In August, the U.S. Department of Treasury and Internal Revenue Service issued a proposed rule regarding the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act. This legislation is strongly opposed by ABC, and we’re launching a survey to get your opinion. The proposed Inflation Reduction Act provides over $270 billion in tax …
ABC 2023 Maryland General Assembly Report to Membership
For ABC’s 1500+ member firms, the 2023 Maryland General Assembly was a particularly challenging one as legislators wrestled with the practical implications of legalized cannabis, flirted with criminalizing prevailing wage violations, and imposed union-labor requirements on offshore-wind-energy projects. In a session that saw the introduction of nearly 2500 bills, ABC’s …
PLA Executive Order Is Bad Public Policy
Last month, President Joe Biden signed an executive order requiring project labor agreements on federal construction projects over $35 million. The White House claimed that the order will help ease management concerns and organization on large construction projects. ABC sent a letter to the White House highlighting concerns with President Biden’s efforts …
President Biden’s Vaccination Requirement – What Employers Want to Know
Maury Baskin, ABC General Counsel Maury is a Shareholder with Littler Labor & Employment Law Solutions On September 9, 2021, President Biden released his COVID-19 Action Plan, Path Out of the Pandemic (the “Plan”). The Plan mandates vaccination against COVID-19 for employees working for employers that have 100 or more employees, as …
Maryland Small Business Covid-19 RELIEF Grant Program
There is still funding available for businesses in most counties through the Maryland Small Business Covid-19 RELIEF Grant Program. The Maryland Department of Commerce will soon reopen the application portal so these businesses will have one final chance to apply for this grant. The RELIEF Act of 2021 required that Commerce, to the best of …
City Council Reintroduces Bill that Would Restrict City-Funded Projects to Union Labor
In a City/Region Where Fewer Than 1 out of 10 Construction Workers Belong to a Union, Bill Will Devastate Local Hiring Just a little more than a year ago after it was first introduced, the Baltimore City Council has reintroduced legislation that would force subcontractors to hire their labor from …
Businesses, Legislators, Grapple with ‘Essential Worker’ Legislation
Legislation that would provide a broad array of benefits and protections to those workers who continue working during a state-declared emergency is being debated in the Maryland General Assembly. And while the stated goal of the bill [HB 0581; SB 486] would be to safe-guard those workers who would be …
NEW STATE LAWS THAT GO INTO EFFECT JULY 1
Sure, there is a world-wide pandemic and Maryland was mostly shut down this past spring, but that didn’t stop legislators from doing what they do best: create new laws and regulations. The Maryland General Assembly passed more than 650 pieces of legislation in the 2020 Legislative Session, including several statewide …
ABC and MMCA Join Forces to Stop City PLA
New video highlighting the many problems with bill. View it HERE. Members from ABC Baltimore and the Maryland Minority Contractors Association are working together to persuade City Council members that legislation that imposes a union-only ‘project labor agreement’ on City projects $15 million and more would have a devastating impact …
New Program to Help Members Meet Healthcare Mandate on State Work
Effective July 1, 2019 the State of Maryland adopted new legislation requiring contractors performing work on State of Maryland contracts to provide health insurance to all employees on the jobsite. In addition, the employer must certify they are contributing at a minimum 50% of the employee premium or contribute …
Working Group Considers Overhaul of School Construction Funding
Maryland legislators are considering a new, complicated formula to restructure the way school construction money is allocated in the hopes of targeting systems with the most need. The draft formula, which would replace the current system that distributes state aid proportionally to all of the state’s 24 subdivisions, had trouble …