads to the Senate for consideration.

DOL Announces $6 Million in WANTO Grants to Retain Women in Registered Apprenticeships

On April 11^th, Department of Labor (DOL) announced a $6 million funding opportunity through the Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations (WANTO) grant program for up to 17 grants to attract and retain women in registered apprenticeship programs. The grants are intended to provide technical assistance to employers, labor unions, and joint labor-management organizations (among others), to encourage employment of women in construction and other industries where they are underrepresented by establishing, expanding, and/or enhancing pre-apprenticeship, youth apprenticeship, registered apprenticeship, or other skills training programs. Past grants have been used to provide resources for employers, unions, and workers to create an environment for women to succeed in construction and other nontraditional occupations, to establish support groups for women in these industries, and for other efforts to improve their retention. Grant proposals are due June 10, 2024 and awards will range between $350,000 and $750,000. Further details on the application process are available here. DOL notes that while women comprise nearly half of the U.S. labor force, they only account for about 14 percent of all registered apprenticeships. 

ICERES Study Finds Workers Participating in Jointly Sponsored Registered Apprenticeships Have Higher Wages Compared to Workers in Apprenticeships with No Union Participation

On April 15^th, the Institute for Construction Economics Research (ICERES) published a study taking a comprehensive look at registered apprenticeships by combining information from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and 42 states from 2015 to 2021, including states that register their own programs that are not reflected in DOL data. The researchers found that construction training dominated the registered apprenticeship system, making up 65% of all registered apprenticeships in the U.S. DOL’s current data, which does not cover several states, only indicates that 34% of registered apprenticeships are in the construction trades. The study also confirms that workers participating in registered apprenticeships that are jointly administered by employers and unions are more likely to complete the program and tend to have higher wages compared to workers in apprenticeships that don’t have any union participation at all. But non-union programs have been growing in recent years and make up a majority of new apprentices in HVAC and electrical trades. The study can be purchased through ICERES here.

Davis-Bacon

Battle Continues Against CRA Resolution to Rescind DOL Davis-Bacon Rule

This congressional work period, MCAA continued its lobbying to defeat the Congressional Review Act resolution to rescind the Department of Labor’s recent MCAA-supported Davis-Bacon final rule

WHD Releases Updated Prevailing Wage Resource Book 

On April 3^rd, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) announced updates to the Prevailing Wage Resource Book (PWRB) in light of the implementation of the MCAA-supported Davis-Bacon final rule. In response to the final rule taking effect, the agency conducted a comprehensive review of the PWRB to simplify the language, restructure the format in a more intuitive manner, and provide necessary guidance and examples to help stakeholders understand the historic and positive changes the new regulations have made to the federal prevailing wage, survey, calculation, and enforcement processes. 

Pensions and Healthcare

Tax Bill Remains Stalled, Halting Progress on Pension Reform

As noted above, the quagmire that the House-passed tax bill is facing in the Senate has derailed the vehicle to which MCAA had hoped to attach legislation to allow two-pool withdrawal liability for construction industry multiemployer defined benefit pensions. While there is a renewed effort to get the tax package moving, Senator Crapo, the Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, said this week that there has been no meaningful negotiations with Chairman Wyden. Wyden seems to be trying to find enough Republican support to jam the bill through the Senate without Crapo’s support. So far this has not worked. Wyden also wants to move it without any material changes to the key elements of the legislation, which would preclude MCAA amending it to add two-pool withdrawal liability. Some of the urgency of passing the package has waned since the tax filing deadline has passed, but lobbying continues around the measure.

Education and Workforce HELP Subcommittee Hearing on ERISA

On April 16^th, the House Education and the Workforce Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee held a hearing entitled, “ERISA’s 50^th Anniversary: The Path to Higher Quality, Lower Cost Health Care.” The hearing was called in response to the full Committee’s January 22, 2024, letter to the “Employee Health Benefits Community” requesting feedback on “ways to build upon and strengthen ERISA” that the witnesses submitted comments on. The Committee’s January letter specifically referenced several topics covered in the hearing, including the impact of the Supreme Court’s 2020 Rutledge decision that an Arkansas state law was not preempted by ERISA, the importance of ERISA preemption, and the desire to find ways to strengthen and clarify ERISA preemption. Also discussed at length was the possibility of extending fiduciary obligations to third party administrators and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and PBM reforms generally. The witnesses were: (1) Russell DuBose of Phifer, Inc. appearing on behalf of the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions; (2) Mairin Mancino of the Peterson Center on Healthcare; (3) Karen Handorf of the ERISA Practice Group at the D.C. law firm Berger Montague; and (4) Scott Behrens of Lockton Companies, a privately held insurance brokerage firm.  

With respect to ERISA preemption and the Rutledge decision, there was agreement among Subcommittee Republicans and the witnesses that it was important to ensure strong federal preemption of state laws regulating multi-state health plans. It was also noted that additional Congressional action was needed in the wake of Rutledge, as states are looking to use that decision to address healthcare costs, the practices of PBMs, and the price of prescription drugs in ways that undermine ERISA preemption. Democrats did not spend too much time on preemption, instead focusing their statements and Q&A on the need to enact federal legislation to strengthen the “promise” of ERISA through PBM reforms, contain healthcare costs, and ensure parity in long-term disability insurance coverage for mental health and substance use disorders. The witnesses generally suggested that if preemption were weakened, employers would face a patchwork of state regulations that would jeopardize their ability to offer cost-effective, uniform coverage across state lines. Mr. Behrens called preemption ERISA’s “crowning achievement,” and noted that if ERISA’s preemption “guardrails” were to change, that would have a detrimental impact on plan design and costs for plan sponsors and participants.  

Noting that the greatest threat to ERISA comes from state efforts to regulate PBMs, Republican and Democratic Subcommittee members and witnesses highlighted the need for federal action on PBMs, such as the “Lower Cost, More Transparency Act” that passed the House last December. It was noted that strong federal PBM standards would stop permissible state regulation, such as the Arkansas law at issue in the Rutledge case. Witnesses encouraged Subcommittee members to consider federal legislation making the following PBM reforms: (1) banning “spread pricing” and requiring PBMs to pass all rebates on to plan sponsors; (2) ensuring that PBMs providing services to self-insured employers are subject to strong, uniform standards and are subject to strong oversight and accountability requirements; (3) providing that any entity exercising discretion over plan assets is a fiduciary to the plan and thus must always act in the best interests of the plan (not a contractor or third party); and (4) ensuring greater transparency on the part of PBMs, including providing plan sponsors with visibility into negotiated pricing information and disclosure of any direct or indirect remuneration received to ERISA preemption that could have a broader impact on employee benefits under ERISA.

Labor Standards – EEOC Final Rule Implementing Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

Today, the Federal Register published the EEOC’s final rule and related interpretive guidance to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), which was signed into law by President Biden on December 29, 2022. The EEOC has released a summary of the final rule and posted a series of FAQs about the final rule and accompanying guidance. The EEOC has also incorporated information about the PWFA regulations and guidance into its webpage on pregnancy discrimination, which evaluates issues women face related to pregnancy across the spectrum of laws the Commission enforces. The PWFA requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide “reasonable accommodations,” or changes at work—including temporary suspension of essential job functions—for a worker’s known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless the employer can establish that the accommodation will cause the employer an undue hardship.

Among other things, this final rule includes: (1) examples of reasonable accommodations, including additional breaks to drink water, eat, or use the restroom, a stool to sit on while working, time off for healthcare appointments, temporary reassignment, temporary suspension of job duties, telework, or time off to recover from childbirth or a miscarriage; (2) guidance on limitations and medical conditions for which employees may seek reasonable accommodation, including miscarriage or stillbirth, migraines, lactation, and pregnancy-related conditions that are episodic, such as morning sickness; (3) guidance encouraging early and frequent communication between employers and workers to raise and resolve requests for reasonable accommodations in a timely manner; (4) guidance cautioning employers to be careful about requesting supporting documentation when an employee asks for a reasonable accommodation and to only do so when it is “reasonable under the circumstances”; (5) explanation of factors the EEOC will consider in determining whether an employer has met its burden of establishing that an accommodation would impose an undue hardship; and (6) information on how employers may assert defenses or exemptions, including those based on religion, because the final rule requires employers to offer reasonable accommodations to women who have had abortions or fertility issues under the law’s definition of “pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.”

CHIPS and Science Act – Commerce Issues Grants to Build Chip Facilities in Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Idaho, and New York

This week, the U.S. Department of Commerce continued allocating the billions in grant money from the CHIPS and Science Act to incentivize semiconductor companies to build out manufacturing production capabilities in the U.S. and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said that the Biden Administration will allocate all of the funding from the bill by the end of the year.  

• On April 8^th, the Biden Administration awarded Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) $6.6 billion in grants and as much as $5 billion in loans to help build chip factories and related facilities in Arizona. Under the preliminary agreement, TSMC will construct a third factory in Phoenix that is in addition to two factories on which it plans to begin construction in 2025 and 2028. In total, the package will support more than $65 billion in investments at the three plants by TSMC.
  
• On April 15^th, the Biden Administration announced a $6.4 billion agreement with Samsung to invest in semiconductor chip manufacturing in Texas. The investments in Austin, TX will expand an existing facility to support production of chip technologies used in the aerospace, defense, and automotive industries. The investments in Taylor, TX, will allow for construction of a comprehensive advanced manufacturing system that will allow Samsung to create leading-edge chips and for advanced packaging research and development. Samsung is expected to invest more than $40 billion in the region over the next several years.
  
• On April 18^th, the Biden Administration announced that it reached a tentative agreement with Micron Technology concerning details of $6.1 billion from the CHIPS and Science Act to build out a planned memory chip plant in Syracuse, New York, and to expand existing facilities in Boise, Idaho. In Syracuse, Micron is planning to build a giant manufacturing complex, pledging to start with a $20 billion project by the end of the decade and spend as much as $100 billion over the next two decades. In Boise, Micron plans to spend $15 billion to build a memory chip factory, the first new plant in the U.S. in 20 years.

Injury and Illness – OSHA Releases 2023 Injury and Illness Data 

On April 18^th, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released 2023 injury and illness data collected under the agency’s new Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses regulations published in July 2023. The 2023 injury and illness data includes specific information submitted by more than 375,000 establishments on OSHA Form 300A, “Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses.” It also includes individual injuries and illnesses for employers with 100 or more employees in high-hazard industries, like construction. In addition, OSHA has posted partial data from more than 850,000 OSHA Form 300, “Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses” and Form 301, “Injury and Illness Incident Report” records. More information about OSHA’s illness and injury recordkeeping and reporting requirements are available on OSHA’s website here. 

Hydrogen – IRS Supplemental Proposed Rule Regarding the Section 45V Clean Hydrogen Production Credit

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) published a supplemental proposed rule in connection with its December 26, 2023, proposed rule that would implement the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) section 45V clean hydrogen production credit as revised by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Under the December 26, 2023, proposed rule, the IRS provided a process for hydrogen production facilities to determine whether they meet a certain threshold of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that would make them eligible for the section 45V credit. Under this process, facilities would use the most recent “Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Transportation” (GREET) model developed by Argonne National Laboratory. However, if the most recent GREET model does not include either the feedstock used by the facility or the facility’s hydrogen production technology, the taxpayer may instead request a Provisional Emissions Rate (PER) from the Secretary of the Treasury. Petitions to the Secretary for PERs must include: (1) the emissions value obtained from the Department of Energy, which provides an analytical assessment of the GHG emissions from the facility’s hydrogen production process; (2) a copy of the taxpayer’s request to DOE; and (3) any information the taxpayer provided to DOE in connection with the emissions value request process. The supplemental proposed rule provides clarifying guidance for taxpayers regarding the process for filing requests for an emissions value from DOE that would then be used to file a petition with the Secretary of the Treasury for determination of a PER.

PFAS – EPA Releases Final Rule to Limit Presence of PFAS

On April 10^th, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the first-ever national rule to limit the presence in drinking water of highly toxic synthetic compounds known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)—commonly referred to as “forever chemicals.” With the release of the pre-publication text of the rule, the EPA also issued a general summary of the final rule and released FAQs on the final rule. EPA estimates that compliance with the rule will cost approximately $1.5 billion annually.

