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Construction employment increased by 38,000 jobs in December and by 280,000 jobs, or 4.0 percent, over the past year, while the industry’s average pay accelerated and unemployment decreased to a historic low, according to an analysis of new government data by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials added that most contractors report they plan to continue hiring in 2019, according to the association’s annual outlook that was released earlier this week.

iCERT Portal Down Since January 1

Expands Employer and Employee Insurance Options

�鶹��ý recently submitted official comments on a Department of Labor (DOL) proposed rulemaking intended to make it easier for smaller businesses to band together and offer retirement plans to employees. As outlined in the response, �鶹��ý appreciates the DOL’s efforts to increase retirement coverage through expanding access to Multiple Employer Plans (MEPs) for small businesses (which describes the vast majority of firms in the construction industry) and recommends that the Department further reduce barriers and liabilities of participating in a MEP, such as the joint liability for the qualification failures of every other employer in the MEP (known as the “one bad apple rule”). Additionally, �鶹��ý urges the DOL to be mindful of Chapter provided retirement plans, especially those that currently exist today, and take the necessary steps to ensure that the proposed modifications to current law do not arbitrarily disrupt the quality retirement options that these arrangements consistently provide.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing for public comment a modification to the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) 2017 Construction General Permit (CGP), which covers eligible stormwater discharges from construction activities in areas where the EPA is the permitting authority. The 45-day public comment period will close on Jan. 28, 2019.

Policy Revisions Track �鶹��ý Recommendations

�鶹��ý’s efforts to engage with the Trump Administration on environmental streamlining and regulatory reform are seeing results. Throughout the year, �鶹��ý further developed our relationships with the federal regulatory agencies through increased dialogue and meaningful collaboration. In the following article, �鶹��ý provides a snapshot of those efforts during 2018, which touch on some of the most important environmental concerns for the construction industry from “approvals” to “wetlands.”

A recent U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) decision found that critical habitat must be actual habitat for a species and that decisions not to exclude areas from critical habitat are subject to judicial review—a ruling that many are heralding as a check on regulatory overreach. In Weyerhaeuser Co. v. the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the plaintiff challenged the FWS on its designation of an unoccupied area, not currently habitable to the species, as critical habitat for the dusky gopher frog. The Fifth Circuit court deferred to the Service. However, SCOTUS remanded the case back to the circuit court to determine the meaning of “habitat” specific to the facts in this case and whether FWS’s designation of critical habitat was “arbitrary and capricious.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will host webinars on how to use the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) eReporting Tool to submit Annual Reports for EPA’s Multi-Sector General Permit (MSGP); those reports are due by January 30th for each year of permit coverage. Below are the program dates and links to registration and more resources.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently published new resources in Spanish to help construction site operators comply with EPA's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) construction stormwater permit program.