House Seeks
To Overturn Administration WOTUS Rule Changes
EPA
Justly Opposes Petition on PVC Hazardous Waste
Biden Details
Expanded "Buy America" Plan In SOTU
NUCA
Government Affairs Committee Meeting: March 13
Come to Las
Vegas March 13 For NUCA's Annual Meeting
Registration
Open For 2023 Washington Summit, May 15-17
Celebration
of Construction On The Washington, D.C. National Mall
NUCA/PAC:
Going Strong Since 1976
First
Session, 118th Congress Schedule
NUCA
Official Letters To Congress
Sign Up For
NUCA Advocacy Alerts!
Join
NUCA's Government Affairs Committee
The Newsletter of the NUCA
Governmental Affairs Department
NUCA's Interview
With T&I Chairman Sam Graves
NUCA's pull on Capitol Hill is opening doors in this
new Congress! NUCA's government affairs staff was able to secure an
interview in December with then-incoming House Transportation &
Infrastructure (T&I) Chairman Sam Graves (R-MO). Rep. Graves
kindly answered our questions about his committee's agenda for 2023,
and what issues might affect our industry and operations.
Rep. Graves discussed infrastructure project
streamlining, including pipeline permitting changes. He also talked
about his committee's oversight program for the new Congressional
session, and a look at the Biden Administration "twisting"
the intent of the 2021 core infrastructure law to fit their agenda,
instead of the letter of the law. "Oversight of that law [IIJA]
and other issues is absolutely critical," said Chairman Graves
in our interview.
The four-page interview appears in the
January/February 2023 issue of NUCA's Utility Contractor member
magazine, which should be arriving in your company mailbox shortly.
We've also included below a link to our interview in the digital
version of our fine membership magazine. Link here.
House
Seeks To Overturn Administration
WOTUS
Rule Changes
T&I Committee Chairman Graves and his Water
Resources subcommittee chairman Rep. David Rouzer (R-NC) introduced
on Feb. 2 a resolution
that would repeal the Biden Administration's proposed changes to
the "Waters of the United States" (WOTUS) rule. The rule
changes would repeal the roll-back of WOTUS regulations under the
Trump Administration, reinstating the previous burdensome and
costly WOTUS regulations rejected by our industry and many others.
NUCA CEO Doug Carlson said in his media
statement that our industry
strongly supported the Graves-Rouzer resolution, remarking
"The Biden Administration’s repeal of the Trump
Administration's clean-up of the WOTUS rules is going to add
unnecessary confusion and delays to this industry's projects.
Contractors will now be faced with more uncertainty when trying to
comply with the new WOTUS rules, an outcome that will face even
more confusion with a pending U.S. Supreme Court ruling on these
regulations.”
The House resolution has 147 cosponsors, with a
companion Senate bill finding 49 Senators supporting it.
Rep. Rouzer's subcommittee held a hearing
on WOTUS Feb. 8, hearing testimony from the business community
about the damage this rule change would do to their companies and
their employees. More here.
EPA
Opposes Petition on PVC To Be Reclassified As Hazardous Waste
The EPA is opposing a regulatory action brought on
by a 2014 lawsuit by an environmental group seeking to regulate PVC
disposal as a hazardous waste. The EPA has publicly stated that
there is no science-based evidence to require such a regulatory
change.
NUCA CEO Doug Carlson said in a statement that PVC
pipe is used every day to safely deliver drinking water to millions
of Americans. "It is absurd," he wrote, "to then
claim that these pipes suddenly become hazardous waste...and are
not fit to be recycled or managed as solid waste."
NUCA agrees with EPA and opposes this threatened regulatory
change. Our government
affairs staff submitted a response to the EPA on Feb. 13.
Several members also submitted their own comments
through our Muster advocacy alert sent last week, and we thank them
for their help.
Biden
Details Expanded "Buy America" Plan In SOTU
President Biden unveiled in his Feb. 7 SOTU address
a proposed standard to require all construction materials used on
federally-funded infrastructure projects to be made in the United
States. The 2021 core infrastructure law included a "Build
America, Buy America Act" (BABAA) chapter requiring only
certain materials or carefully defined projects fall under domestic
sourcing requirements. The proposed standard would expand the BABAA
requirements to all infrastructure projects paid for by the federal
government.
NUCA opposes this expansion of BABBA, arguing that a
one-size-fits-all mandate will hurt the Administration's overall
infrastructure program.
"Some components are not made in the United
States and must be bought overseas to complete a job...On some
projects, a delay on a single critical part can delay the entire
project, driving up costs and significantly postponing its completion,"
wrote NUCA CEO Doug Carlson. More here.
Come
to Las Vegas March 13 For NUCA's Annual Meeting
NUCA
members: Are you coming to Las Vegas in March? Attend NUCA's March
13, 2023 one-day Annual Meeting and get the leg up on your
competition one day before the open of CONEXPO.
We've got top speakers, networking, industry info,
NUCA's Government Affairs Committee meeting, and more.