In conjunction with the release of the final rule text, EPA also announced two webinars: (1) on April 23, 2024 from 2:00-3:00 PM ET to provide a technical overview of the PFAS NPDWR for drinking water utilities and professionals (with registration available here); and (2) on April 30, 2024 from 2:00-3:30 PM ET to provide a technical overview of the PFAS NPDWR for small drinking water systems (with registration available here). 

EPA also posted a series of six facts sheets related to the following aspects of the final rule: (1) a fact sheet on “Understanding the Final PFAS National Primary Drinking Water Regulation Hazard Index Maximum Contaminant Level”; (2) a fact sheet on “Benefits and Costs of Reducing PFAS in Drinking Water”; (3) a fact sheet on “Small and Rural Water Systems”; (4) a fact sheet on “PFAS NPDWR Monitoring and Reporting”; (5) a fact sheet on “Treatment Options for Removing PFAS in Drinking Water”; and (6) a fact sheet on “Comparison Between EPA’s Proposed and Final PFAS NPDWR”.

Other Interesting Things Since Our Last Report 

Thursday, April 18^th

• The Labor Department (DOL) issued a blog post that highlights five ways construction industry employers can create safer and better workplaces for all workers, especially women. They include: (1) providing properly fitting personal protective equipment; (2) guaranteeing safe and sanitary bathrooms; (3) ensuring protections for pregnant and post-partum workers; (4) preventing gender-based violence and harassment; and (5) promoting mental health. The blog post also explains that more than 390,000 women work in construction and extraction occupations, an 11% increase since 2017, but that despite this, gender and racial discrimination remain widespread and many women still face challenges navigating these male-dominated occupations, including threats to their safety. 

Wednesday, April 17^th

• Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) joined 32 of his Senate Republican colleagues in cosponsoring a resolution from Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) to overturn the Securities and Exchange Commission’s new climate disclosure rule requiring companies to detail their use of fossil fuels. 

• President Biden announced plans to more than triple a key tariff rate on Chinese steel and aluminum from 7.5% to 25%. This higher levy would be in addition to a separate 25% tariff on steel and a 10% duty on aluminum imposed under the Trump Administration. A senior Biden Administration official said the higher tariffs would only affect 0.6% of U.S. demand for steel. A White House fact sheet on the Administration’s actions is available here. The announcement comes as the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced that it is initiating a section 301 trade investigation into China’s unfair practices in the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding industries, per a request from the IBEW, the Boilermakers, the United Steelworkers, IAM, and the AFL-CIO Maritime Trades Department.
  
• The Energy Department (DOE) released its Transmission Interconnection Roadmap (Roadmap) that sets targets for interconnection improvement by 2030 and outlines solutions to speed up the interconnection of clean energy onto the nation’s transmission grid and to clear the existing backlog of solar, wind, and battery projects seeking to be built. DOE will also host a webinar on May 8, 2024, at 1pm (with registration here) to discuss the targets and solutions included in the Roadmap.

• The Energy Department (DOE) announced final standards for commercial unitary air conditioners and heat pumps, circulator pumps, dishwashers, and miscellaneous refrigeration appliances (e.g., wine coolers) that are estimated to save consumers $33 billion on energy and water bills and reduce nearly 134 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, equivalent to the combined annual emissions of nearly 17 million homes.

• A new analysis of campaign finance disclosures showed vulnerable House Democrats were more successful fundraisers during the first quarter of this year than Republican incumbents facing similar races, with the average Democrat in a competitive race raising 21% more than a similarly situated Republican. Senate Democrats in races rated as “toss-up” also posted big fundraising numbers, including Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) ($12.1 million) and Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) ($8 million).

Tuesday, April 16^th

• The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a special Open Commission Meeting on April 23, 2024, at 2pm ET to vote on the final non-compete rule that would prevent most employers from using and enforcing non-compete clauses against workers. MCAA filed comments when this rule was proposed expressing concerns and seeking changes to it.

• The Energy Department (DOE) announced the release of its latest Pathways to Commercial Liftoff report, which demonstrates how commercially available advanced grid solutions—such as advanced conductors, dynamic line rating, and energy storage—can cost effectively increase the existing grid’s capacity to support upwards of 20–100 gigawatts of peak demand growth. DOE notes that the advanced technologies identified in the Liftoff report are receiving funding through the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program, a $10.5 billion grant program created by the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to enhance grid flexibility and improve power system resilience.

• Senate Democrats unveiled a $79 million advertising plan to boost their chances of keeping the majority in the Senate chamber after the November elections. This comes as Democratic Senate candidates—including Sens. Sherrod Brown (OH), Jon Tester (MT), and Jacky Rosen (NV), as well as Rep. Elissa Slotkin (MI), Ruben Gallego (AZ)—outraised their GOP rivals in the first quarter of 2024.
  

Monday, April 15^th

• Incoming House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole announced the final slate of subcommittee chairs for the remainder of the 118^th Congress: (1) Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL) as Chair of Labor, Health, and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies; (2) Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN) as Chair of Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies; (3) Rep. John Carter (R-TX) as Chair of Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies; (4) Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR) as Chair of Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies; (5) Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NC) as Chair of Homeland Security; (6) Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) as Chair of Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies; (7) Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY) as Chair of Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies; (8) Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH) as Chair of Financial Services and General Government; (9) Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) as Chair of Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies; (10) Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) as Chair of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs; (11) Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA) as Chair of Defense; and (12) Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) as Chair of Legislative Branch.

• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it denied a petition to remove stationary combustion turbines from the list of sources subject to regulation for emissions of air toxics, so that the turbines will continue to be required to comply with national limits on hazardous air pollutants under the Clean Air Act. Stationary combustion turbines are typically located at industrial facilities, chemical plants, power plants, and compressor stations to create additional electricity or provide direct heating applications.

• The Interior Department (DOI) announced a final rule from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) amending 20-year-old regulations by increasing financial assurance requirements for the offshore oil and gas industry operating on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) to compensate for the cost of decommissioning oil and gas facilities on the OCS. BOEM estimates that the rule will require industry to provide $6.9 billion in new financial assurances. 

Thursday, April 11^th

• The Senate Majority PAC, a group aligned with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), raised $39.3 million in the first quarter of 2024—about $15 million more than its GOP counterpart. Meanwhile, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) announced he hauled in more than $20 million during the first quarter of the year, indicating success breaking through with high-dollar donors his party needs to hang on to the House majority this fall.

Wednesday, April 10^th

• The Department of Labor announced $65 million in Strengthening Community Colleges Training grants to 16 community colleges in Arkansas, California, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Utah, and Wisconsin to work with industry stakeholders to identify workforce needs and expand student career training for construction-related sectors, renewable energy, advanced manufacturing, broadband, transportation, healthcare, and information technology.

• The General Services Administration (GSA) announced $23.8 million in funding from the President’s Inflation Reduction Act for 13 projects at federal buildings in New Jersey, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Ohio, Missouri, Louisiana, South Dakota, Oregon, and Maryland under the “Good Neighbor Program” that will involve helping these federal buildings meet high- performance green building and low-embodied carbon standards.

• News broke that President Biden’s Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, Xavier Becerra, is considering leaving the Biden Administration to run for governor of California in 2026. Becerra has been one of the main messengers for the Biden Administration on protecting abortion rights, and confirming a new HHS Secretary will require a tough confirmation fight with Republicans in the closely divided Senate.

• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it, in conjunction with the Justice Department, reached a settlement with Colonial Oil Industries Inc. requiring the company to pay a civil penalty of more than $2.8 million and spend an estimated $12.2 million to offset the detrimental human health and environmental impacts of its alleged failure to meet obligations under gas volatility standards and the Clean Air Act’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program, under which refiners or importers of gasoline or diesel fuel are required to either blend renewable fuels into transportation fuel or purchase credits known as Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) to meet their renewable volume obligations. Between 2013 and 2019, Colonial failed to purchase and retire enough RINs.

Tuesday, April 9^th

• In a speech to caregivers and paid leave advocates in Washington, D.C., President Biden vowed to use a second presidential term to enact historic care laws—including the country’s first national paid family leave policy—as well as legislation to make child care more affordable and to invest in early education. The President said his goal is a national paid family and medical leave program administered by the Social Security Administration that will provide up to 12 weeks to: (1) care for a newborn; (2) heal from serious illness; (3) address circumstances arising from a loved one’s military deployment; (4) address domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking; or (5) grieve the death of a loved one without losing income. 

• In an interview with Univision, President Biden signaled that his administration is considering plans to issue an executive order under the Immigration and Nationality Act that would restrict the ability of immigrants to claim asylum and to dramatically limit the number of migrants who can cross the southern border. Biden acknowledged that the legality of such an order would face legal challenges but seemed willing to take that risk observing that, “if I get shut down by the courts, I get shut down by the courts.”

• The Department of Justice’s COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force released its 2024 report detailing multi-agency efforts to respond to fraud in COVID-era federal relief programs, including charging more than 3,500 defendants and recovering $1.4 billion in CARES Act funds since 2021. Along with IRS Criminal Investigations, the Task Force has initiated 352 investigations involving more than $2.9 billion in potentially fraudulent Employee Retention Tax Credit claims. The Task Force also called on Congress to enact new legislation that would extend the statute of limitations for all COVID-19 fraud-related offenses and adequately resource anti-fraud efforts well into the future. Relatedly, the White House applauded forthcoming legislation led by Sens. Gary Peters (D-MI), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Ron Wyden (D-OR), entitled the “Fraud Prevention and Recovery Act,” which would crack down on systemic pandemic fraud across government programs and help victims of identity theft.
  

Monday, April 8^th

• President Biden’s re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee announced that they raised more than $90 million in March and ended the year’s first quarter with $192 million in cash-on-hand, further stretching their money advantage over Trump and the Republican National Committee. Biden’s announcement comes as Trump’s campaign said it raised $50.5 million on Saturday, April 6^th, during an event with major donors at the home of billionaire investor John Paulson.

Around the Country 

Northeast 

• On April 19^th, it was reported that Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) is maneuvering to defend what’s known as the “New Jersey county line” system, which is being challenged in court as unconstitutional and undemocratic by plaintiffs that include Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ), the leading Democratic candidate for Senate.

• On April 17^th, The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Mid-Atlantic Region 3—comprised of Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C.—announced that registration is now open for its 3^rd Annual Environmental Summit to be held virtually on May 16, 2024, from 10am to 4pm ET. The event includes workshops on PFAS, environmental justice, waterways, rural eastern shore communities climate solutions, and workforce diversity. Registration is available here. 

• On April 16^th, a new poll in the Maryland Democratic U.S. Senate primary found Rep. David Trone (D-MD) leading Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks 48% to 29%. Both Trone and Alsobrooks, however, are trailing former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan 53% to 40% and 54% to 36%, respectively.

• On April 16^th, True Patriots PA, a newly established outside group with ties to California Democrats, is hitting Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) as not conservative enough, seeking to boost his GOP primary opponent Mark Houck in the race for Pennsylvania’s 1^st Congressional District. 

• On April 15^th, the Department of Labor announced $34,142 in recovered back wages and fringe benefits for nine employees of Day-Debut Mechanical Inc., a Gaithersburg, Maryland-based federal subcontractor on the Housing and Urban Development Department-funded Paxton Apartments construction project in the District of Columbia, after the Wage and Hour Division determined the company misclassified nine sheet metal workers and insulators as laborers and submitted incomplete and falsified payroll records.

• On April 11^th, a federal judge ruled that Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and his wife will be tried separately on allegations that they participated in a bribery scheme after Nadine Menendez’s lawyers argued that she requires treatment for a serious medical condition.

• On April 10^th during a House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee hearing on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) real estate needs, members of both parties expressed skepticism of the FBI’s plans to build its new headquarters in Greenbelt, Maryland, and frustration over the Biden General Service Administration’s pace in turning over documents that helped the agency arrive at its decision.

