On Jan. 31, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made a controversial decision to block or 鈥渧eto鈥 a Clean Water Act section 404 permit for the Pebble Mine in Alaska. Last year, 乌鸦传媒 raised concerns that EPA鈥檚 preemptive veto of the permit would set a harmful precedent for future projects working through the permitting and/or appeals process and have a chilling effect on infrastructure development. The permit in question was undergoing an administrative appeal (still pending) following the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers鈥 denial.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reconsidered the 2020 determination that retained the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for particulate matter (PM) and has proposed to tighten the primary annual PM2.5 standard outside of the normal five-year framework for these changes. 乌鸦传媒 closely monitors and weighs in on these rulemakings as they may include stricter requirements and/or restrictions on diesel engines and their use. If an area of the country does not meet the standards, then the federal government can introduce sanctions such as caps on development and the loss of federal funding for highway projects.
The most used ConsensusDocs standard contract document is the ConsensusDocs 751 Standard Short Form Subcontract. 乌鸦传媒 of America (乌鸦传媒), through its Contract Documents Forum, has just released comments to this popularly used standard subcontract document. These comments can be found at www.agc.org/contract as a member-only download on the bottom-right side of the webpage. General contractors will want to consider these comments in tailoring subcontract language for their own project-specific purposes 鈥 regardless of whether they are using a standard form or bespoke contract.
Union membership in the U.S. construction industry across all occupations declined slightly in 2022, from 12.6 percent to 11.7 percent, according to an annual report recently issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (鈥淏LS鈥). Union representation in the industry also declined, from 13.6 percent to 12.4 percent. Still, union membership in construction remains considerably higher than the 6.0 percent rate across industries in the private sector. Union membership in general in the U.S. fell to its lowest rate on record at 10.1 percent, reports BLS.
President Biden ended 2022 with a bang by signing two new pieces of legislation into law that will impact many employers and their pregnant and breastfeeding workers: (1) the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) and (2) the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (PUMP Act). These changes were part of the Omnibus Spending Bill signed into law on December 29, 2022. Employers should become familiar with the changes and review their policies and practices to adjust for the new laws.
乌鸦传媒 of America will be holding a Collective Bargaining Seminar during the 乌鸦传媒 Annual Convention. The day-long seminar will take place from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas, NV. The seminar is part of 乌鸦传媒鈥檚 Annual Convention, but 乌鸦传媒 members and chapter staff not attending the convention may attend for a separate registration fee.
According to the latest Contractor Compensation Quarterly (CCQ) published by PAS, Inc., construction support staff wages are to rise by an average 4.5%. The prediction is based on data gathered from over 209 companies in the 19th edition of PAS鈥檚 Construction Support Staff Salary Survey. This is up from the actual increase of 4.4% for 2021. Looking forward, PAS thinks 2023 support staff increases will likely mimic 2022 activity, unless construction conditions change.