On Thursday, the House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Investment will hold a hearing titled: “Reauthorizing the National Apprenticeship Act: Strengthening and Growing Apprenticeships for the 21st century.” The hearing will start the reauthorizing process to the National Apprenticeship Act that was passed in 1937. Although the bill looks to focus only on the registered apprenticeship programs, ABC continues to talk with the Committee to ensure that the reauthorization provides more flexibility while modernizing the current registered apprenticeship program to work better for the entire construction industry, not just union labor.

On Tuesday, March 3, 2020, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time, the Wage and Hour Division will offer a public webinar to provide compliance assistance on the final Joint Employer rule covering:

• Provisions of the final rule so that employers comply with the changes and inform workers and their advocates of their rights.
• Specific changes that the final rule will make when it becomes effective on March 16, 2020.
• Detailed information about new materials and resources available on the joint employer final rule website, https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/flsa/2020-joint-employment

House Democrats last Wednesday unveiled a $760 billion framework to fund infrastructure investments over five years. Pushing through a substantial infrastructure package in an election year is going to be tough and the framework is largely seen as an effort by Democrats to take their first steps on a top campaign priority following impeachment.

The framework notably does not specify how to pay for the increased funding and Republicans outlined their own set of priorities on Tuesday ahead of the release of Democrats’ framework, including addressing the long-term sustainability of the Highway Trust Fund, addressing infrastructure for rural communities and ensuring state flexibility for infrastructure needs.

The third presidential impeachment trial in U.S. history will conclude this week after Democrats were unable to convince 4 Republicans to vote for additional witnesses and evidence for the trial last Friday. It is expected that President Trump will be acquitted of the two impeachment articles against him, making impeachment largely a campaign issue for both sides during the 2020 presidential election. It is also possible that three Senate Democrats—Sinema (Ariz.), Jones (Ala.) and Manchin (W.Va.) could vote with Republicans to acquit and provide the president with bipartisan support against his removal from office.   

While impeachment will conclude, it is still possible that the House will continue to investigate the administration’s involvement with Ukraine, including a potential subpoena of former National Security Adviser John Bolton, as a way to further damage the president in the lead up to the 2020 election.

Despite the continuously moving timeline on impeachment, Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected to meet with her caucus today to discuss the next steps in terms of sending the impeachment articles to the Senate. Once this is done, it will set off the trial in the Senate that should conclude by next month. With Majority Leader McConnell in full control, there remains no indication that the president is in any danger. Expect the President to be acquitted of the two impeachment articles that were passed in the House.

Please note that the password has changed to an evergreen password:

ABCPAC As you know, there is now an online contribution portal for ABC PAC. To access the contribution portal, PAC.ABC.org. For more information on the portal and how to use it, please see the one-pager on national connections. This new website allows ABC members whose companies have given Prior Authorization to make fast, secure, and FEC compliant decisions about supporting ABC PAC.

On Sunday, the Department of Labor released the final version of the Trump administration's long-awaited joint employer rule, and while the NRLB is expected to finalize a similar rule under the National Labor Relations Act, and the EEOC is set to propose its own rule clarifying when a company should be classified a joint employer under federal employment discrimination law, this is a major victory for the business community. The final rule uses a four-part test to determine whether a business is jointly liable for minimum wage and overtime violations. The test weighs whether the business, with regard to its franchisee or contractor, maintains the power to hire and fire; to supervise schedules and 'conditions of employment'; to set pay, and to keep employment records. The final rule is expected to be published in the Federal Register on Jan. 16 and will go into effect 60 days after publication.