Associated General Contractors of America Argues New Rule Exceeds Statutory Authority Under the Davis-Bacon Act, Court Agrees

The rule adds requirements to an already complicated permitting process and ignores permitting reforms previously passed by Congress.

You may recall, AGC of America filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) challenging the agency’s new final rule that designates two widely used per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as hazardous substances under the Superfund law, or Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). This rule imposes significant financial and legal burdens on contractors and could lead to costly litigation and stricter waste disposal practices.

AGC has notched some big wins in the courts in the last year and hopes to carry that momentum with litigation to protect construction companies.

We are excited to announce the opening of the 2024 Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Assessment, a resource designed exclusively for construction firms. This tool empowers companies to establish a baseline, measure progress, and celebrate successes in their D&I programs, policies, and practices.

The Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service issued final regulations on the prevailing wage and apprenticeship (PWA) requirements related to increased credit or deduction amounts for certain clean energy incentives, enacted as a part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

AGC is partnering with the Lean Construction Institute and Dodge Construction Network to study the national utilization of Lean in design and construction. The 12-15 minute survey will reveal important benchmarking data to determine the progress of Lean use throughout the industry, and we invite you to participate. As a construction professional, your input is critical to the success of this study, whether you utilize Lean or not. This research will determine the degree to which the design and construction industry is aware of and utilizing the specific Lean practices and provide the comparative data needed to understand trends based on previous years’ studies. Click on this link to take the survey. Please complete the survey by Friday, July 12th.

On June 10, AGC of America, and several of its members, took to the witness stand in federal court to halt three unfair provisions in the new Davis-Bacon final rule impacting its coverage to truck drivers, contractors with material supply operations, and where an owner fails to include the requirement in the bidding documents/contract. Doug Walterscheid (J. Lee Milligan Inc., AGC of Texas member), John Ramage (71 Construction, AGC of Wyoming member), Doug Tabeling (Carroll Daniel Construction, Georgia AGC member), and Jimmy Christianson (AGC of America) testified in the U. S. District Court for The Northern District of Texas in Lubbock on behalf of the association’s legal challenge to the U.S. DOL’s unlawful expansion of Davis-Bacon coverage to construction contractors. The court hearing was on AGC of America’s motion for preliminary injunction that, if granted, would halt the U.S. Department of Labor’s enforcement of the three aforementioned provisions.

AGC recently released a new resource that provides contractors with tools to communicate effectively with project teams and successfully navigate the complexities of carbon reporting for a project. It describes a process for identifying accountability, what to track and report, and how to do so. Next steps? AGC has some options for you to learn more about the playbook and carbon reporting in general.

This week, AGC of America, in collaboration with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Waste Recycling Association, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) challenging the agency’s new final rule that designates two widely used per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as hazardous substances under the Superfund law (also known as Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (or CERCLA). This rule imposes significant financial and legal burdens on contractors and could lead to costly litigation and stricter waste disposal practices.