• On April 9^th, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) said he plans to introduce a bill to ensure that the federal government pays for the entirety of the replacement of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, and expressed optimism about bipartisan support for the effort. Sen. Cardin’s statement followed an April 8^th announcement by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers laying out an “ambitious” timeline to partially reopen the Fort McHenry Channel in Baltimore by the end of April and fully reopen it by the end of May. This announcement came as the Biden Transportation Department signed a revised grant agreement with Baltimore County, Maryland, to enable Tradepoint Atlantic, a facility in the county, to use a previously awarded $8.26 million DOT grant to accommodate more cargo at its terminal on Sparrows Point at the Port of Baltimore. The adjustments to the previously awarded Port Infrastructure Development Program grant will expedite paving at least 10 acres that will be used for additional cargo laydown area, doubling the prior 10,0000 autos per month capacity.

• On April 9^th, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced $156,495 in recovered wages and fringe benefits for 48 employees of Day C Soul Mechanical Inc., a commercial plumbing service based in Libertytown, Maryland, after a DOL Wage and Hour Division investigation determined the company denied full pay and fringe benefits to workers employed to work on a federally-funded affordable housing project in Clinton, Maryland. The air conditioning subcontractor Charles A. Klein & Sons Inc. of Sykesville, Maryland, which hired Day C Soul, paid the owed wages and benefits after Day C Soul refused to comply. 

West

• On April 16^th, the Interior Department (DOI) announced $29.7 million for drought planning projects for states in the Upper Colorado River Basin – Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming – including projects that re-activate and install up to 600 stream gages (used to monitor and test bodies of water), expand weather station networks that monitor water resource management, and install new monitoring technology to track water diversion, soil moisture and snowpack.

• On April 16^th, California Republican Senate candidate Steve Garvey reported raising $3.4 million from mid-February through the end of March, but between digital ads, direct mail, commission costs, and venue fees, it cost him over $1 million to do so.

• On April 10^th, a recount was requested in the race for California’s 16^th Congressional District where California Assemblymember Evan Low (D) and Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian (D) remain tied for second place at 30,249 votes apiece. 

Northwest 

• On April 15^th, The Hill reported that Democrats are bracing for a tough fight in Alaska, where Rep. Mary Peltola (D) is seeking to win reelection after a surprise midterm victory in 2022 turned a House seat that had been held by a Republican for five decades blue.

Midwest 

• On April 19^th, former Rep. Peter Barca (D-WI) announced a run against incumbent Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI) in Wisconsin’s 1^st Congressional District. 

• On April 19^th, Rep. Jake La Turner (R-KS) announced he will not seek reelection to Kansas’ 2^nd Congressional District.

• On April 15^th, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced that it will host an in-person training session on May 6, 2024, from 8am to 12:30pm ET in Carmel, Indiana, that will provide a comprehensive overview on how to navigate the internal investigation process once an employee presents a claim of discrimination.

• On April 15^th, USA Today reported that Independent candidate Dan Osborn, who previously led a local Steam Fitters Union, is gaining traction in his campaign against incumbent Sen. Deb Fischer (R) in Nebraska.

• On April 9^th, it was announced that Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) will face cybersecurity expert Tom Guarente and Nashville Metro Council member Courtney Johnston in the GOP primary for Tennessee’s 5^th Congressional District.

• On April 9^th, after receiving an endorsement from Trump, Tony Wied, the former owner of a northwestern Wisconsin dinosaur-themed gas station chain, announced a run for Rep. Mike Gallagher’s (R-WI) seat in Wisconsin’s 8^th Congressional District. 

Southeast

• On April 15^th, it was announced that Reps. Mark Green (R-TN) and David Kustoff will no longer face opponents in Tennessee’s 7^th Congressional District and Tennessee’s 8^thCongressional District, respectively, after state Republican Party officials removed their opponents from the ballot due to challenges over their status as “bona fide” party members.

• On April 11^th, the Biden Administration approved the construction of the $1.8 billion Sea Port Deepwater Oil Export Terminal off Freeport, Texas. The facility has an export capacity of 2 million barrels of crude oil per day. Environmentalists feel betrayed by the Maritime Administration’s approval of the deepwater port license for the project after a five-year federal review. 

Southwest

• On April 17^th, respected election analyst Larry Sabato changed his rating of the U.S. Senate race in Arizona between Rep. Ruben Gallego (D) and Republican Kari Lake from a “toss up” to “leans Democrat,” citing the response to a state Supreme Court ruling reinstating a 19th-century abortion ban.

As part of its ongoing commitment to protecting your livelihood and setting the stage for a bright future, MCAA has secured the services of Longbow Public Policy Group to advise our MCAA Government Affairs Committee (GAC). GAC Chair, Jim Gaffney will be passing along information relative to our industry on a regular basis.

On Friday, March 22, 2024 MCAA Lobbying Firm, Longbow Public Policy Group provided the following information:

This week, Congress labored to pass the final six bill fiscal year (FY) 2024 minibus spending package to prevent a partial government shutdown at midnight tonight. Under this funding bill, the Labor Department would receive $13.7 billion in discretionary funding, which includes $10.4 billion for the Employment and Training Administration (a $28 million decrease compared to the FY 2023 enacted levels) and flat funding of $285 million for Registered Apprenticeships, $2.9 billion for Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act State Grants, and $65 million for strengthening community college training grants. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration would also receive flat funding ($632 million) for the remainder of FY 2024, as would the Wage and Hour Division ($260 million), and the National Labor Relations Board ($299 million). 

In what has become a hallmark of the 118^th Congress, the process for passing the funding bill has been a mess. Congressional leadership reached agreement on the minibus over the weekend and took until yesterday at around 3AM to release legislative text. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), due to the opposition of members of the House Freedom Caucus and other Republicans, was forced to bring the measure up under suspension of the rule, which requires two-thirds support to pass. The measure barely made it, with the House voting 286-134 to pass the bill after 112 Republicans opposed the measure—denying Speaker Johnson the support of a “majority of the majority” of the House GOP caucus. As of this writing, the Senate is working to get a time agreement on a vote on the spending bill in hopes of sending it to the White House before the weekend. 

While the House was able to pass the funding bill, conservative lawmakers are incensed that Speaker Johnson brought up a bill that did not receive the support of a majority of the GOP caucus. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) expressed her displeasure by filing a “motion to vacate” against Speaker Johnson. Motions to vacate are considered privileged and must be considered within 72 hours of being formally introduced on the floor. While Speaker Johnson’s team denied Greene the ability to offer the motion to vacate before gaveling out for the Easter recess, unless Greene reconsiders, it is likely that the House will have to vote on the motion to vacate within days after returning to session after the recess. Democrats are currently holding their cards close and have not said whether they will help to save Johnson’s speakership or thrust the House back into the chaos that reigned for the 22 days following the outer of Speaker McCarthy last October. The dysfunction, however, is expected to continue with Rep. Ken Buck’s (R-CO) resignation becoming effective today coupled with a surprise announcement this afternoon that Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) said he is resigning from Congress on April 19^th, which will reduce the House GOP majority to 217-213 with 5 vacancies. Additionally, House Appropriations Committee Chair Kay Granger (R-TX) wrote Speaker Johnson that she is stepping down as Chair of the powerful committee and requested that as “soon as possible the GOP Steering Committee and Conference select a new Chair of the Appropriations Committee.”  Rep. Granger had already announced she is not seeking reelection in November, and she does not plan to resign her seat before the end of the Congress.  There were also many other developments this week related to MCAA’s priority issues that are recounted below.

Update from Saturday, March 23, 2024: Overnight in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday, the Senate passed the six-bill minibus the House passed earlier on Friday. And this morning the President signed it. This now ensures there is no partial government shutdown when the workweek begins Monday and all federal agencies are now funded through September 30, 2024. And when Congress returns they will be busy with hearings on the Fiscal year 2025 spending bills. 

MCAA Issues and Interests

Registered Apprenticeship—MCAA and the UA File Joint Comments on DOL Proposed Rule

On Monday March 18^th, the MCAA and the UA filed joint comments on the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration’s proposed rule entitled National Apprenticeship System Enhancements that published in December.  The joint comment letter resulted from consultation between MCAA’s government affairs team, MCAA affiliates concerned about aspects of the rule, the Joint Apprenticeship Training Fund, and the UA.  

The letter explains the best-in-class apprenticeship programs that the MCAA and UA sponsor.  It expresses support for portions of the rule that support the kind of successful apprenticeship programs we operate, ensure the quality of registered apprenticeship programs, and advance the safety and welfare of apprentices.  Most of the letter is devoted to urging the Labor Department to reconsider aspects of the proposal the MCAA and the UA view as detrimental to high-quality registered apprenticeship programs in our industry.  These include a provision authorizing exemptions from the minimum standards for registration of a program, creation of National Occupational Standards for our crafts, language that could be interpreted to override local standards that provide greater protection for programs and apprentices in them, the creation of a new Career Technical Education Apprenticeship system in our industry, and various changes the rule proposes to critical terms such as journeyworker and pre-apprenticeship programs. The comments also argue that DOL should clarify non-compete language in the proposal to ensure it does not interfere with lawful scholarship loan agreements. 

A copy of the joint MCAA-UA comment letter is available here.

Many other union contractor associations, as well as several labor unions, including North America’s Building Trades Unions filed comments expressing concerns about the rulemaking similar to those expressed in the MCAA-UA joint comment letter.

Comments on the proposed rule were due just days before the U.S. Senate confirmed former Florida State Senator Jose Javier Rodriguez on Thursday, March 21^st to lead the Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA), which oversees worker training and registered apprenticeship and will be responsible for reviewing and responding to comments on the proposed rule as it works to develop a final regulation. Rodriguez was confirmed by a vote of 50-48.

Independent Contractor Rule

Yesterday, the House Education and the Workforce Committee voted 21-13 along party lines to advance H.J. Res. 116, a Congressional Review Act resolution to nullify the Labor Department’s MCAA-supported independent contractor final rule. This final rule makes it harder for contractors to classify workers as independent contractors. The MCAA policy team has been lobbying with the Construction Employers of America against this resolution and sent letters of opposition to the House and Senate last week opposing H.J. Res. 116 and the Senate companion S. J. Res. 63. 

In those letters, the MCAA and CEA explain that rescinding the DOL independent contractor rule would encourage the misclassification of construction workers “by weakening the standards for when workers are employees versus independent contractors.” The letters also highlight the impact that misclassification and wage theft in the construction industry are having on the U.S. financial system, as evidenced by warnings like the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s (FinCEN) August 15, 2023 notice directing U.S. financial institutions to take extra precautions to prevent the banking system from being used to facilitate a “concerning increase in state and federal payroll tax evasion and workers’ compensation insurance fraud in the U.S. residential and commercial real estate construction industries.” 

The House CRA must now be considered by the full House after the two-week Easter recess. If the House passes the CRA, it must still be considered in the Senate and signed into law by the President. 

Pensions

Ed and Workforce Subcommittee Holds Hearing with PBGC to Discuss SFA Overpayments

On Wednesday, March 20^th, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) Director Gordon Hartogensis appeared before the House Education and the Workforce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions for an oversight hearing on the PBGC that focused on the Special Financial Assistance (SFA) program and the overpayment of $127 million to the Teamsters Central States Pension Fund for deceased participants. 

Despite an opening statement from Subcommittee Chair Bob Good (R-VA) and questions from full Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-NC) that blasted the American Rescue Plan Act’s (ARPA) Special Financial Assistance (SFA) program as a “$91 billion bailout to the failing multiemployer pension system” and the PBGC for its “ongoing mismanagement” of SFA funds, Director Hartogensis’ unequivocal statement that the $127 million overpayment to Central States will be recouped, as well as his explanation of steps taken to fix the issues that led to the overpayment, seemed to silence Republicans. 

Democrats used the hearing to highlight the success of both the ARPA and the SFA, which were passed without Republican support in the House. Democrats also detailed how the SFA prevented the collapse of the multiemployer pension system, as highlighted by the “Multiemployer Pension Rescue” interactive map on the House Education and the Workforce Democrats’ website here. 

