The AGC Labor and Employment Law Council held its 36th Annual Construction Labor Law Symposium on June 10-11, 2021. The event was held virtually for the first time. The Council is a group of attorneys who regularly represent AGC members and chapters in labor and employment matters, and its annual symposium is for such attorneys and chapter labor staff.

Over the last year, the AGC Lean Construction Forum has been working with Dodge Data & Analytics (Dodge) and the Lean Construction Institute (LCI) to determine, across the experiences of many construction firms, the specific project practices, policies and tactics that most frequently correlate to better project outcomes and greater professional satisfaction.

On June 17, President Biden signed into law legislation recognizing Juneteenth National Independence Day, June 19, as a legal public holiday. Juneteenth celebrates the end of slavery in the U.S. and commemorates the date in 1865 when the Union army arrived in Galveston, TX, to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation two years after issuance. The new law deems Juneteenth the eleventh “federal holiday” in the nation.

AGC Warns of Negative Impacts on Project Delivery and Environment

On June 16, a bipartisan group of senators—10 Democrats and 10 Republicans— announced an agreement on a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package. The two-page plan includes $579 billion in new spending (on top of reauthorized transportation programs) to rebuild America’s roads and bridges, improve public transit systems, invest in broadband infrastructure, and upgrade our airports. Of that total, $110 billion would be dedicated for roads, bridges, and major projects. The group states the plan would be paid for in part by repurposing unspent COVID relief funds, indexing the gas tax to inflation, implementing a fee on electric vehicles, and adjusting customs user fees. Several of these pay-fors have been rejected in the past by the Biden Administration in talks with Senate Republicans led by Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.).

On Monday, September 20th, AGC Charities is holding a volunteer day at Give Kids the World Village to make improvements to the facility including replacing a protective fence and upgrading bathrooms at one of the Village’s pools. Watch this video here to learn more about the project. With your help, we can make this year’s AGC Charities Operation Opening Doors project a success so we can make sure these special kids get is truly spectacular. Read more.

Construction Association Calls on President to Immediately End Tariffs and Quotas on Steel, Aluminum, and Lumber as First Step to Easing Pressure on Construction Costs and Supply-Chain Bottlenecks

As AGC continues to pressure the Small Business Administration (SBA) to change its approach to applications for the forgiveness of Paycheck Protection Loans over $2M, the agency finally appears to be doing just that. The agency has yet to make any announcements and details are still missing. There is, however, a growing body of anecdotal and other evidence that the agency is finally accelerating the process of forgiving these loans. Over the last three business days, AGC has received either first-hand or reliable reports that SBA has forgiven another nine of these loans (over $2M) to AGC members.

Gains on WOTUS, Endangered Species Act Regulations & More in Jeopardy