In a move welcomed by construction groups and other business organizations, Congress has cleared a bill to repeal a tax-reporting provision of last year's health-care law. Final congressional approval came on April 5, when the Senate passed the measure on a 87-12 vote. The House had approved the bill on March 3. The measure now goes to the White House for President Obama's expected signature. After the Senate vote, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney issued a statement saying that "we are pleased Congress has acted to correct a flaw that placed an unnecessary bookkeeping burden on small businesses." The
Will this be the year a long-delayed, multi-year aviation bill finally becomes law? There has been progress. The House on April 1 passed a four-year bill, but infrastructure advocates don’t like its cuts to Federal Aviation Administration airport construction grants. House lawmakers next will take their bill into negotiations with the Senate, which approved a two-year bill in February. Construction groups prefer the Senate version’s funding for Airport Improvement Program (AIP) construction grants, which finance runway work and other projects. The Senate bill averages about $4 billion per year for AIP. However, the House bill slices the program to an
After a long delay, the Army Corps of Engineers’ first rewrite in 28 years of its “Principles and Guidelines” for evaluating water projects is expected to be released in June, top Army officials say. The new standards will be a major shift away from the present P&G, issued in 1983, which said the sole federal water-resources planning objective is “to contribute to national economic development” while being “consistent with protecting the nation’s environment.” Photo Courtesy U.S. Senate Environment And Public Works Committee Darcy (left) and Van Antwerp say new project evaluation standards will be out in June. Jo-Ellen Darcy, assistant
The U.S. Dept. of Transportation has received almost $10 billion in applications for the $2.4 billion in federal high-speed rail funds that Florida rejected. Related Links: Amtrak Gateway Project News Release DOT Secretary Ray LaHood said on April 6 that 24 states, the District of Columbia and Amtrak submitted more than 90 applications for the turned-back rail money. The deadline for submitting requests was April 4. DOT now will begin to review the proposals. The department said that it had not yet determined when it will announce the winning applications. The funds became available when Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R)
Construction's jobless rate continues to show a positive trend, improving to 20% in March from February's 21.8% rate. Though last month's mark remains worrisomely high, it was much better than March 2010's 24.9%. Related Links: U.S. Department of Labor News Release ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu's Analysis AGC Chief Economist Ken Simonson's Analysis March also was the sixth consecutive month in which construction's jobless rate improved over the year-earlier levels. But the Bureau of Labor Statistics latest monthly employment report, released on April 1, also shows that construction lost 1,000 jobs last month. All of construction jobs shed were in
In a move aimed at spurring U.S. exports of construction equipment and services to Brazil, the U.S. Export-Import Bank is providing a $1-billion line of credit for infrastructure projects in that country.
More North Carolina passenger-rail construction projects appear to be on tap, thanks to a recently signed agreement among federal and state agencies and railroad companies. With the signing of the pact on March 22, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has formally obligated $461 million in stimulus-act funds to the North Carolina Dept. of Transportation (NCDOT) for rail improvements between Raleigh and Charlotte. But there is a potential hurdle: A Republican member of the state’s House of Representatives has introduced a bill that would bar NCDOT from spending any federal high-speed-rail funds unless the state Legislature approves it. FRA awarded the
Nearly half of existing coal- and oil-fired powerplants may need pollution-control upgrades under a newly proposed Environmental Protection Agency rule that sets the first national standard for mercury, arsenic, nickel and other pollutants. The proposed rule was released on March 16 in response to a court-ordered deadline that was set following a case brought by several environmental groups. A final rule is required by November. EPA estimates that coal-fired plants produce 99% of mercury emissions and that existing technology could prevent 91% of mercury in coal from being released. EPA expects the rule, when final, to encourage the 44% of
A newly enacted short-term spending bill keeps federal programs operating until April 8, but also mandates $6 billion in spending cuts. Those cuts were especially deep at the General Services Administration’s federal buildings construction program. The bill, which President Obama signed on March 18, slashes all of GSA’s fiscal 2011 spending for new construction and trims funding for major building repairs and energy-efficiency upgrades by about 30%. Robert A. Peck, commissioner of GSA’s Public Buildings Service, says the stopgap would affect all line-item projects in the agency’s 2011 budget request. That includes $652 million for new construction and $321 million
Seeking to stretch federal public-works dollars, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) has proposed legislation to create a federal infrastructure bank, called the American Infrastructure Financing Authority, to help fund transportation, water and energy projects. Under Kerry’s bill, introduced on March 17, the bank would have $10 billion in initial federal funding. He estimates that could stimulate up to $640 billion in private and other non-federal investment over 10 years. The Obama administration’s 2012 budget proposal includes an infrastructure bank, funded at $30 billion over six years but limited to transportation projects. It would provide grants and loans. Kerry’s bank would issue