EBSA Statement of Enforcement Policy Requiring Repayment of Excess SFA Payments

On a related note, the Friday before the hearing, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) issued a “Statement of Enforcement Policy (SEP) Regarding Return of Excess Special Financial Assistance Payments.” The SEP makes clear that Central States needs to return $127 million in extra Special Financial Assistance (SFA) Program funds it received for dead participants and that the trustees of the plan will not face liability under ERISA for doing so. Notably, the EBSA statement is written to apply broadly beyond Central States to any multiemployer plan that received “SFA payments…in amounts that exceeded what they should have received because of inaccuracies in plan census data that was used to prepare benefit projections needed to determine the amount of SFA to be paid to the plans as part of the SFA application process.” 

The SEP goes on to say that the “[DOL] recognizes that plans do not have access to the Social Security Administration’s Full Death Master File, which the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is in a unique position to use to cross-check participant data.” Any multiemployer plan that received an SFA payment before the PBGC changed its process for identifying dead participants needs to be aware of this new enforcement policy. Importantly, the new Statement of Enforcement Policy also makes clear that repayment of SFA funds is not precluded by and does not violate “the requirement of ERISA Section 403(c)(1), which provides that plan assets must be held for ‘the exclusive purposes of providing benefits to participants….and defraying reasonable expenses of administering the plan,’ or the duties of prudence and loyalty as set forth in ERISA Sections 404(a)(1)(A) and (B).” DOL adds that it “has confirmed its understanding with the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service” and that it “does not intend to take any enforcement action against a plan that repays excess SFA amounts based on inaccurate census information that is subsequently corrected through the PBGC’s use of the Death Master File.”

DOL included the caveat that its statement of enforcement policy “should not be read as suggesting that the plans failed to exercise proper care in connection with the applications for SFA, but rather that some of the applications were premised on inaccuracies in Census data that the PBGC is in a unique position to detect and for which the United States government has a bona fide restitution claim.” It goes on to say that “the PBGC will work with the plans to recalculate the[ir] SFA entitlement and the amount of the excess payments” and “that this process has already begun.”

Government Funding Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Proposal

Biden Releases FY2025 Budget Proposal 

The ongoing congressional deliberations on the Fiscal Year 2024 Appropriations bills did not deter the President from released on March 11^th his $7.3 trillion fiscal year (FY) 2025 budget request to Congress that represents a 1% increase over last year’s budget and proposes $3.2 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 years primarily by increasing taxes on corporations and wealthy households. The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published a series of fact sheets on aspects of the FY25 budget, including cutting “wasteful spending” by eliminating tax subsidies for “special interests,” that pointedly includes the “oil and gas industry.” The Administration also proposes “crack[ing] down on wealthy and big corporate tax cheats,” preventing “wealthy investment fund managers from avoiding tax on their earnings,” and “expand[ing] penalties when employers violate workers’ rights to organize, receive fair wages, or have a safe and healthy workplace free from discrimination.”  Along with the release of the budget, the Treasury Department published the FY25 “Green Book” that outlines the Biden Administration’s revenue proposals for the next fiscal year, including plans to increase the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%, increase the top individual tax rate to 39.6% for income over $400,000 for single filers and $450,000 for joint filers, and increase from 1% to 4% the tax on corporate stock buybacks. 

With regard to agency funding, the FY25 budget requests $13.9 billion for the Labor Department, a $318 million increase over current levels, including $335 million for registered apprenticeships (a $50 million increase) and increases for enforcement agencies. For the Energy Department, the budget requests $51 billion, an increase of $800 million over enacted levels, including $10.6 billion for clean energy research, development, demonstration, and deployment programs. The President’s budget request for the Environmental Protection Agency seeks $10.8 billion, a 20% boost over enacted levels, including $2.4 billion for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, and $101 million for two EPA programs dedicated to remediating lead contamination in drinking water by replacing lead pipe service lines. Finally, for the Education Department, the President’s budget proposes to expand free community college across the U.S. through a federal-state partnership; and (2) seeks $12 billion for a new “Reducing the Costs of College Fund,” which would create a new $7.2 billion program to provide states with matching funds to offer at least 12 free postsecondary credits to students in certain career-connected programs.

MCAA Union Partner the United Association Under Scrutiny by House Republicans

Last Friday, March 15^th, House Education and the Workforce Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-NC) sent letters to 12 unions specifying examples of recent corruption in their unions and requesting information about the unions’ efforts to protect members from fraud, corruption, and improper accounting. The letters conclude by asking for: (1) a comprehensive description of the policies and procedures the union has in place to monitor and deter fraud, corruption, and improper accounting, including any third-party audits; (2) a comprehensive description of the education the union provides its staff to ensure that proper accounting standards are observed for the oversight of funds, assets, and property for the national organization and for the local unions; (3) an explanation of whether the union has an internal reporting mechanism, such as a hotline, for its members, staff, and whistleblowers to report any examples of fraud, corruption, or improper accounting; and (4) a comprehensive description of any internal disciplinary policies the union has in place to punish instances of fraud, corruption, and improper accounting

The 12 unions that received letters were the United Association, the Laborers’ International Union of North America, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the Communications Workers of America, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the International Longshoremen’s Association, the Service Employees International Union, and the United Mine Workers of America.

Inflation Reduction Act Implementation—IRS Guidance for Energy Communities and the Bonus Credit Program

Today, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2024-23 that expands the Nameplate Capacity Rule for determining what an energy community is for the Inflation Reduction Act’s production and investment tax credits. Under the Nameplate Capacity Rule, a project that has nameplate capacity is considered located in or placed in service within an energy community if 50 percent or more of the project’s nameplate capacity is in an area that qualifies as an energy community. Per the notice, there are three categories of energy communities: (1) Brownfield sites; (2) certain metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) and non-metropolitan statistical areas (non-MSAs) based on unemployment rates; and (3) Census tracts where a coal mine closed after 1999 or where a coal-fired electric generating unit was retired after 2009 (and directly adjoining Census tracts.) The increased credit amount or rate available for meeting the requirements of the energy community provisions is generally 10 percent for the production tax credit and 2 percent for the investment tax credit. If prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements are met, the investment tax credit would be 10%. This notice expands the Nameplate Capacity Rule to include additional attribution property and adds two 2017 North American Industry Classification System industry codes—Natural Gas Distribution and Oil and Gas Pipeline and Related Structures Construction—for purposes of determining the Fossil Fuel Employment Rate. The IRS also released Appendix 1, identifying additional MSAs and non-MSAs that meet the Fossil Fuel Employment threshold, and Appendix 2, identifying additional MSAs and non-MSAs that qualify as energy communities in 2023 by meeting the Fossil Fuel Employment threshold and the unemployment rate requirement for calendar year 2022.

CHIPS and Scient Act Implementation—$8.5 Billion for Four New Microchip Manufacturing Projects 

On Wednesday, March 20^th, the Commerce Department announced that it reached terms to grant Intel up to $8.5 billion from the CHIPS and Science Act to build four new chip plants in Ohio, Arizona, New Mexico, and Oregon. The terms include prevailing wage and apprenticeship utilization requirements. The federal funding is motivating Intel to invest approximately $100 billion in U.S. projects over the next five years. The Commerce Department says these projects are expected to create over 30,000 good-paying jobs and Intel’s investments will put the U.S. on track to produce 20% of the world’s leading-edge chips by the end of the decade. The announcement comes amid reports that surging costs for building materials and labor, as well as a shortage of construction workers, are postponing construction of chip manufacturing facilities for Intel and Taiwan Superconductor that are already underway in Arizona. Chip material executives have said that the cost of building a plant in Arizona has ballooned to four or five times what it would be in Asia and is “several times” higher than they previously expected to spend.

Decarbonization – Eighth Circuit Selected to Hear Lawsuits Against SEC’s Climate Disclosure Rule

Yesterday, the Eight Circuit Court of appeals was chosen randomly through a lottery to be the court where all the lawsuits against the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Clime Disclosure Rule will be consolidated and heard. Generally, this SEC Rule will compel public companies to detail in securities filings information about their greenhouse gas emissions. The Eight Circuit is viewed as a venue favored by the plaintiffs that filed suit to enjoin the rule because it is where nine GOP-led states, including Iowa, Montana, and North Dakota filed their challenge. The SEC rule was enjoined by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this week before the lottery to determine where the 9 cases filed on it around the country would be consolidated.

Right to Repair

On March 14^th, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Justice Department’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division submitted a joint comment to the U.S. Copyright Office advocating for regulations that would facilitate consumers’ and businesses’ right to repair products they purchase as the Copyright Office considers whether to recommend that the Librarian of Congress renew and expand temporary exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s (DMCA) prohibition against the circumvention of technology protection measures that control access to copyrighted content. In their joint comments, the FTC and DOJ argue that renewing and expanding repair-related exemptions would promote competition in markets for replacement parts, repair, and maintenance services, as well as facilitate competition in markets for repairable products. The FTC and DOJ highlight that repair exemptions remove barriers that limit the ability of independent service providers to provide repair services. In their comment letter, the FTC and DOJ characterize manufacturers’ technology protection measures as not only protecting copyrighted works from theft and infringing uses, but also preventing non-infringing third-party repair.  

In the FTC’s press release announcing the joint comment letter, the Commission details how it hasbeen active in opposing repair restrictions for decades going back to its early support for the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, which bars manufacturers from voiding warranties if consumers use third-party replacement parts or independent repair shops. The press release also highlights the FTC’s 2019 Nixing the Fix workshop focused on repair restrictions, its 2021 report based on input provided at the 2019 workshop and the Commission’s related policy statement pledging to vigorously enforce the law to combat repair restrictions that violate antitrust and consumer protection laws. The FTC also notes the settlements it secured in 2022 making it easier and cheaper to repair grills, motorcycles, and outdoor power equipment. The Commission also stresses that it has voiced support for state efforts to ensure consumers can repair their own products, including testifying last year before the state legislature in California and last month in Colorado’s General Assembly on state Right to Repair legislation. 

In DOJ’s press release announcing the joint comment letter, it notes that it has actively opposed repair restrictions that limit the ability of consumers and businesses to repair their own products, citing its recently filed statement of interest in re: Deere & Co. Repair Services Litigation, 3:22-cv-50188 (N.D. Ill., 2023). In this case, DOJ’s Antitrust Division argued that “federal antitrust laws have long protected competition in aftermarkets,” such as markets for replacement parts and repair services by independent dealers. DOJ also explains that the Antitrust Division has been bringing cases to protect competition in markets for repair services or component parts and provided technical assistance to Congress on proposed legislation that would promote the Right to Repair.

Other Interesting Things Since Our Last Report 

Friday, March 22^nd

• House Appropriations Chair Kay Granger (R-TX) will step down early as chair of the House Appropriations Committee, saying in a letter that she has accomplished “more than [she] ever could have imagined” as both Chair and Ranking Member of the Committee. Granger said that she would remain chairwoman until the Republican Steering Committee, which determines committee assignments for the conference, selects a new chair. 

Thursday, March 21^st

• The White House took aim at local zoning restrictions that “limit housing density” and increase “input costs associated with construction” in the President’s annual Economic Report.  The White House says that restrictive zoning rules that limit housing density are driving up housing costs. Page 152 of the report asserts that zoning restrictions—including prohibitions on multifamily homes, height limits, minimum lot sizes, square footage minimums, and parking requirements—limit housing supply and decrease affordability. As an example, the report highlighted that minimum lot sizes require developers to build on larger lots than “the market would otherwise provide,” while minimum parking requirements do not meet demand, increase costs, and reduce the amount of housing that could otherwise be built. The report also notes that recent zoning changes allowing multifamily housing in Boston and Minneapolis-Saint Paul have led to increased housing supply, desegregation, and increased shares of Black and Hispanic residents. The report also notes that “physical construction costs have quadrupled since the 1980s, accelerated by an increase in labor and material costs, while construction sector productivity has fallen.”

• The Energy Department (DOE) announced up to $475 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding for five projects in Arizona, Kentucky, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia to accelerate clean energy deployment on current and former mine land through locally-driven clean energy projects that are replicable in other communities with mine land.The selected projects cover a range of clean energy technologies, from solar, microgrids, and pumped storage hydropower to geothermal and battery energy storage systems. 

• The White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs completed its review of the Federal Acquisition Regulatory (FAR) Council’s final rule regarding “Sustainable Procurement,” the final step before an item is published in the Federal Register. This rule will require Federal contractors to provide sustainable products and services to the maximum extent practicable under Federal contracts.

