Masonry Magazine November 2005 Page. 60
News
News continued from page 56
horseback riding, member and guest reception, and a banquet.
For more information about future activities, please visit the MMCA website at www.mmca-mi.com.
New Mexico
Reported by the New Mexico Business Weekly. "School construction projects worth $229M up for bid, Sept. 22, 2005:
New school construction projects will be up for bid in 19 New Mexico school districts within the next two years thanks in part to a record $229 million in state funding that will be allocated for improvements to school buildings and the construction of new buildings.
The largest amount of state money awarded was $25.7 million to the Albuquerque Public Schools for a new high school. Rio Rancho will receive $46.8 million, and seven schools in Las Cruces are slated to receive money for improvements, including $2.7 million for a new high school.
Officials at the state Public School Facilities Authority said districts intending to make use of the projects must start construction within 24 months.
North Carolina
The Metrolina Chapter of the North Carolina Mason Contractors Association (NCMCA) held their annual golf tournament in Concord on Sept. 14. One thousand dollars of the proceeds will go to Hurricane Katrina relief, with the balance being donated to Charlotte area masonry vocational instruction classes. Also, CEMEX agreed to triple any hurricane relief money that the chapter donated.
Chapter President Chris Bruner awarded first place to the CEMEX team of Lee Amick, Gregg Swartz, Joe Canitano and Tod Cox. Second place was the Central Piedmont Chapter team of Ricky Sutphin, David Zenns, Kenny Duncan and Scotty Showerman, followed by the Gates Construction team of Mark Nelson, Bob Gates, Steve Young and Al Borenkamp finishing in third place. Mark Nelson won the longest drive competition, and Keith Magee, Kent Cloninger and Bob Gates received closest-to-the-pin recognition.
For upcoming events, NCMCA will have a masonry exhibit at the North Carolina School Boards Association Conference at the Koury Center in Greensboro, Nov. 13-16. Contact Paul LaVene at (336) 852-2074 for more information.
Also, the North Carolina SkillsUSA Scholarship Golf Tournament will be held at Pinehurst on Nov. 18. For more information, contact Glenn Barefoot at (919) 807-3887.
For more information on NCMCA, visit www.ncmca.com.
Pittsburgh
Reported by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, "Commercial construction may hit $2.5 billion this year," Aug 28, 2005:
The outlook for commercial construction in the six-county Pittsburgh region is strong this year, according to a local firm that tracks the market.
Thanks to a number of education, health care, industrial and retail building projects, the region should see a 20% increase in nonresidential building by year end, according to the recently released Pittsburgh Construction News mid-year report.
Among the education projects that are expected to generate volume for contractors are a new high school for the Moon Area School District that is expected to cost about $50 million and a $60 million high school remodeling and expansion project in the Baldwin-Whitehall School District, [says Jeff] Burd [, president of the construction market tracking and research firm).
"There's also a tremendous amount of work at universities and area hospitals, and in the light manufacturing category alone, we've have five projects over 40,000 square feet," says Burd.
Health care-related work includes the $470 million Children's Hospital project in Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville neighborhood, he says.
News continued on page 60
Compliance Assistance for Small Businesses
Marian Marshall
MCAA Director of Government Affairs
Senator Olympia Snowe, chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business, has introduced a bill, S. 769, that would compel federal agencies to produce compliance assistance materials to help small businesses satisfy the requirements of agency regulations.
In comparison, regulatory compliance costs for small businesses with less than 20 employees are almost $7,000 per employee, compared to $4,500 for companies with more than 500 employees. If an agency cannot describe how to comply with its regulations, how can small businesses be expected to figure them out? That was the original intent of one of the provisions of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA). Unfortunately, agencies have failed to comply with the requirement to produce publications.
Sen. Snowe's legislation will clarify the designation of the compliance assistance materials, require agencies to make them available on their websites and, more importantly, require agencies to make the publications available simultaneously with the publication of the final rule or no later than the effective date of the rule's compliance requirements.
While this legislation enacted may seem somewhat insignificant, I believe these changes will force federal agencies to put more thought into making regulations more understandable for the business community that must comply with them.
Although no hearings have been scheduled on the bill (it has only 12 cosponsors), numerous groups, including the U.S. Chamber, are pushing to move the bill forward.