The meeting will be held at the spectacular MGM
Grand Hotel, 3799 South Las Vegas Blvd., Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Government Affairs Committee meeting at the NUCA
Annual Meeting will be held March 13, 2023, from 7:30am to 9:00am,
Conference Center Level 2, at the MGM Grand meeting headquarters.
The meeting is open to all members and you are encouraged to
attend.
Topics to be discussed include our legislative
priorities for the new 118th Congress, as well as NUCA National and
our Chapter's topics for our Summit meetings with lawmakers on May
17.
If you have a legislative item you'd like to discuss
at the March 13th meeting, please email it to NUCA's Zack Perconti
at zackp@nuca.com
before March 1 to be included in the meeting agenda.
NUCA
Thanks Our Many National Partners For Their Generous Support Of
NUCA's Washington Summit & Advocacy Programs
2023 Washington
Summit: May 15-17
Make plans to come to Washington in the spring for our
annual fly-in and lobbying day on Capitol Hill. Infrastructure
advocacy and workforce development will be a top priority for our
industry in the new Congress.
This Summit's HQ will be located at the Holiday Inn
Washington Capitol--National Mall Hotel, 550 C St. SW, Washington,
D.C. 20024.
We hope you have penciled in on your calendar May
15-17, 2023 to travel to D.C. and attend NUCA's Washington
Summit. Our Capitol Hill day is scheduled to be held Wed., May 17.
Registration and hotel booking is now open at the
Summit's website, www.WeDigAmerica.org.
Celebration of
Construction, Washington, D.C. National Mall - May 14-16
NUCA will be participating at the Celebration of
Construction event being held on the National Mall in Washington,
D.C. NUCA members will be on hand promoting the variety of career
paths in the underground utility construction industry. Over 16,000
people from government agencies, Congress, and the public are
expected to attend during this three-day event, sponsored by the
Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM).
Several NUCA National Partners are involved in the
event, which will showcase their equipment to our nation's lawmakers.
Stay tuned for more details about this exciting event as they are
announced in the weeks ahead. More here.
Elections
and NUCA/PAC: Going Strong Since 1976
NUCA's Political Action Committee, NUCA/PAC,
continues to be your strong voice on Capitol Hill - supporting
pro-infrastructure policies, and defending your business against
harmful laws and regulations that can affect your bottom line.
NUCA/PAC enables the American utility construction
industry to approach vital public policy issues by helping to
elect like-minded Members of Congress.
Get engaged in the process by authorizing NUCA/PAC
to share information with you and your employees. However,
Federal law requires NUCA/PAC to first obtain your written
permission to solicit your voluntary contributions.
2022 proved to be an exciting election cycle for
Congress. NUCA/PAC will be more engaged and involved in
2024--let's make our industry's PAC the strongest it can be.
Record All Your Jobsite Incidents With Just One
App: NUCA WINS
NUCA WINS 2.1 offers even more valuable new
features and enhancements. NUCA WINS 2.1 allows multiple
incidents to be linked together in one documented event.
Whether your supervisors need to document injury,
damage, or safety events, they can now do it all from one
convenient, intuitive app, right on their tablet or smartphone.
Your company will benefit from accurate and timely reporting, and
receive immediate notification in case of any jobsite incidents.
The 118th Congress has begun its work, but it is about
two weeks behind schedule because of the extended House Speaker
contest in early January. Committee hearings have begun in both the
House and Senate. It is still very early in the session for legislative
action, but opening bills are being filed and sent to committees for
action later this year.
Congress is adjourned the week of Feb. 20 for
Presidents Day, and will come back to session on Feb. 27. It will be
in session throughout March, taking a two-week break beginning April
3. Both houses of Congress will be in session the week of our May
2023 Washington Summit.
A full House-Senate Congressional calendar for 2023
can be downloaded
from here.
February 13, 2023 - NUCA to
EPA: Reject Petition To Change PVC Waste Designation
All formal NUCA correspondence with Congress and
federal regulatory agencies can be found at nuca.com/letters.
Sign Up For NUCA Advocacy Alerts!
If you're a
NUCA member, your Washington governments affairs team wants you to be
part of our Capitol Hill advocacy program! NUCA urges you to sign up
to receive our Muster
advocacy alerts. These emails will alert you to pending legislative
action where your opinion can make a difference.
It's easy to
sign up via the link below. Use your personal home address if you can
do so, since our online Muster advocacy program finds your members of
Congress via your voter registration address. But business addresses
work just as well to receive our alerts.
For Breaking
Legislative News: Follow @NUCA_National
on Twitter!
Join NUCA's
Government Affairs Committee!
If you enjoy analyzing politics and find the inner
workings of Congress and our industry's legislative program
interesting or useful to your business, why not take the next step
and join NUCA's
Government Affairs Committee?
Membership is open to all NUCA members, and we welcome the active
participation of those seeking to make a difference in their industry,
and to help shape NUCA's official policies on legislation.
Help shape the legislative and advocacy program of
your association. Contact NUCA's Vice President of Government
Affairs Zack Perconti
to get started today.