• The White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs completed its review of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s “Worker Walkaround Representative Designation” final rule, the last step before an item is published in the Federal Register. The rule seeks to clarify the right of workers and certified bargaining units to specify a worker, union representative, or other individual to accompany an OSHA inspector during the inspection process/facility walkaround, regardless of whether the representative is an employee of the employer, if in the judgment of the Compliance Safety and Health Officer such person is reasonably necessary for an effective and thorough physical inspection. 

Wednesday, March 20^th

• House Democrats elected Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO) to replace Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) as Assistant House Democratic Leader, setting off a three-way election to replace Neguse as Chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee between Reps. Veronica Escobar (D-TX), Lauren Underwood (D-IL), and Debbie Dingell (D-MI). In the Senate, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) announced he will run for the vice chair position of the Senate Republican Conference, the number five job in Senate GOP leadership.

• The Energy Department (DOE) opened applications for the 2024 Renew America’s Schools Prize, which will award $180 million to districts across the country to implement energy upgrades at K-12 schools that demonstrate the need for both energy improvements and financing, with a focus on schools that serve disadvantaged communities. Eligible improvements include new HVAC and ventilation systems, building envelope and lighting projects, alternative fuel vehicles and infrastructure, and renewable energy technologies.DOE will issue the largest awards to portfolios serving 20 or more school facilities.

• The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) published a notice urging businesses to review seven suspicious signs of a bad Employee Retention Credit (ERC) claim and see if the agency’s special programs can help them avoid future compliance issues. Employers who improperly claimed ERC can avoid penalties and interest—and even get a discount on repayments if they apply by March 22, 2024, to the ERC Voluntary Disclosure Program. The IRS also offers a special claim withdrawal process for businesses whose claim is still pending. The IRS notes that taking steps now to resolve any issues can help businesses get right and avoid future IRS action. 

The seven suspicious signs an ERC claim could be incorrect include: (1) too many quarters being claimed; (2) citing government orders that don’t comply with ERC requirements; (3) including too many employees and incorrect calculations in ERC claims; (4) citing supply chain disruptions in ERC claims, which the IRS says is uncommon; (5) claiming ERC for too much of a tax period; (6) claiming the ERC when no wages were paid or when a business did not exist during the ERC eligibility period; and (7) businesses who claimed the credit because an ERC tax promoter told them they “have nothing to lose.” The IRS also released an interactive ERC Eligibility Checklist that taxpayers and tax professionals can use to check potential eligibility for the ERC. More details on the seven suspicious warning signs and the ERC’s Voluntary Disclosure Program and Special Claim Withdrawal Process are available through the IRS notice here.

Tuesday, March 19^th 

• House Education and the Workforce Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-NC) led a handul of republican members of Congress in a comment letter to the Labor Department requesting that the Department withdraw its proposed rule on “National Apprenticeship System Enhancements.” In the letter, Chair Foxx and her fellow Committee Republicans said the rule expands federal power over apprenticeships, injects political ideology into the apprenticeship system, and imposes significant new burdens on apprenticeship sponsors and employers. Foxx’s letter comes as GOP attorneys general in two dozen states, led by Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti (R), are also pushing back on the Biden Administration’s proposed apprenticeship rule, asserting that it amounts to race-based discrimination.  As noted above, MCAA filed comments of the proposed rule Monday March 18^th, noting some positive aspects of it, but raising concerns about many features.

• The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced a virtual webinar on March 28, 2024 from 1:00PM to 3:10PM on “Artificial Intelligence and Employment Law.” During the webinar, EEOC will discuss the benefits and risks for employers associated with artificial intelligence and automated systems, including recent cases, emerging issues, tips, and best practices for employers. There is a $275 fee for participation in the webinar and registration is available here.

• The Energy Department announced the launch of a pilot of the Clean Energy Connector in partnership with the Biden Health and Human Services (HHS) Department. The Clean Energy Connector is a first-of-its-kind software tool that connects families to solar energy through HHS’s Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and can now be used by local LIHEAP program administrators in Illinois, Washington, D.C., and New Mexico to connect community solar subscriptions to as many as 40,000 low income households.

Monday, March 18^th

• The Energy Department announced the release of its latest Pathways to Commercial Liftoff report, focusing on the potential of next-generation geothermal power and how advanced geothermal technology could increase the United States’ geothermal energy production twentyfold to 90 gigawatts or more by 2050. The release of this report follows on the heels of DOE’s recent announcement of projects directed by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to demonstrate the efficacy and scalability of enhanced geothermal systems.

Friday, March 15^th

• The Energy Department announced plans to lend as much as $2.3 billion to the Canadian firm Lithium Americas Corp. to help construct a lithium processing plant in northern Nevada. The loan would help finance the a lithium carbonate processing plant at the Thacker Pass mine about 200 miles north of Reno—“the largest-proven lithium reserves in North America,” according to the Energy Department.
  
  
• The Energy Department released the “2023 Billion-Ton Report” (BT23), detailing how the United States could sustainably triple its production of biomass to more than 1 billion tons per year. BTE23 is the fourth in a series of assessments of potential biomass resources in the United States since 2005. The BTE23 finds that 1 billion tons of biomass could satisfy over 100% of the projected demand for airplane fuel in the country, allowing the U.S. to fully decarbonize the aviation industry with sustainable aviation fuel. BTE23 is intended to compliment the Biden Agriculture Department’s recently released the Plan to Enable the Bioeconomy in America: Building a Resilient Biomass Supply report, which outlines a plan to boost biomass supply chain resiliency for domestic biobased product manufacturing.

Thursday, March 14^th

• The General Services Administration (GSA) announced details of its plans to invest over $1 billion from the President’s Inflation Reduction Act to modernize 38 land ports of entry at the northern and southern borders in Arizona, California, Idaho, Maine, Minnesota, North Dakota, New Mexico, New York, Texas, Vermont, and Washington State utilizing “clean construction materials and state-of-the-art sustainable technologies,” of which 23 projects will be to “fully electrify standard building operations and eliminate on-site greenhouse emissions.”

• The Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rulemaking to cut emissions of ethylene oxide, a gas used to sterilize around half of the medical devices in the U.S., which would extend emissions standards to previously unregulated areas of commercial sterilization facilities, such as certain air vents and rooms, and monitor emissions more frequently. A White House fact sheet on the rule is available here.

• Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced that he will introduce a Congressional Review Act  Resolution of Disapproval to rescind the Environmental Protection Agency’s recent final rule to tighten air quality standards on fine particulate matter. This 204-page final rule published on March 6, 2024.

• House Education and the Workforce Chair Virginia Foxx (R-NC) sent letters to the Labor Department, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the National Labor Relations Board as part of the Committee’s investigation into the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) “Workers’ Voice Summit” (Summit). Foxx said the nature of the closed-door Summit, attended by Biden Administration personnel and organized labor leaders, suggests that federal labor agencies, led by OSHA, set policies based on the Summit in a way that favored “Big Labor” while denying other stakeholders proper consideration.

• The New York Times posited that the Senate filibuster may not survive the next Congress given that the most ardent defender of the filibuster, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), is stepping down as Republican Leader in November and the coming retirements of Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), who provided McConnell critical supporting in opposing changes to the filibuster.

Wednesday, March 13^th

• President Biden announced a $3.3 billion “Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Program” through the Transportation Department (DOT) funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act to “reconnect and rebuild communities in more than 40 states, including those that were divided by transportation infrastructure decades ago and have long been overlooked.” Projects include: (1) $158 million to reconnect midtown to downtown Atlanta; (2) $159 million to construct the Vine Street Expressway in Philadelphia; and (3) $450 million for the I-5 Rose Corridor Project in Portland. DOT also released a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the program detailing labor standards that applicants will need to comply with and flow down to contractors on projects funded under this program. The NOFO makes clear that the Biden Administration intends to use the “Program to support the creation of good-paying jobs with the free and fair choice to join a union and the incorporation of strong labor standards and training and placement programs, especially registered apprenticeships, in project planning stages, consistent with Executive Order 14025, Worker Organizing and Empowerment…and Executive Order 14052, Implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.” 

• President Biden pledged to look into a petition from the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, the IBEW, the AFL-CIO Maritime Trades Department, the United Steelworkers, and the International Association of Machinists asking his administration to review China’s subsidies for shipbuilders. In 2019, China merged its two biggest ship makers to create a state-owned and subsidized industrial and military giant that dwarfs international rivals. This enabled China in 2022 to construct almost half the gross tonnage of merchant ships built that year and has allowed China to quickly expand its merchant and military fleets with about 400 vessels, giving it the world’s largest navy.
  
  
• The Energy Department (DOE) announced $750 million in funding from the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for 52 projects across 24 states to advance electrolysis technologies (used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen in a unit called an electrolyzer) and improve manufacturing and recycling capabilities for clean hydrogen systems and components. This funding is estimated to support over 1,500 new jobs and enable U.S. manufacturing capacity to produce 14 gigawatts of fuel cells per year, enough to power 15% of medium- and heavy-duty trucks sold each year, and 10 gigawatts of electrolyzers per year, enough to produce an additional 1.3 million tons of clean hydrogen per year. Details on the 52 projects and where they are located can be found here.

Tuesday, March 12^th

• The Energy Department (DOE) released its National Zero-Emission Freight Corridor Strategy, developed in collaboration with the Transportation Department and Environmental Protection Agency, to guide the deployment of zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicle charging and hydrogen fueling infrastructure across the country from 2024 to 2040. The Federal Highway Administration also announced the National Electric Vehicle Freight Corridors for the deployment of charging stations along the National Highway Freight Network and other roadways, as required under the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

• To mark “Equal Pay Day”, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released a new data dashboard featuring a first-time collection of 2017 and 2018 pay data reported by about 70,000 employers and certain federal contractors with 100 or more employees, representing over 100 million workers. The dashboard contains a unique collection of aggregated employer-level workforce demographic and pay data, reported by pay band (which are used to define the range of compensation given for certain roles). Highlights from the data include: (1) in 2018, the median pay band for men was higher than the median pay band for women in all industries except Accommodation and Food Services and in 2017, men and women were in the same pay band in only one other industry—Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction; (2) in 2018, the national median pay band for men was one pay band higher than the median pay band for women ($39,000 to $49,900 for men compared to $30,600 to $38,900 for women) and in 2017, was two pay bands higher ($39,000 to $49,900 for men compared to $24,400 to $30,600 for women); and (3) in 2018, in each race and ethnicity group, women were in a lower median pay band than men of the same race or ethnicity, with Black or African American women and American Indian or Alaska Native women in the lowest median pay band of all groups ($19,200 to $24,400). The EEOC has made this data available for download by the public here. In addition, the EEOC also published a User Guide and Frequently Asked Questions regarding the pay data dashboard.

• U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has begun implementing a streamlined process for Form I-765 (Application for Employment Authorization) to provide Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) more efficiently to eligible refugees after they are admitted into the United States. This streamlined process shortens the wait time for an EAD to approximately 30 days instead of several months. All individuals admitted into the United States as refugees on or after December 10, 2023 will receive EADs pursuant to this new process. With this new process, USCIS will digitally create a Form I-765 for arriving refugees and begin adjudicating it as soon as they are admitted into the United States. After USCIS approves a refugee’s Form I-765, refugees will generally receive their EAD within one to two weeks.

• As the Environmental Protection Agency is in the midst of a crackdown on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) “forever chemicals,” the U.S. Chamber of Commerce launched a campaign aimed at “increasing awareness” about the importance of PFAS for industries ranging from healthcare to defense to semiconductors. While the Chamber supports cleanup of specific legacy “forever chemicals,” it asserts that “not all PFAS are the same, and the regulatory environment should reflect those differences.” This comes as 3M named a new CEO, Bill Brown, as 3M continues battling litigation over PFAS, which the company has manufactured for decades. The PFAS litigation is forcing the company to make a tough decision on whether it can continue to offer a per-share dividend of about $6 annually.

Monday, March 11^th

• The Energy Department announced $425 million in funding from the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law through the Advanced Manufacturing and Recycling Grant program to support small and medium-sized manufacturers in current and former coal communities that produce and recycle clean energy products and invest in decarbonization at their facilities. 

