Related Links: Treasury Dept. 6/17/2015 release on new proposed and temporary multiemployer-plan regulations Kaptur/Sanders release on their multiemployer-pension bill The Treasury Dept. has taken steps to implement a 2014 law that directed major changes for multiemployer pension plans. But some in Congress want to reverse a provision that lets sponsors of ailing plans seek to cut members' benefits.Multiemployer plans cover about 10 million workers and retirees and are common in unionized construction. In 2010, coverage in the construction industry accounted for 55% of all multiemployer plans and 37.5% of the people those plans covered, the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.
Related Links: Summary of Senate DRIVE bill Text of Senate DRIVE Bill A newly proposed six-year Senate highway bill has won praise as a positive step toward a larger goal: a long-term, fully funded surface- transportation measure. But industry officials acknowledge that the next steps on the legislative path will be uphill, especially finding the tens of billions of dollars needed to pay for the program's envisioned higher funding levels.The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee unanimously approved the bill, dubbed the Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy, or DRIVE, Act, on June 24. Committee Chairman James
Related Links: Construction Spending Up in April. Commerce Dept. report (enr.com 6/1/2015) [subscription] New construction rose 3% in May, to an annual, seasonally adjusted rate of $729.7 billion, thanks to a burst of electric power and natural gas projects that broke ground during the month, Dodge Data & Analytics says.Dodge D&A's latest monthly report on construction starts, released on June 19, also showed new construction for the first five months of 2015 soared 25% from the year-earlier period, to $272.5 billion, not adjusted for seasonal variations.The company, which also owns ENR, said that its Dodge Index of construction activity climbed
Related Links: World Bank, Investors Join in New Infrastructure Finance Plan Public-private financing for transportation, energy and water infrastructure projects in emerging economies rose 6% last year, to $107.5 billion, the World Bank has reported. But last year's total is down from 2012's level of $140.4 billion, in constant 2014 dollars.The bank's latest update of its Private Participation in Infrastructure database, released on June 9, shows that, for 2014, Brazil ranked first among 139 "low- and middle-income" countries with $44.2 billion. The country is preparing to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.Brazil's 2014 total jumped 80% from the previous year's level,
Photo Courtesy U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Savannah District Savannah harbor dredging is one of few WRRDA projects to win appropriations so far. Related Links: Text of WRRDA Water Resources Bill Sails Toward Enactment When the Water Resources Reform and Development Act was signed into law June 10, 2014, it was hailed as a major accomplishment. WRRDA was the first big Army Corps of Engineers water policy and authorization measure enacted in more than six years and a rare case of a bill winning strong Republican and Democratic support in a Congress tangled in partisan disputes.As WRRDA reaches its one-year
Related Links: Summary of update to World Bank public-private infrastructure database Public-private financing for transportation, energy and water infrastructure projects in emerging economies rose 6% last year, to $107.5 billion, the World Bank has reported.But last year's total is down from 2012's level of $140.4 billion, in constant 2014 dollars.The bank’s latest update of its Private Participation in Infrastructure database, released on June 9, shows that, for 2014, Brazil ranked first among 139 “low-and middle-income” countries, with $44.2 billion. The country is preparing to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.Brazil’s 2014 total jumped 80% from the previous year’s level, sparked by
Related Links: Bureau of Labor Statistics release with data tables AGC Chief Economist Ken Simonson's comments and analysis ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu's comments and analysis Construction's unemployment rate continued to decline in May compared with April's level and the year-earlier rate as the industry added 17,000 jobs, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported.BLS, in a report released on June 5, said that construction's May jobless rate fell to 6.7% from April's 7.5%. It also was a steep drop from May 2014's level of 8.6%.Last month's rate was the lowest for May since 2006, when it was 6.6%.
Photo By Lynn Betts, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Critics contend that EPA and the Corps went too far in redefining wetlands (pictured) and other bodies as "Waters of the United States.: Related Links: New Rule's Definition of "Waters of the United States" House OKs Bill to Block EPA's Waters Rule (ENR 05/18/2015 issue) [subscription] With a newly issued final regulation, the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers are seeking to end years of uncertainty over which streams, wetlands and other bodies of water fall under federal jurisdiction and which are governed by the states.But the rule, which
Related Links: Commerce Dept./Census Bureau release with data tables ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu's comments Construction spending totaled slightly more than $1 trillion in April, up 2.2% from March’s level, the Commerce Dept. has reported.The U.S. Census Bureau’s latest monthly report on the value of finished construction projects, released on June 1, also said that April’s total was up 4.8% year over year. April’s residential construction put in place edged up 0.6% from March, but slipped 1.8% year over year.Nonresidential work posted a 3.2% month-to-month gain and climbed 8.8% from April 2014’s rate, said the Census Bureau, which is part
Related Links: EPA/Corps summary of new regulation (incl. table comparing existing, 2014 proposed and new final versions Text of preamble to new final regulation The Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers have issued a new final rule that they say will clear up the muddy definition of which rivers, streams, wetlands and other bodies of water are subject to federal regulation and which are not. The regulation, which the agencies announced on May 27, is important to construction firms, which need to obtain a Corps permit to build in and around federally regulated waters.It has become one of
