Inside AGC — January/February 2007

CEO Message — AGC's Legislative Agenda Aims to Strengthen Economy

By AGC CEO Steve Sandherr

AGC is committed to realizing the legislative priorities facing the construction industry and growing the construction economy. In the 109th Congress, AGC worked to protect our members' interests on issues from tax policies and infrastructure investment to comprehensive immigration reform. We were successful in ensuring passage of legislation that will strengthen and preserve multi-employer pension plans for the future and help ensure the retirement security of unionized construction workers. However, much work remains to be done in the 110th Congress.

AGC's Legislative Action Committee actively helps AGC set our legislative priorities and serves as the regulatory clearinghouse while ensuring that AGC members have a voice in drafting AGC's legislative priorities. In order to get broad feedback from our membership we surveyed thousands of AGC members. Their input has resulted in legislative goals that seek to solve the most vexing problems facing the industry.

The following legislative issues set the tone of our work on Capitol Hill. In the next two years, our advocacy on these issues will continue to make us the voice of construction.

The need to invest in our nation's infrastructure is dire. AGC will work to ensure the solvency of the Highway Trust Fund, to fully fund SAFETEA-LU and meet future revenue needs, support increased funding to improve aviation infrastructure, eliminate the infrastructure gap for water resources navigation and flood-control funding and support the expansion of federal drinking-water and wastewater funding.

Without proper tax policies, contractors cannot develop, expand or invest in their businesses. AGC will fight for the elimination of the death tax on family-owned businesses and their employees, total elimination of the alternative minimum tax and repeal of the sunset clause on the marginal tax reduction for businesses, shareholders and individuals.

AGC realizes the need to preserve justice and due process for contractors facing litigation. Our national staff will continue to work to establish and support legislation that will reform the tort system, support legislation to provide construction contractors with limited immunity from liability for unforeseen circumstances when responding to declared emergencies and disasters, support passage of asbestos litigation reform to create a trust fund in lieu of today's law suits and ensure due process for contractors facing debarment.

Improving employer-employee relationships is an important function of our regulatory and legislative activities. AGC will continue to work for a comprehensive immigration bill. We will also support small-business health plans as a way to provide affordable, quality health care through broader coverage, choice and competition in the marketplace and push for reform of malpractice insurance to reduce litigation costs.

AGC's unique environmental relationship with the Environmental Protection Agency allows us to pursue reasonable goals and achievable environmental reform. AGC will continue to fight for funding of diesel retrofit for construction vehicles in areas where retrofit is required and promote green construction practices that are reasonable, practical and appropriately focused on their intended result.

Procurement reform is essential to improve delivery of construction services. AGC will continue working to ensure improvements in the HUB Zone Program. We will also advocate to allow prime contractors to include all participating subcontractors to determine goal achievement.

Promoting a safe and healthy work environment is essential. AGC will work to ensure that federal laws encourage effective state "one call programs" and support funding to states as an incentive to make greater use of police to enforce traffic violations and greater use of positive barriers in highway work zones. We also support the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's efforts to streamline enforcement by removing standards or regulations that duplicate, overlap or are inconsistent.

I have full confidence that the construction industry will be well represented in our nation's capital as our staff works to achieve the goals outlined in these priorities.

For details on all of AGC's legislative priorities, and tools to write your elected officials, visit www.agc.org/lac.