• The Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration released an analysis showing that the U.S. is producing more oil than any country in history and has “produced more crude oil than any nation at any time…for the past six years in a row.” The agency does not expect any nation to catch up in the near term because no other country can match America’s “production capacity.”

• Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) announced she is running for Senate GOP Conference Chair—the third ranking position in Republican leadership—against fellow defense hawk Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR). Ernst currently serves as Chair of the Senate Republican Policy Committee, the fourth ranking position in Republican leadership. 

• The Senate Majority PAC, a PAC aligned with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), announced it booked $239 million in television ads to defend Democratic Senate seats in Ohio, Montana, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Around the Country 

Northeast

• On March 21^st, the New York Post published an opinion piece criticizing former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s decision to close the Indian Point nuclear plant in 2021, citing statistics that found that four years after the closure, New York is emitting more carbon per-megawatt hour than Texas and outpaces America as a whole.

• On March 20^th, a new poll found Republican Senate candidate and former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan leading his Democratic rivals Rep. David Trone (D-MD) by a 49% to 37% margin and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks by a 50% to 46% margin.

• On March 20^th, The Hill reported that Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ) has scored notable wins in his effort to buck the party establishment in New Jersey’s U.S. Senate race, including receiving the endorsement of progressive group MoveOn, raising the possibility of an upset in the June Democratic primary against New Jersey First Lady Tammy Murphy (D). These wins include a March 17^th decision by New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin’s office saying that New Jersey’s unique way of displaying county-backed candidate for U.S. Senate and governor on primary ballots is “unconstitutional” and that his office would not defend it in court following a lawsuit filed in February by Rep. Kim. This comes as scandal-plagued Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) announced he will not run for reelection as a Democrat and floated running as an independent, saying he is hopeful that “[his] exoneration will take place this summer,” allowing him to run in November’s general election.

• On March 14^th, the Associated Press reported on a bill making its way through the New Jersey Legislature that would put a question on the November general election ballot asking, “Do you approve amending the state Constitution to grant every person the right to a clean and healthy environment?” Environmentalists say the amendment would enable citizens to seek redress in court if they feel their environmental rights are being violated.

• On March 14^th, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) said he would immediately pull his state out of the multi-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative carbon cap-and-trade program if the state legislature approves his energy plan under which the state would set its own caps on carbon emissions and require power plants to buy credits to burn fossil fuels. The revenue generated would be returned to consumers as electricity bill rebates and invested in power plants and energy efficiency improvements for homes and small businesses.

• On March 14^th, a new poll from Emerson College found Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey (D) leading Republican Dave McCormick (R) 45% to 41%, with 14% undecided.

• On March 13^th, Marty Dolan, a Wall Street veteran who has worked in the global risk insurance sector and has been a financial adviser, announced a Democratic primary challenge to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) in New York’s 14^th Congressional District.

• On March 12^th, the Environmental Protection Agency announced the expansion of its “Closing America’s Wastewater Access Gap Community Initiative” to 150 communities across rural areas and invited applications from rural communities in the Mid-Atlantic Region (Delaware, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia). The initiative partners with underserved communities across the country to provide technical assistance on accessing the $50 billion in new federal wastewater funding provided by the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. 

West

• On March 19^th, Rep. Vince Fong (R-CA) advanced to a runoff election on May 21^st to fill the remainder of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s term in California’s 20^th Congressional District.

• On March 13^th, Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) and Democrat Rudy Salas advanced to the November general election for California’s 22^nd Congressional District.
  
  
• On March 13^th, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), who announced last year that she was switching districts to run in Colorado’s 3^rd Congressional District, slammed Rep. Ken Buck’s (R-CO) decision to resign from the 3^rd District as “weak sauce” but said she would not be resigning from her current 4^th District seat to run in the special election to fill Buck’s seat. This leaves her potentially facing a new incumbent in the 3^rd Congressional District come November.

• On March 12^th, the General Services Administration announced nearly $50 million in funding from the President’s Inflation Reduction Act for improvement of the Frank E. Moss Courthouse in Salt Lake City, UT. Roughly half of the funds will be used for low-embodied carbon construction materials, with the remainder to be used for “emerging and sustainable technologies that will cut operational emissions and enable the historic courthouse to run on 100% electric power.”

• In its elections on March 5^th, San Francisco made it easier for developers to turn empty office buildings into homes by passing Proposition C, which offers a tax break for developers to convert up to 5 million square feet of commercial space by 2030. San Francisco Mayor London Breed championed the proposal as necessary to address the city’s lack of affordable housing and to revive its struggling downtown. The measure comes San Francisco’s office vacancy rate hit a record 36% in December and is expected to keep rising, according to an analysis by CBRE Group.

Midwest 

• On March 21^st, a new poll found Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) is narrowly leading former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) 41%-39% in the Michigan U.S. Senate race.

• On March 19^th, Trump-backed GOP Senate candidate Bernie Moreno won the Ohio U.S. Senate primary and will face incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) in November.

• On March 19^th in House primaries in Illinois and Ohio: (1) Rep. Mike Bost (R-IL) defeated a primary challenge from former state Sen. Mike Bailey in Illinois’ 12^th Congressional District;  (2) Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL) defeated a primary challenge from Chicago City Treasurer Melissa Conyers-Ervin in Illinois’ 7^th Congressional District; (3) Republican Joe McGraw will face Rep. Eric Sorenson (D) in the general election for Illinois’ 17^thCongressional District;; (4) Democrat Michael Kripchak and Republican Michael Rulli will face off in the June 11^th special election to fill former Rep. Bill Johnson’s seat in Ohio’s 6^thCongressional District; (5) Republican Dave Taylor and Democrat Samantha Meadows advanced to the November general election for retiring Rep. Brad Wenstrup’s seat in Ohio’s 2^nd Congressional District; (6) Republican Derrick Merrin will face Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D)in the general election for Ohio’s 9^th Congressional District; and (7) Republican Kevin Coughlin will face Rep. Emilia Sykes (D) in the general election for Ohio’s 13^thCongressional District

• On March 13^th, in one of the first actions taken by the new Trump-backed leadership of the Republican National Committee (RNC), the RNC filed a lawsuit against Michigan’s Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, alleging that Michigan is violating the National Voter Registration Act’s requirement to maintain clean and accurate voter registration rolls and seeking an order to force Michigan election officials to trim the state’s voter rolls. Among the assertions in the RNC lawsuit are that “at least 53 Michigan counties have more active registered voters than they have adult citizens who are over the age of 18” and “[a]n additional 23 counties have active-voter registration rates that exceed 90 percent of adult citizens over the age of 18.”

• On March 12^th, the Congressional Black Caucus PAC endorsed Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), lending her some institutional backing as she faces a primary challenge.

• On March 11^th, the Environmental Protection Agency announced a $94 million Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan to the Village of New Lenox, Illinois, for the construction of a new resource recovery facility, a new gravity sewer system, a pump station, and a force main.

Southwest

• On March 20^th, a new poll found Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) leading Republican Kari Lake 44% to 40% in Arizona’s U.S. Senate race.
  
  
• On March 12^th, Rep. Gallego began airing the first TV ads of his Arizona Senate campaignas the race transitions to a one-on-one contest between Gallego and Republican Kari Lake following Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (I-AZ) decision not to seek reelection.

As part of its ongoing commitment to protecting your livelihood and setting the stage for a bright future, MCAA has secured the services of Longbow Public Policy Group to advise our MCAA Government Affairs Committee (GAC). GAC Chair, Jim Gaffney will be passing along information relative to our industry on a regular basis.

On Friday, March 8, 2024 MCAA Lobbying Firm, Longbow Public Policy Group provided the following information:

It has been a busy two weeks for MCAA in Washington, DC following the President’s Day recess. As we discuss in more detail below, this week President Biden delivered his State of the Union. Congress is focused on avoiding a partial government shutdown that is set to occur at midnight tonight. On Wednesday, the House voted 339-85 to pass the first six fiscal year 2024 appropriations bills for Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, Energy and Water Development, Transportation-Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture-Rural Development, Commerce-Justice-Science, and Interior-Environment. The funding package is currently pending action in the Senate. As of this writing, some Republican senators are demanding amendment votes on the bill, arguing that the package has not been adequately debated. In addition, Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) is holding up action on the bill over an unspecified “national security concern.” These disputes are preventing a time agreement to allow the Senate to pass the funding measure before tonight’s midnight deadline. While a brief shutdown overnight cannot be ruled out, we are confident the Senate will get these six funding bills passed late tonight or tomorrow. Then Congress must immediately turn to resolving the other six federal spending bills set to expire on March 22^nd.  This week we also saw the House-passed bipartisan tax package languish in the Senate and additional indications it may not advance out of the Senate.

Last week, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension (HELP) Committee succeeded in advancing the MCAA-supported nomination of Julie Su to be Labor Secretary along party lines. This makes possible a vote by the full Senate that has not yet been scheduled. Additionally, last week, the Committee held a retirement hearing that discussed defined benefit pension plans, as well as the overpayment of Special Financial Assistance to the Teamsters’ Central States plan. A more detailed recap of the hearing is included below. In addition, we also include details below on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s announcement last week that he plans to step down from Senate Republican leadership. 

On the political front, after this week’s “Super Tuesday” primaries the 2024 presidential race is all but set after former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley dropped out of the GOP presidential primary without endorsing presumptive republican nominee former President Donald Trump. Haley’s departure from the race following a disappointing showing on Super Tuesday sets up a 2020 election rematch between Trump and President Biden. 

In addition to the items discussed above, below we provide more details on an Executive Order president Biden issued earlier this week on apprenticeship, the introduction of bicameral Congressional Review Act resolutions to nullify the MCAA-supported independent contractor rule, the confirmation of three members to the Federal Trade Commission, and several other issues we thought you would find interesting and useful. 

MCAA Issues and Interests 

Biden Delivers Final State of the Union Address of First Term 

Last night, President Biden gave his annual State of the Union Address, framing the coming general election against former President Trump as an existential struggle over America’s place in the world and the future of democracy and the middle class. During his address, Biden highlighted the U.S.’s post-COVID-19 economic recovery and his Administration’s plans to reduce the federal deficit. The President also sought to remind voters of his legislative accomplishments, including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act and The CHIPS and Science Act. On the labor and employment front, the President called on Congress to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act and raise the federal minimum wage. He also urged Congress to pass legislation to lower housing costs and proposed several housing initiatives, including streamlining permitting to build and renovate more than two million affordable housing units. 

During his more than one hour address, President Biden outlined his tax policies, including proposals to raise the corporate tax rate. The President also called on Congress to pass the bipartisan Senate compromise immigration legislation to strengthen security at the southern border and provide aid to foreign allies, enact legislation strengthening voting rights. The President also pledged to address price gouging by corporations that is contributing to high prices. Ahead of the President’s Address, the White House posted fact sheets on several issues Biden raised in his State of the Union remarks, including the President’s plan to “deliver tax cuts for working families” by “making big corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share,”by raising the corporate tax rate to 28%, quadrupling the “stock buyback tax,” requiring the wealthiest Americans to pay at least 25% of their income in taxes, and “ensuring the IRS can continue to collect taxes owed by wealthy tax cheats.” The White House also posted a fact sheet on Administration effortsto lower costs for consumers, “address corporate price gouging,” and “fight corporate rip-offs,” as well as the transcript of Wednesday’s press briefing by National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard and other officials previewing the President’s address and economic agenda.

Nominations

Senate HELP Advances Su Nomination 

On February 27^th, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee advanced the MCAA-supported nomination of Julie Su for the second time on a party line 11-10 vote. In setting the vote, HELP Chair Bernie Sanders (I-VT) ignored calls from Committee Ranking Member Bill Cassidy (R-LA) for a second confirmation hearing, as well as Cassidy’s protests over the vote to advance Su’s nomination being held behind closed doors. It remains unclear when Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) plans to being Su’s nomination to the floor given previous concerns about her nomination from Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ). Democrats can only lose one vote in the 51-49 Senate and still confirm Su with Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote. Su’s nomination is quickly becoming a proxy war over the Labor Department’s January final rule on independent contractor status that MCAA supports.

