Photo Courtesy of American Road & Transportation Builders Association Industry representatives are briefed on highway-transit bill negotiations before heading to Capitol Hill to lobby for a deal by June 30. Related Links: A Quick Deal on Transport Bill? Don't Bet On It House, Senate Nearly Set for Talks on Highway-Transit Bill Seeking to jump-start slow-moving House-Senate negotiations on a new surface transportation bill, Senate leaders have delivered a compromise proposal to their House counterparts. The plan—which Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and that committee's top Republican, James Inhofe (Okla.), personally took to the House on

Source: House, Senate Appropriations Committees FY13 Federal Construction Appropriations Bills funding federal construction programs for fiscal year 2013 are moving through congressional appropriations committees, and so far, the best that construction companies can hope for are small increases.As of May 29, the Senate Appropriations Committee had cleared seven of the 12 annual spending bills; the House committee had approved six. One of the six, the bill funding the Commerce and Justice departments, was approved by the full House. In general, Senate appropriators have approved freezes or small hikes in construction accounts; their House counterparts have recommended cuts. Military construction programs

National Labor Relations Board member Terence F. Flynn, a Republican, resigned on May 26 amid fallout from a May 2 Inspector General report alleging he improperly shared data on pending NLRB cases with former Chairman Peter Schaumber and others. Flynn has denied the allegations. He recused himself from future board cases. His July 24 departure will leave the five-person NLRB with three Democrats and one Republican.

If the Senate confirms President Obama's choice to be the next chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission—George Mason University professor Allison M. Macfarlane—she would join the panel as it faces a host of challenges.The NRC has 10 license applications pending for 16 new nuclear reactors and is determining what new requirements it may set for U.S. nuclear powerplants in the wake of last year's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan.If approved, Macfarlane, nominated on May 24, would replace Gregory B. Jaczko, NRC chairman since 2009, who announced on May 21 he planned to resign when a successor is confirmed. Jaczko,

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a challenge by Jacobs Engineering Group to Minnesota's attempt to collect millions of dollars from the company to fund payouts made to victims of the 2007 I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis. Jacobs Engineering Group v. Minnesota was among more than 150 cases that, on May 29, the court said it would not hear. The court gave no reasons for denying the requests.The bridge was designed in the 1960s by Sverdrup & Parcel & Associates, which Jacobs acquired in 1999. The span's collapse killed 13 and injured 145.The Associated General Contractors and other

Related Links: Bureau of Labor Statistics release and data tables AGC Chief Economist Ken Simonson's analysis ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu's analysis Construction’s May unemployment figures show a tale of two indicators: the industry lost 28,000 jobs in the month, but its jobless rate edged down to 14.2% from April's 14.5%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported.The total jobs lost in May represent the largest monthly decline in two years, said Ken Simonson, Associated General Contractors chief economist.BLS's monthly look at the U.S. employment picture, released on June 1, also noted that last month’s construction jobless rate improved over

Congress has approved a three-year reauthorization for the U.S. Export-Import Bank, boosting the total financial assistance the bank can provide to U.S. companies, including construction contractors and equipment makers.Final congressional action came on May 15, when the Senate passed the measure by a strong 78-20 vote after turning back five Republican-sponsored amendments that would have put restrictions on Ex-Im's assistance. The measure had cleared the House on May 9.After the Senate vote, President Obama said in a statement that he looked forward to signing the bill into law. He also said that the legislation "will help American businesses create jobs

Related Links: White House announcement Macfarlane bio from George Mason University ENR December 2011 blog: The Mess at the NRC Moving rapidly to put new leadership atop the unsettled Nuclear Regulatory Commission, President Obama has nominated George Mason University professor Allison M. Macfarlane as a commissioner and also said he would name her as the NRC’s new chair.Macfarlane was a member of a blue-ribbon panel charged with recommending ways to deal with the growing problem of how to dispose of the country’s nuclear waste.  Since 2006, Macfarlane has been an associate professor of environmental science and policy at George Mason,

Courtesy of U.S. Supreme Court The U.S. Supreme Court may review Jacobs v. Minnesota. Related Links: Jacobs' petition to the U.S. Supreme Court (via Scotusblog.com) Friend of the court brief filed by AGC, ACEC, ASCE, CIRT (via Scotusblog.com) The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a challenge by Jacobs Engineering Group to Minnesota’s attempt to collect millions of dollars from the company to fund payouts made to victims of the 2007 I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis.The case, Jacobs Engineering Group v. Minnesota, was one of more than 150 on the high court's May 29 "order list" that it decided

Courtesy of U.S. Senate Photo Studio House and Senate conferees gather for their initial meeting, but industry officials say to watch for the outcome of behind-the-scenes negotiations on the revenue portion of the bill. Related Links: House, Senate Nearly Set for Talks on Highway-Transit Bill Congressional Budget Office cost estimate of Senate-passed version of transportation bill House and Senate lawmakers have come to the negotiating table to begin talks aimed at producing a new surface-transportation law. Construction and state transportation officials, who have put up with nine short-term highway-transit measures since 2009, would love a quick deal. But negotiations are