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OverviewCAGC Legislative Committees | Staff Carolinas AGC interacts with many levels of governmental and regulatory entities on members' behalf. Our involvement includes monitoring and affecting the outcome of proposed legislation in the state legislatures with our members' businesses in mind; working with the state labor departments for reasonable safety regulations; keeping close relations with municipal and county officials concerning mutual interests such as risk allocation and public bidding; and working with the public schools and community colleges in helping provide for a well-trained work force. In addition, CAGC helps back up similar federal efforts for the Carolinas in conjunction with National AGC. This week's Government Relations RoundupNorth Carolina Government Relations-- News Impacting Your BusinessNorth Carolina Government Relations-- News Impacting Your Business>> South Carolina Government Relations-- News Impacting Your Business>> State Legislative IssuesNorth Carolina: The regular long session of the NC General Assembly ended early on Saturday, June 18, 2011 with Carolinas AGC having an excellent session that included legislative approval of more than $1 billion toward construction projects and failure to cap the gas tax, a move that will result in about $250 million more going more toward transportation in the two years. Other accomplishments included defeat of a bill that would have caused a nightmare on public work bidding involving military veteran participation. In addition, the state House did not approve a Senate-passed bill which would require the construction industry to first get a Certificate of Merit before civil action could be taken against designers, a costly and cumbersome process that would have a chilling effect on the construction industry. CAGC led efforts to secure agreement for stakeholders to make recommendations on how to improve North Carolina's underground utility safety law and kept in place the state's 6-year statute of repose for construction at a time when it is 12 years for other business and industry. Other highlights included working with a coalition, led by the NC Chamber, which resulted in passage of legislation for workers' comp reform, tort reform and environmental reform that will result in state rules generally not being more stringent than federal rules; rejection of proposed legislation, strongly opposed by CAGC, which would have increased the force-account ceiling substantially for universities and community colleges; and preservation of open, competitive bidding on public work. To continue our success, we must have a strong PAC. Now is the time for our PAC Attack and for our members to provide the funds necessary to remain a force in our General Assembly as it does its business. See efforts and successes from 2011 South Carolina: The 2010 Legislative session kicked-off in early January. This began the second year of a two-year session and any bill that does not pass during this legislative session, will die and will have to be introduced as a new bill in 2011. The legislature plans to take quick action on changes to the Tort Reform law amending the code of laws to clarify that a building code violation would not kick the statute of repose from 8 back to13 years. They also plan to pass Card Check Legislation which would allow a constitutional amendment to be placed on the November ballot that, if approved, would maintain the right for an individual to vote by secret ballot in a union election. We fully expect the legislature to pass regulations that clarify the Special Inspectors law that passed last year, create a new Employment Security Commission under the preview of the Governor, pass several tax credits under the Economic Development bill, consider, for the first time in over ten years, legislation that would re-write the Underground Utility laws in SC, and stop legislation that would split the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control into 2 separate agencies. The legislature will be in session until June 3 at the very latest and CAGC will continue to protect the interest of our members at the SC legislature. See efforts and successes from 2011 CAGC Legislative Committees In pursuing CAGC's legislative and regulatory goals, our legislative committees in both states keep close tabs on our work. The legislative committees make recommendations for CAGC's Board of Directors concerning our efforts. StaffLobbyists:
Safety: Kenny Boggs Local Governments/Municipalities: Bill Stricker Education & Training: Carolyn Milliron
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