Senate Republican Leadership Race

McConnell Announces He is Stepping Down as GOP Leader Following November Elections

On February 28^th, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced he would step down from Senate Republican leadership in November, ending his record tenure as the longest serving Senate leader of either party. McConnell indicated he plans to serve out the remainder of his current term, which ends in January 2027. This week, Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), two close McConnell allies, announced they are running to succeed McConnell as Republican leader. Senate Republican Conference Chair John Barrasso (R-WY) passed on running for McConnell’s job and instead announced he is running for Sen. Thune’s current job of Senate Republican Whip. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) announced he is running to replace Barrasso as Senate GOP Conference Chair.

Apprenticeship

Biden Executive Order Using Federal Procurement and Grants to Expand Apprenticeships

On March 6^th, President Biden issued an Executive Order to incentivize apprenticeships by directing federal agencies to review their financial assistance programs and government contracting plans to identify ways they could “include requirements, application evaluation factors, or incentives in appropriate program documents or solicitations for grantees or contractors to employ workers on projects receiving federal funding” who have been part of an apprenticeship or pre-apprenticeship program. The White House issued an accompanying Fact Sheet explaining that the order is part of an effort to “help ensure Americans have the skills and training they need for the good jobs created by the President’s Investing in America agenda, which includes the American Rescue Plan Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act.” 

The Executive Order also creates a Registered Apprenticeship Interagency Working Group “to coordinate policy development with regard to Registered Apprenticeships and the effective implementation of this order.” The Working Group will submit a report to the President within 180 days addressing, among other things, promoting and utilizing Registered Apprenticeships in federal grant programs and procurement. The Executive Order comes at Biden Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration announced the new 2024-2025 membership of the Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship, which includes the reappointment of Raymond Boyd of the UA as a labor representative.

Independent Contractors 

Republican Lawmakers Introduce Resolutions to Nullify MCAA-Supported Independent Contractor Rule 

On March 6^th, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Workforce Protections Chair Kevin Kiley (R-CA) introduced their long promised Congressional Review Act resolutions to nullify the Department of Labor’s MCAA-supported final independent contractor rule making it harder to misclassify workers as independent contractors instead of employees. The MCAA has been preparing for the introduction of this legislation and has been engaged in proactive advocacy to oppose it since before the final independent contractor rule published in January. Earlier in the week Senate HELP Ranking Member Cassidy released a statement highlighting over 170 organization that support the CRA resolution. The supporters include construction industry groups like the Associated Builders and Contractors, the Associated General Contractors, and the National Association of Home Builders, as well as well funded national business organizations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Retail Industry Leaders Association, the Real Estate Roundtable, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, the National Restaurant Association, and the International Franchise Association.

Pension Reform

Senate HELP Holds Hearing on Retirement Crisis and Defined Benefit Plans

On February 28^th, the MCAA policy team covered the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing entitled, “Taking a Serious Look at the Retirement Crisis in America: What Can We Do to Expand Defined Benefit Pension Plans for Workers?” During the hearing, Committee Chair Bernie Sanders (I-VT) extolled the benefits of defined benefit (DB) pension plans, with Democrats using the hearing to stress that DB plans are generally better for workers than defined contribution plans. Sanders also highlighted several other proposals, such as expanding Social Security by making the richest Americans “pay their fair share of taxes” and requiring every company to offer retirement plans or give their workers the option to contribute to a federally-run pension plan, like the one offered to members of Congress. Committee Ranking Member Bill Cassidy (R-LA) used the hearing to call out the Teamsters about the erroneous Special Financial Assistance payments to dead participants. The hearing made clear that Republicans now plan to make addressing the $127 million in overpayments to the Central States plan a condition of any further reform to the defined benefit system. Cassidy highlighted that while the Teamsters’ president publicly committed during an earlier HELP Committee hearing to repay those funds, the Central States plan has now said it would be impossible to repay them absent clarifications of current law. 

Relatedly, ahead of the Senate hearing, on February 26^th, House Education and the Workforce Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-NC) sent a letter to PBGC Director Hartogensis requesting details on the steps his agency is taking to quantify overpayments to multiemployer pension plans under the Special Financial Assistance (SFA) program to any multiemployer plans—not just the Teamsters. Foxx believes there may be more overpayments beyond those already linked to the Central States plan. The PBGC responded to Foxx’s letter on February 29^th, saying that the agency supports repayment of any material SFA amount that was paid based on inaccurate census data and continues to explore any potential mechanism for recovery. 

Federal Trade Commission

The MCAA policy team continues monitoring the Federal Trade Commission’s deliberations related to its proposed rule banning non-compete agreements and it consideration of possible action on a federal right to repair rule. Last night, the Senate confirmed by unanimous consent the nominations of Republicans Andrew Ferguson and Melissa Holyoak. The FTC had been without a Republican commissioner for nearly a year. The Senate also confirmed the reappointment to the FTC of Democrat Rebecca Slaughter. 

Other Interesting Things Since Our Last Report 

Friday, March 8^th

• The Energy Department (DOE) announced $425 million in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for the Advanced Manufacturing and Recycling Grant Program (Program) to reduce industrial emissions and advance clean energy manufacturing essential to the U.S. energy supply chain. The Program will support small and medium-sized manufacturers in current and former coal communities that are focused on producing and recycling clean energy products, as well as investing in decarbonization at their facilities. In this round of funding, DOE will prioritize two investment themes of “areas of interest”: (1) Clean Energy Manufacturing and recycling; and (2) Industrial Decarbonization. Applications for Clean Energy Manufacturing and Recycling should aim to establish, re-equip, or expand an existing manufacturing or recycling facility for the production or recycling of advanced energy. As explained on page 15 of the Funding Opportunity Announcement, this extends to addressing greenhouse gas emissions associated with “carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride.” Industrial Decarbonization is focused on building or upgrading manufacturing facilities to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create low carbon materials. An informational webinar on the Program will be held on March 14, 2024 at 3:30pm ET (with registration available here). Concept papers ae due April 8, 2024 and full applications are due June 24, 2024 at 5pm ET. More details about the funding opportunity is available here.

Thursday, March 7^th

• The Senate passed by unanimous consent the House-passed short-term extension of funding and programs for the Federal Aviation Administration until May 20, sending the bill to the White House. The short-term extension is expected to give lawmakers more time to negotiate a longer FAA reauthorization and keeps funds flowing for airport modernization projects. 

Wednesday, March 6^th

• The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), in a 3-2 party line vote, finalized rules mandating uniform public company climate disclosures and removing the proposed Scope 3 reporting requirement. Disclosures under the rule will begin in 2026. The disclosures will extend to companies’ climate-related risks—such as floods and wildfires—that could have a “material impact” on their bottom line, steps companies are taking to mitigate or adapt to such climate risks, and losses incurred due to extreme weather caused by climate change. Nine states—Alabama, Alaska, Indiana, Georgia, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Wyoming, Virginia, and West Virginia—announced a coalition to file a legal challenge to the new climate disclosure regulations. 

• Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) led nearly 50 congressional Democrats in a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) expressing concerns about “the wave of oil-and-gas industry consolidation” and urging the FTC to extend its current investigations, open additional inquiries, and “take all appropriate actions to protect consumers in this industry.”

• Congressman Rick Crawford (R-AR) announced that he will challenge Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO) for the chairmanship of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Transportation Department, including PHMSA. Crawford is currently chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Highway Subcommittee. Rep. Graves is seeking a term limit waiver from the House Republican Conference to continue as the top Republican on the powerful committee.

Tuesday, March 5^th

• President Joe Biden announced a “Strike Force on Unfair and Illegal Pricing” led by the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission intended to “hold companies accountable for price-gouging practices” and to coordinate federal efforts to “rein in anti-competitive and unfair practices in key sectors including food, prescription drugs and transportation.” 

• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it is seeking comments on, and will host a public webinar in connection with, a draft document entitled, “EPA Criteria for Product Category Rules to Support the Label Program for Low Embodied Carbon Construction Materials.” The President’s Inflation Reduction Act authorized $100 million for the EPA to develop a program to identify and label construction materials and products that have substantially lower embodied carbon, in coordination with the General Service Administration, and the Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration. Comments are due by April 4, 2024. Additionally, the EPA will host a webinar in connection with the draft PCR Criteria document on March 21, 2024 from 1pm to 2pm ET. Those interested in participating in the webinar must register here by 12pm ET on March 21, 2024.

• The Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) issued Training and Employment Notice (TEN) No. 23-23 on “Quality Pre-Apprenticeship Programs,” for the purpose of: (1) describing the scope and characteristics of quality pre-apprenticeship programs in a manner that is consistent with the language of the Equal Employment Opportunity in Apprenticeship final rule and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act final rule; (2) identifying how pre-apprenticeship programs can increase access to Registered Apprenticeship Programs (RAPs) for Americans, including those historically underrepresented and underserved in RAPs; and (3) providing examples of quality pre-apprenticeship programs in diverse settings. TEN No. 23-23 replaces prior ETA guidance on pre-apprenticeship programs in TEN No. 13-12. The ETA notes that while its Office of Apprenticeship (OA) does not directly oversee or regulate pre-apprenticeship programs, OA recommends the elements outlined in this TEN as they facilitate subsequent success in a RAP. TEN No. 23-23 is addressed to state workforce agencies, state apprenticeship agencies, Job Corps programs, and YouthBuild programs, among others. It is also believed to be an indicator of ETA’s thinking on pre-apprenticeship programs as it pursues its pending 180-page proposed rule on National Apprenticeship System Enhancements. 

• The Labor Department’s (DOL) Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) posted a new fact sheet entitled, “Avoiding Common Errors on the Form LM-20 Report” that clarifies when and how management labor relations consultants (aka “Persuaders”) should submit Form LM-20 reports, commonly called “Persuader Reports,” detailing their persuader and worker surveillance agreements with employers. In addition to general guidance, the Fact Sheet includes hypothetical examples of scenarios requiring a Form LM-20. The Fact Sheet also refers interested parties to the OLMS employer-consultant reporting page. In addition to the Fact Sheet, DOL published a new blog post by OLMS Director Jeff Freund, entitled “Labor Relations Consultants: Fill Out Form LM-20 Correctly.”

• The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service released final rules on elective pay for the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy tax credits that are intended to “expand the reach of the…credits and help build projects more quickly and affordably.” The final ruleis scheduled to publish in the Federal Register next Monday, March 11, 2024. The Treasury Department also released a proposed rule that is also set to be published on March 11^th that would: (1) permit renewable energy investments to be made through a noncorporate entity, rather than requiring direct co-ownership of the property or facility by the applicable entity; and (2) modify certain joint marketing restrictions to provide that multi-year power purchase agreements would not violate the requirements to elect out of partnership tax treatment. 
  
• This week, the Justice Department announced that Michael Hart, a 58-year old San Diego man, is the first person ever prosecuted in the United States under provisions of the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2020 (AIM Act) for smuggling greenhouse gases in the form of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) used as refrigerants from Mexico into the U.S. In announcing the prosecution, the Justice Department says this “is the first time the Department of Justice is prosecuting someone for illegally importing greenhouse gases, and it will not be the last.” Hart faces 13 separate charges, including conspiracy, importation contrary to law, multiple counts of selling imported merchandise contrary to law and criminal forfeiture. He could face decades in prison if convicted on any one of the charges related to illegal importation. The EPA issued a statement praising the indictment, saying: “Anyone who seeks to profit from illegal actions that worsen climate change must be held accountable. This arrest highlights the significance of EPA’s climate enforcement initiative and our efforts to prevent refrigerants that are climate super pollutants from illegally entering the United States.”

Monday, March 4^th

• The Energy Department announced $90 million in funding to states, Tribal governments, and partner organizationsunder the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Resilient and Efficient Codes Implementation program to support building energy code adoption, training, and technical assistance at the state and local level. The funding is intended to address the fact that only 35% of counties, cities, and towns are using the latest building codes—which establish energy efficiency standards for the construction of new buildings and major renovations to existing commercial and residential buildings.

Friday, March 1^st

• The Commerce Department reported that U.S. construction spending in January fell for the first time since December 2022 as U.S. companies and the government scaled back on projects across the nation amid high interest rates. Spending on construction projects fell 0.2% in January to $2.1 trillion.

