Rep. Blumenauer Continues to Push for Infrastructure Investment

NUCA recently attended the latest Infrastructure Stakeholder Meeting hosted by Reps. Steve LaTourette (R-Ohio) and Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) in the Members Room at the Library of Congress. The primary focus of the meeting was on the need for a multi-year authorization bill for surface transportation. Funding remains a major sticking point in attempting to reach agreement on a new transportation bill. Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee, addressed the meeting and spoke about the need to do more highway projects with fewer available dollars. Chairman Mica did shed some light on what legislation he wanted to see enacted in this Congress; it includes the following reauthorization bills: aviation, surface transportation, WRDA and EPA's State Revolving Fund (SRF) programs. Rep. Mica did acknowledge the need to reauthorize the SRF programs, but did not give any timetable for when the T&I Committee might begin consideration of the legislation. NUCA remains committed to a multi-year reauthorization of the SRF programs and will continue to work with the T&I Committee to make that happen.

EPA Solicits Comments for Regulatory Review

The EPA is requesting the public's input on a plan to guide EPA's retrospective reviews of regulations (go to http://www.epa.gov/improvingregulations/ )as part of the agency's response to the President's Jan. 18 Executive Order (EO) 13563. This EO directs federal agencies to consider "how best to promote retrospective analysis of rules that may be outmoded, ineffective, insufficient, or excessively burdensome," and calls on the agencies to develop a plan under which they will each periodically review significant regulations to see if they should be modified or repealed to be more effective and/or less burdensome. EPA invites public input up until March 20 and will hold a public meeting in Washington, D.C. on March 14, as well as listening sessions in other parts of the country. These meetings will give the public the chance to provide EPA with feedback on specific issues, impacts or programs. More information about these meetings will be announced soon. By late May, EPA will make public its retrospective review plan, as well as the initial list of regulations it plans to review. Please send any comments you would like EPA to consider to Eben Wyman (Eben@nuca.com) and/or Ben Gann (Ben@nuca.com).

House Panel Investigates OSHA Regulations

The House Education and Workforce Committee's Subcommittee on Workforce Protections recently held its first hearing since Republicans moved into the Majority, and there was no mistake that there is a new sheriff in town when it comes to OSHA "reform." In a hearing to investigate OSHA's regulatory agenda and the impacts it has on job creation in America, Subcommittee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) made his point very clear. "Over the last two years, OSHA has not only attempted to implement several policy changes that would have profound impact on the workplace, it has become an administration more focused on punishment than prevention," the chairman stated. "However, punishment is just one piece of enforcing the law. Our goal should be to prevent workplace accidents before they happen, not simply shame an employer once a tragedy has occurred on the job site. That is why I am concerned with recent actions that suggest the administration has shifted the balance toward punishment and taken its sights off commonsense rules that promote prevention." A witness for the Coalition for Workplace Safety (CWS), an OSHA watchdog alliance of which NUCA remains an active member, was on hand to testify. Although OSHA has already rescinded its proposed reinterpretation of the agency's noise standard, CWS informed the committee of the ramifications that the reinterpretation would have had on employers if it had been implemented. Specifically, CWS found that the proposed OSHA noise interpretation would have: · affected a large number and very broad range of American businesses and their employees. · included overly high costs; · resulted in substantial negative impacts on American jobs and competitiveness and; · resulted in little benefit in terms of improved hearing protection for workers. Chairman Walberg indicated the hearing was the first in a series that will explore OSHA's role and activities.