New guidance from the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, released on April 2, recommends homeowners replace all potentially defective drywall as well as electrical components, wiring, gas-service piping, sprinkler systems and smoke and carbon monoxide alarms that may have been affected by the drywall. Also released on April 2 were preliminary data from a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study measuring chemical emissions from drywall. The results show a clear distinction between drywall made in China in 2005 and 2006 and non-Chinese wallboard samples from 2009. Certain Chinese samples had hydrogen-sulfide emission rates 100

The House has approved an extension of the popular “Build America” Bonds program but with a cut in the federal subsidy. The extension, which would carry the bonds program until April 2013, is part of a broader small-business and infrastructure measure the House passed on March 24. There has been no action yet in the Senate on the legislation. The bonds program was established under the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and is due to expire on Dec. 31. The bonds fund state and local infrastructure work. Since the program was launched in April 2009, the bonds’ volume has

President Obama’s recess appointment of nominee Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board has drawn objections from industry groups and praise from labor unions. Becker, associate general counsel for the AFL-CIO and Service Employees International Union, was one of 15 recess appointments Obama announced on March 27. Democrat Mark Pearce, another longtime union attorney, received a recess appointment to the NLRB, too. Also on Obama’s list is Rafael Borras, a vice president in URS Corp.’s mid-Atlantic region. He was named Dept. of Homeland Security undersecretary for management. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee approved Becker on

Congress has approved another stopgap authorization for airport construction grants and other Federal Aviation Administration programs. The latest extension, which gained final congressional approval on March 26, will keep Airport Improvement Program funds flowing through April 30. The measure is the 12th FAA extension since Sept. 30, 2007, when the last multiyear aviation law expired. The new one-month stopgap gives Congress time to work on a new long-term FAA bill. When lawmakers return from a two-week spring break, they can begin to reconcile the two-year, $35-billion FAA authorization the Senate passed on March 22 and the three-year, $53.5-billion bill the

Now that legislation revamping the nation’s health-care system has been signed into law, construction companies and unions are poring over its provisions, trying to determine the impact of its sweeping changes. Some suggest the measure, enacted on March 30, will drive up firms’ premiums. Others are taking a wait-and-see approach. “The devil is always in the details,” says Stuart Binstock, CEO of the Finishing Contractors Association. Whether the law will produce the benefits its architects hope for isn’t clear, says American Subcontractors Association spokesman David Mendes. “When you’re talking about budget reductions and the costs for the program,” he says,

CityCenter, the country’s largest private development, is being sued by Perini Building Co., a unit of Tutor Perini Corp., Sylmar, Calif., over work disputes on the $8.5-billion, 18 million-sq-ft Las Vegas Strip complex of hotels, homes and entertainment. On March 25, Perini filed a lawsuit in Clark County Eighth Judicial District Court against several entities controlled by property owners—MGM Mirage Inc. and Infinity World Development Corp., both units of Dubai World, the investment arm of the Persian Gulf state—seeking $490 million for unpaid construction work on the hotel-casino. The 13-page complaint says the construction contract grew from $3.5 billion to

Despite progress in Congress on a multiyear aviation measure, it looks like another extension—the 12th since 2007—is on its way for Federal Aviation Administration programs, including airport construction grants. The Senate on March 22 approved a two-year, $35-billion FAA authorization by a 93-0 vote. Todd Hauptli, American Association of Airport Executives’ senior executive vice president, says, “Passage of the Senate bill is an important step in the legislative process [and] overdue.” The aviation bill next must be reconciled with a three-year, $53.5-billion measure the House passed last May. There’s no dispute about the funding for FAA Airport Improvement Program (AIP)

States and construction companies forced to cope with stopgap federal bills that provided transportation funding on the installment plan now have a bit more breathing room. The Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act, signed into law on March 18, includes yet another highway-transit extension. But this one stretches through December, and these days, that almost qualifies as a long-term bill. State and industry officials would much rather have a multiyear measure, but in this election-shortened year, the nine-month bill appears to be the best they will get. New law also bolsters Highway Trust Fund with $19.5-billion transfer from general

While President Obama signed the health-care reform legislation into law at a jubilant White House ceremony on March 23, grim-faced Republicans geared up for a battle in the Senate over a “reconciliation” package that amends the bill just signed into law. Riding with that reconciliation measure is the fate of a provision that has divided the construction industry. That provision, sponsored by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), was in the Senate-passed version of the bill and thus is now law. It requires construction companies with more than five full-time employees and a payroll of $250,000 or more to offer health-care coverage

URS Corp., San Francisco, has settled a lawsuit by the Minnesota Dept. of Transportation on all claims by the state over the collapse of the I-35 bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Minneapolis on Aug. 1, 2007. The settlement was for a reported $5 million. URS was hired by the state to inspect and recommend action on state bridges, including the I-35 bridge. The company denies any wrongdoing or fault in the matter and says the settlement lets it “avoid the cost and time of further litigation with the State.” It points out that the National Transportation Safety Board concluded