No matter your political philosophy, the first session of the 111th Congress was an interesting one, and “Act II” will surely follow suit. Several high-profile issues on NUCA’s legislative agenda will be in the spotlight.

At a time when national unemployment remains in double digits despite passage of several Democratic legislative initiatives aimed at putting people back to work, job creation remains the No. 1 priority on Capitol Hill. This, along with the ongoing debate over healthcare reform, will lead to Democratic lawmakers finding themselves running against the clock to address an increasingly hostile electorate as the 2010 midterm elections rapidly approach. The following is a description of a few big issues of interest that will be under the Congressional microscope this year.

Job One: Get Construction Back to Work

2009 saw no shortage of efforts to address huge challenges facing the American economy, mostly in the form of throwing federal money at them. After a $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to bail out the financial sector, $787 billion in economic stimulus resources as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and $85 billion for struggling U.S. automakers, America faced a national debt of $12 trillion and growing. While the banks and auto industry were looking much better at the end of last year, average Americans were still feeling the heat and none more than those in the construction industry.

Despite the big year NUCA enjoyed in terms of increasing funding for the water and wastewater infrastructure market in 2009, the industry is still waiting to see the money from Washington turn into projects across America. The ARRA provided close to $20 billion provided for “environmental infrastructure,” including $6 billion for the EPA State Revolving Fund (SRF) programs. On top of ARRA resources, FY 2010 appropriations for the Clean Water and Drinking Water SRF programs were more than doubled to almost $4 billion.

Despite the fact that EPA has allocated more than 90 percent of the ARRA funding to the states, state and local governments have had difficulties getting the funds out to bid. NUCA continues to encourage our chapters and members to contact state governments and local public officials and persuade them to move this money out the door as the clock continues to tick. For example, the ARRA requires states to have their SRF funding under contract by Feb. 17, 2010 (one year of enactment) or the EPA is
required to collect remaining funding not yet under contract and redirect it to other states who have jobs lined up.

NUCA spent much of November and December of last year working on a new jobs bill initiative in both the House and Senate, and this initiative will remain at the heart of our lobbying efforts. While the details of what the bill would look like were not available at press time, it was clear that infrastructure funding would be a main focus of the bill, along with several tax incentives for homebuyers and for capital investments by small businesses. NUCA and the Clean Water Council were on the Hill early and often to ensure a robust water and wastewater infrastructure component in any jobs bill since the new initiative started, and we will continue to be throughout the second session of the 111th.

Other efforts to further expand our markets will continue to focus on reathorizing the SRF programs at higher funding levels, advancing legislation to lift the state volume cap on private activity bonds for water and wastewater projects, establishing a National Infrastructure Bank and promoting legislation to create a new water infrastructure trust fund will all be in the works this year.

“Card Check” Debate Going into High Gear

Despite huge advertising campaigns by both organized labor as well as business groups, the Employee Free Choice Act, or “card check” bill, was essentially eclipsed by ongoing debates over economic recovery and healthcare reform in 2009. However, the issue remains No. 1 for labor and is sure to be front and center on Capitol Hill this year. Although big disagreements on fundamental aspects of the bill remain, several compromise proposals are in the works, increasing the likelihood of some form of the bill coming up for a vote later in 2010.

The “lightning rod” provisions remain at the heart of the impasse: allowing employees to organize with a labor union by signing union membership cards rather than by voting in elections; requiring binding government arbitration if a contract is not agreed to within a matter of a few months; and increasing financial penalties on employers who break or even “bend” labor laws during organizing campaigns. While the current bill is considered a “no go” in the Senate, labor will certainly turn up the heat on Congressional Democrats and the White House early this year to move a card check bill.

Compromise proposals being batted around include allowing labor organizers more access to facilities where they are attempting to organize a modified arbitration provision and expedited election cycles regarding union affiliation.
NUCA will continue to work with the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace to ensure for the least imposition possible in any compromise card check bill.

Immigration Reform Back in Play

Although comprehensive immigration reform has been shelved as the nation focuses on putting Americans back to work, immigration will be back in the spotlight this year and politics will play a big part in how much attention it receives. As the hispanic population continues to increase in number and influence as a voting bloc, the Obama Administration is feeling pressure to fulfill the campaign promise to address this volatile issue at a time when American citizens are competing for an increasingly limited amount of jobs.

We expect themes similar to those in previous immigration legislation to be addressed by President Obama, including providing incentives to bring undocumented individuals out from the shadows. The controversial issue of if and how to facilitate the path to legal residence status, allowing them to work while complying with a broad range of requirements to remain in America for a period of time will be at the center of the debate.

Though NUCA has supported legislation in the past that included a path to legal residence for the undocumented (under a strict set of conditions), the focus of our recent lobbying efforts have concentrated on ensuring that employer verification requirements do not unfairly burden employers who work in good faith to ensure that their workers are here legally. Several efforts to require the use of the federal E-Verify system continue to be proposed as the main tool for employers to validate their work force. NUCA will continue to push for inclusion of safe harbor language in any E-Verify mandate to ensure that employers are not penalized in situations where the system is used but fails.

Tax Reform to Address Broad Range of Issues

Despite declaring the tax cuts enacted by President George W. Bush in 2001 and 2003 “irresponsible,” it’s looking more and more likely that the current president will end up agreeing to extend many of them before the December 2010 expiration date. If Congress fails to act, it is estimated that taxes would be raised on individuals and businesses by $320 billion over the next 10 years.

NUCA’s tax agenda will address several issues — some old, some new. Congress will be under the gun to provide a permanent solution to the federal estate tax (death tax) by the end of this year. As NUCA and the Family Business Estate Tax Coalition continue our work to encourage lawmakers to pass legislation that provides reasonable estate tax rates along with a significant exemption, Democrats are scrambling to pass something that even resembles reform before the start of 2011, when the previous top rate of 55 percent returns in full force while providing for only a $1 million exemption. This would put Democrats in the precarious position of having to answer to American family businesses and farms at a time when every penny counts.

NUCA will also pull out all the stops to repeal the contractor withholding provision of the tax code. Failure to do so would mean that all federal, state and local government entities would be required to withhold three percent of payments to those who provide them with goods and services.

Tax issues related to bigger legislative initiatives such as healthcare reform and future legislation to enhance job creation are and will continue to come into play, and NUCA will remain fully engaged in the debate.

This article provides a snapshot of only a few of the issues at the forefront of NUCA’s advocacy efforts this year. We hope you will stay involved — we can’t do it without you.

Eben Wyman is NUCA Vice President of Government Relations.