State transportation officials are hoping Congress will cancel an $8.7-billion rescission of unobligated highway funds that is due to occur on Sept. 30. The Federal Highway Administration notified states on Aug. 25 how large a cut each would incur. California would lose the largest sum, $794 million. In the 2005 Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: a Legacy for Users, Congress mandated the rescission to take effect on the measure’s last day, Sept. 30, as a way of trimming the legislation’s overall price tag. Key Senate lawmakers already have indicated they support undoing the highway-fund reduction. But when Congress
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. failed to convince a Minnesota state judge to throw out the claims against the company related to the collapse of the Interstate-35W bridge in Minneapolis two years ago. The company had argued that it didn’t owe Minnesota any of the $37 million the state paid out to victims because the design work performed on the bridge was done more than 40 years earlier. A state court judge in Hennepin County on Aug. 28 ruled that the state’s lawsuit against Jacobs, one of several engineers and contractors targeted, could continue. As the bridge’s principal designer, Jacobs is
White House officials gathered a group of industry, community and union leaders on Aug. 24 to drum up support for a climate-change bill. At that meeting, the White House officials said they hope to work to create incentives to encourage building owners to retrofit facilities to reduce energy costs, says one attendee, Charlie Bacon, CEO of Limbach Facility Services, a Pittsburgh-based mechanical contractor. Although providing little detail, Van Jones, a special advisor on green jobs for the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality, said the administration would support more incentives to create jobs and reduce dependence on imported oil. Bacon
The Dept. of Homeland Security says it may rescind its controversial “no match” regulation, which is aimed at cracking down on companies that knowingly hire illegal immigrants. In an Aug. 19 proposal in the Federal Register, DHS says it is seeking comments through Sept. 18 on its plan to revoke the rule, which the Bush administration issued in 2007. The regulation would have penalized employers who are notified that employee documentation does not match Social Security Administration records. DHS says it instead plans to focus its enforcement efforts through such programs as E-Verify. The 2007 no-match rule never went into
Congressional appropriators are making headway on fiscal year 2010 spending bills, raising hopes that a few of the 12 annual funding measures may be wrapped up before fiscal 2010 starts on Oct. 1. That would be a welcome change from the past few years, when stopgap “continuing resolutions” were the norm. In results so far, the big construction program winner is Environmental Protection Agency water infrastructure, which is heading for a major boost. In the transportation sector, small increases seem likely, except for the high-speed rail area, which could rise sharply. The House has approved all 12 of the appropriations
Federal agencies are giving the public 30 more days to comment on a proposed rule dealing with project labor agreements in construction contracts. In an Aug. 24 Federal Register notice, the Defense Dept. and two other agencies said they are reopening the comment period through Sept. 23. The proposed rule would implement President Obama’s Feb. 6 executive order encouraging agencies to consider requiring PLAs on projects over $25 million.
Contractors across the nation will be watching the Mississippi Supreme Court on Oct. 5 to see if it upholds a Rankin County Circuit Court decision that ruled an insurer is not responsible for subcontractor performance under a contractor’s commercial general liability policy. In Architex Association Inc. v. Scottsdale Insurance Co., Architex alleges that “an unintended construction defect by a subcontractor constitutes an occurrence that triggers coverage under a contractor’s CGL insurance policy,” according to a statement from the law firm of Burr & Forman LLP, Jackson, Miss., which represents Architex. The lawsuit alleges that Arizona-based Scottsdale has a “duty to
Despite recent administration efforts to play down the impact of the “Buy America” provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), industry and business groups remain concerned that the provisions could cause delays on construction projects or be expanded to other programs. Photo: AP/Wideworld At a recent summit of North American leaders, President Obama played down ARRA’s Buy America provisions. “The perception and the fear is that more Buy America-type requirements could be passed, and that creates a level of fear with Canada and our other trading partners,” says Chris Braddock, senior director of procurement policy with the U.S.
Firms have until Sept. 2 to submit comments on a Labor Dept. proposal to require contractors and subcontractors to post notices informing their employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act, which includes the right to join a union. The proposed rule, published in the Aug. 3 Federal Register, was drafted to implement a Jan. 30 executive order by President Barack Obama. Violation of the rule could lead to contract suspension, termination or debarment. Nonunion construction groups say they have concerns with the proposal. Bob Hirsch, director of legal and regulatory affairs for Associated Builders and Contractors, says
The Obama administration on Aug. 14 announced a new program to award $2.3 billion in tax credits to manufacturers of advanced energy equipment. Authorized under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the program will allow manufacturers to reduce their taxes by 30% of the amount they invest in establishing, expanding or retooling manufacturing facilities for equipment for solar, wind and other renewable energy sources. The credit also will be available to manufacturers of equipment to capture and sequester carbon. The administration says the program will help encourage innovation in design of clean energy technologies and create green jobs. Denise Bode,
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