Thursday, February 29^th

• The Transportation Department (DOT) announced $9.9 billion in federal funding to support public transportation in 500 cities and to develop transit in rural areas through the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The formula-based grant programs will distribute funding to state departments of transportation, Tribal nations, and municipal transit authorities to fund buses and bus facilities, to support and improve the condition of transit assets, to pay for transit designed for seniors and people with disabilities, and to provide planning funds. The areas receiving the most funding are: (1) New York-Jersey City-Newark, New York-New Jersey Area $520,665,906; (2) Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, California Area $156,606,076; (3) Chicago, Illinois Area $135,276,088; (4) Washington, DC – Arlington, Virginia – Maryland Area $97,172,284; (5) Boston, Massachusetts $84,731,587; and (6) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Surrounding Area $83,645,727. Apportionment tables with funding levels are available here.

• The Department of Energy announced two new Congressionally-mandated energy-efficiency standards for residential clothes washers and dryers that the Administration says will save American households $2.2 billion per year on their utility bills, while also reducing nearly 71 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions over a 30-year period

Wednesday, February 28^th

• The Energy Department announced $17.28 million for its fourth round of awards through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Grant recipients in North Carolina, Nevada, Massachusetts, Ohio, South Carolina, Wyoming, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Colorado, Alabama, Louisiana, California, Delaware, Oregon, Connecticut, Kansas, Mississippi, and North Dakota will receive grants under the program for projects like installation of solar and other types of renewable energy at schools, essential energy efficiency upgrades on municipal buildings and facilities, energy retrofits on low-income homes, and more. A complete list of projects funded under the $95 million in awards made to date under the EECBG program is available here.

• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the launch of the $3 billion Clean Ports Program created under the President’s Inflation Reduction Act to fund zero-emission infrastructure and port equipment at U.S. ports to reduce pollution across the freight sector. This program is composed of two separate funding opportunities: (1) nearly $2.8 billion will be available through the Zero-Emission Technology Deployment Competition to directly fund zero-emission port equipment and infrastructure, including electric charging and hydrogen fueling infrastructure; and (2) approximately $150 million will be available through the Climate and Air Quality Planning Competition, to fund climate and air quality planning activities at U.S. ports.

Tuesday, February 27^th

• A federal judge in Texas limited the federal government’s ability to enforce the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) in Texas saying that Congress passed the law in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Article I, Section 5 quorum provision requiring a majority of members of the U.S. House and Senate to be present to enact legislation. The House relied on proxy voting to pass the measure in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Texas sued the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) last February to block enforcement of the law in the Lonestar State arguing that only 201 members of the U.S. House of Representatives were physically present to vote on the PWFA, well short of the 218 members required for a quorum under the Constitution. Federal Judge James Hendrix of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas sided with the state and prohibited enforcement of the PWFA in Texas. The court’s interpretation of the quorum provision may lead to challenges against other laws passed by the House during COVID using proxy-voting procedures.

• The Energy Department announced more than $366 million for 17 projects in New Mexico, Alaska, California, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Maine, Wisconsin, Montana, Minnesota, Tennessee, North Carolina, Iowa, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Kentucky, Alabama, and Washington State to accelerate clean energy deployment in rural and remote areas across the country. This funding, authorized by the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will support a variety of energy projects in rural and remote regions, such as building microgrids for community health centers and constructing new hydroelectric facilities on Tribal lands to improve access to reliable, affordable energy. The full list of projects is available here.

• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $74 million in Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loans to the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency in Santa Cruz County, California, to support alternative water supply projects that reduce the demand for groundwater, such as upgrading a filter plant and constructing a pump station, recharge basin, and associated pipeline. The EPA estimates that the loan will create over 500 jobs.

• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced over $1 billion to launch new cleanup projects at 25 Superfund sites and continue other cleanups at over 85 Superfund sites through funding authorized by the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. In addition to funding cleanup, these projects involve site preparation work required to make cleanup sites ready for new construction.

• The Energy Department (DOE) announced that it is opening applications for the Communities Sparking Investments in Transformative Energy (C-SITE) funding opportunity, which will award approximately $18 million to up to 20 recipients that implement municipality- or Tribal-led, clean energy projects. Projects funded under this program must deliver benefits to local workers and residents, such as workforce agreements and protections, reduced energy costs, and improved air quality.

Monday, February 26^th

• The Energy Department (DOE) announced $45 million for 16 projects in California, New York, Georgia, Texas, and Iowa to help develop new cybersecurity tools and technologies to strengthen America’s energy systems, including power grids, electric utilities, pipelines, and renewable energy generation sources like wind and solar.

Around the Country 

Northeast 

• On March 5^th, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) announced its intent to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS), and host a related public scoping meeting, in connection with an application from Micron to construct over 20 years a massive $1 billion semiconductor manufacturing campus for dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips in the Town of Clay, Onondaga County, New York that is expected to create 50,000 jobs. Support from the President’s CHIPS and Science Act played a critical role in Micron pursuing the project, which will consist of: (1) four individual memory fabrication units (fabs), ancillary support facilities, driveways, and parking; (2) construction of a childcare and health care center located at 9100 Caughdenoy Road, Brewerton, NY; (3) construction of a connection to the National Grid substation, adjacent to the Micron Campus, and (4) a rail spur on the west side of Caughdenoy Road adjacent to the proposed facility. Micron intends to start construction of the Micron Campus in 2025, with two fabs (Fabs 1 and 2) becoming operational by 2029 and two more fabs (Fabs 3 and 4) becoming operational by 2041. Moreover, Onondaga County plans to improve water supply and wastewater infrastructure to support operations of the manufacturing plant and the National Grid utility company plans to upgrade energy infrastructure to support the project. Comments can be submitted at any time by email to celrb-micron.public.comments@usace.army.mil. USACE will host a public scoping meeting in connection with the EIS on March 19, 2024 at 7pm ET in-person at the Town of Clay – Town Hall Board Room, 4401 Route 31, Clay, NY 13041. There is no stated requirement to RSVP to attend the meeting.

• On Tuesday March 5^th New Jersey First Lady Tammy Murphy (D) won the Bergen county convention in her bid to win New Jersey’s Democratic primary for Sen. Bob Menendez’s (D-NJ) Senate seat. The victory is viewed steadying Murphy’s campaign and seizing some momentum from Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ), who had won three straight county conventions against Murphy in this unexpectedly competitive democratic primary.

• On March 4^th, a federal judge rejected Sen. Bob Menendez’s (D-NJ) claims that search warrants that led to corruption charges against him and the discovery of gold bars and cash at his New Jersey home were unconstitutional. The next day on March 5^th, prosecutors brought a dozen additional charges against Menendez, including obstruction of justice and bribery, after one of the senator’s co-defendants plead guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

• On February 27^th, Democrats in the New York State Legislature proposed new congressional maps which could result in a slight boost for Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) in New York’s 3^rd Congressional District, Rep. Jamaal Bowman in New York’s 16^th Congressional District, and Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY) in New York’s 18^th Congressional District and would make Rep. Brandon Williams (R-NY) more vulnerable in New York’s 22^nd Congressional District.

West

• On March 5^th, Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Republican Steve Garvey advanced to the November general election for California’s U.S. Senate seat formerly held by the late Dianne Feinstein.

• While votes are still being counted, California Assemblyman Vince Fong (R-CA) is leading the March 5^th primary election to fill former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) seat in California’s 20^thCongressional District and in California’s 22^ndCongressional District, incumbent Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) is in first place at 34%, followed by Democrat Rudy Salas at 28.3%. In California’s 47^th Congressional District, state Sen. Dave Min (D) will face Republican Scott Baugh in November.

• On February 28^th, Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT) announced he would seek reelection to Montana’s 1^stCongressional District nearly two weeks after he suspended his short-lived U.S. Senate campaign.

Midwest 

• On March 7^th, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) announced that he has raised $5.7 million in the first two months of the year as he seeks re-election to the Senate.

• On March 2^nd, Republican J.R. Majewski—who has been dogged by revelations he lied about his military service—announced he is dropping out of the GOP primary race for Ohio’s 9^th Congressional District currently represented by Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D). Majewski’s departure reduces the Republican primary field to two former state representatives—Rep. Craig Riedel and state Rep. Derek Merrin—both of whom Republican leaders view as stronger candidates against Rep. Kaptur.

• On February 29^th, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced that its Wage and Hour Division is surveying the building and heavy construction industry of South Dakota to set prevailing wage rates, as required under the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts, regarding wages paid to construction workers for federally funded and federally assisted projects in South Dakota between March 25, 2023, and June 25, 2024.

• On February 29^th, former Rep. Justin Amash, who left the GOP in 2019 after calling for the impeachment of Trump, announced a GOP bid for Michigan’s U.S. Senate seat.

• On February 28^th, the bipartisan Indiana Election Commission voted unanimously to remove John Rust, one of two Republican U.S. Senate candidates, from the primary ballot, leaving Rep. Jim Banks as the only GOP candidate for the seat.

Southeast

• On March 7^th, Kevin Bishop, a longtime aide to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), announced a bid for South Carolina’s 3^rd Congressional District and Trump is encouraging his former White House political director Brian Jack to run for Congress in Georgia’s 3^rdCongressional District.

• On March 5^th, North Carolina Republican Mark Harris, whose previous election to Congress in 2018 was thrown out after credible allegations of fraud, won the Republican primary for North Carolina’s 8^th Congressional District, and in Alabama, Rep. Barry Moore (R-AL) defeated fellow incumbent Republican Rep. Jerry Carl (AL) in the GOP primary for the newly redrawn 1^st Congressional District.

• On March 5^th, according to a new poll, GOP Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) narrowly leads former Democratic Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell 44% to 41% in the Florida U.S. Senate race.

Southwest

• On March 6^th, the Biden Labor Department (DOL) announced that the Wage and Hour Division’s New Orleans district office signed a three-year collaborative agreement with the Southeast Louisiana Building and Construction Trades Council that will help provide construction workers in Louisiana with information, guidance, and access to educational and training resources to aid them exercising their rights to be protected by minimum wage, overtime, recordkeeping and child labor laws. The agreement will also include compliance assistance activities to help employers understand their labor compliance obligations.

• On March 5^th, Texas Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX) won the Democratic U.S. Senate primary and will face Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in November.

• On March 5^th, Independent Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema announced that she will not run for a second term. 

• On February 29^th, the U.S. Department of Labor proposed $308,125 in penalties against Pyles Plumbing and Utility Contractors Inc., a full service plumbing company that performs commercial installations and is based in Macon, Georgia, for two willful violations and three serious violations following an OSHA investigation spurred from a trench collapse that resulted in fatal injuries of one employee and hospitalization of another.

On Tuesday, November 15, 2022, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it will begin accepting applications from states for $250 million in funding for energy efficiency upgrades and retrofits of commercial buildings. States may apply to DOE for seed money to start their own energy efficiency revolving loan fund that can be used to fund energy efficient upgrades or retrofits in the state. If a state already has an energy efficient revolving loan fund, this money can be used to bolster existing programs. Once state programs are set up, these monies will ultimately provide low or no cost funding to potential customers of MCAA members seeking to make energy efficient upgrades to their facilities. 

The recent bipartisan infrastructure law created the Energy Efficiency Revolving Loan Fund Capitalization Grant Program, a program that provides seed money to states to establish or bolster revolving loan funds that promote energy efficiency. A revolving loan fund is an “evergreen” source of funding, meaning money received from repaid loans is continuously recycled as loans for new projects. State revolving loan funds under this program will be used to fund energy savings performance contracting, partnerships with local governments for energy efficiency improvements, and school and public building retrofit programs, among other activities. 

For information about whether your state plans to apply for funding and how they plan to allocate the money they receive, contact your state energy office, which you can find through this link. More detailed information about the program generally is available here. 

Please do not hesitate to reach out to Vince Sarubbi, MCAA’s Director of Government Relations, with any questions at 301-990-2219.

National accounting firm Withum shares information to help you understand the potential impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act, which was signed into law on August 16, 2022. They note that the act, which includes $80 billion of increased funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), will meaningfully increase IRS audit rates, but the impact won’t happen overnight.