Every three years, construction industry attorneys meet to educate themselves on “big-picture” issues affecting the industry. This year, at the triennial conference of the American College of Construction Lawyers, members were told of the challenges facing design and construction from the growing economic impact of dwindling natural resources. Photo: Frank Wojciechowski / ACCL George Smitherman, deputy minister of Ontario’s new Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, told attendees at the Nov. 5-6 conference at Princeton University, Princeton, N.J., that the province’s push to reduce coal-fired power and ramp up alternative energy is “North America’s largest climate-change initiative.” He said the effort
The Environment and Public Works Committee on Nov. 5 approved comprehensive climate change legislation by a vote to 11-1, with no Republicans voting. But the bill faces an uphill battle, with little GOP support. Moderate Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, was the lone Democrat to oppose the bill. Republicans on the panel, led by ranking member James Inhofe (R-Okla.) boycott the meetings held over three days to mark up the bill and said that more analysis from the Environmental Protection Agency was needed. Committee Chair Barbara Boxer countered that extensive analysis had already been done and
The Senate at press time was nearing a vote on extensions and expansions of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act tax and benefit provisions. Advocates won a procedural vote on Nov. 2, moving the bill closer to final action. The measure would extend ARRA’s $8,000 first-time homebuyers’ tax credit to contracts through April 30. It also would give a $6,500 credit to those who owned and lived in their present house for five years and seek to buy a new home. The bill would widen ARRA’s small-business five-year operating-loss carry-back to cover all companies. It extends unemployment benefits for 14 weeks,
A new federal scorecard says the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has preserved or created 640,329 jobs so far, including more than 80,000 in construction. An Oct. 30 report from the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board says those jobs were generated by $160 billion of the ARRA funds and tax breaks made available through Sept. 30. An additional $179 billion in ARRA aid isn’t covered by the board’s report. The White House says when that additional amount is factored in, the jobs impact rises to more than one million. House GOP Leader John Boehner (Ohio) continues to contend that ARRA
The Office of Management and Budget is directing federal agencies to streamline procurement, including a 7% cut in spending on contracts by the end of fiscal 2011. OMB also wants agencies to reduce their non-competitive and high-risk contracts by 10% by 2010. OMB Deputy Director for Management Jeffrey Zients told a Senate panel on Oct. 28 that the changes could save $40 billion annually.
After enduring 12 extensions before the Safe Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act—a Legacy for Users became law in 2005, state departments of transportation and construction companies see the troublesome cycle repeating. SAFETEA-LU lapsed on Sept. 30, and they’re already on stopgap No. 2. A newly enacted spending package authorizes highway and transit programs through Dec. 18. Beyond that, another extension, probably measured in months, not years, is virtually assured. The spending measure, which President Obama signed on Oct. 30, also provides full fiscal 2010 appropriations for Interior Dept. and Environmental Protection Agency programs. In addition, it extends funding through
Fast-moving environmental, political and workplace trends are boosting civil engineering to a critical new role, even if its practitioners and academics aren’t totally ready, according to speakers and attendees at the annual meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). The Oct. 29-31 meeting in Kansas City drew nearly 1,000 attendees, including a large contingent of students. Photo: David Hathcox / Asceput From left, CEOs Rodman and Graves and educator Nelson say civils must “stand up.” “The world needs the profession to deal with issues that extend beyond civil engineering,” said Priscilla Nelson, a professor and former provost at
A Senate committee has approved President Obama’s three nominees to serve on the National Labor Relations Board. The next step would be consideration by the full Senate, but Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) says he has strong reservations about one of Obama’s choices, Democrat Craig Becker, a union attorney. McCain says he will put a “hold” on Becker’s nomination, blocking a floor vote. The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Oct. 20 voted 15-8 along party lines to approve the nomination of Becker, currently associate general counsel to the Service Employees International Union and the AFL-CIO. By a voice vote,
House and Senate negotiators stripped language from a $43-billion homeland security spending bill that would have required more fencing to be built on the U.S.-Mexico border. The Senate version of the bill had an amendment from Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) to require 600 more miles of double-layer border fence to be built by Dec. 31, 2010. To date, 34.3 miles of double-layer fencing have been put in place. In 2008 Congress mandated that 700 miles of fencing be built.
As House Democrats mull legislative options to try to turn around the unemployment rate, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) doesn’t intend to produce a big, new stimulus measure. Instead, she is taking a multiple-bill approach. Additional appropriations are among the possibilities, but whether infrastructure spending will be in the mix still is not clear. Officials in the construction industry, whose unemployment rate is much worse than the overall national figure, are hoping for action soon. Photo: AP/Wideworld Searching Pelosi convened four-hour meeting on job-creating ideas, with economists such as Sinai, center, and Boushey, right. Pelosi convened a nearly four-hour meeting on
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