Masonry Magazine February 2014 Page. 12
GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS
Matthew B. Keelen
What's Ahead for 2014
Once again, we had a productive and busy year in Washington, D.C., battling onerous regulations, promot�ing vital legislation, and continuing to ra ise the profile of the Mason Contractors Association of America in our nation's capitol. While we had many successes and laid the ground�work for many continued efforts, I wanted to take this time to update you on the year ahead and where we are headed.
Hopefully most of you reading this article, like me, have just returned home from Las Vegas an d the annual MCAA Convention during World of Concrete/World of Masonry, ready to hit the ground running in making our vo ices heard in Washington, D. C., and throughout the country.
As you know, Congress has just returned from their year-end recess to convene the 2nd Session of the I I 3th Congress, and I wanted to take this time to recap what will be the driving issues in Congress that will likely affect the MCAA and your businesses. The biggest outside influence on this year will be the mid-term primary elections and the subsequent general election in November 2014. Most of the debates and actions taken in Congress this year will hinge on their potential impact on messaging and political maneuvering. One of the biggest ways th is political maneuver�ing will play out is in the Fiscal Year 2015 Appropriations process.
At the end of 20 I3, Congress passed, and the President signed, the first budget agreement to be agreed to in years, setting forth spending levels for the next two years. This, in turn, will likely open the door for the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to return to their tradi�tional ways of debating and passing individual appropriations bills, instead of having to rely upon contin�uing resolutions, omnibus appropria�tions packages, and the threat of government shutdowns. Returning to "regular order" will allow MCAA and our coalition partners to have avenues to hold the administra tion account �able on costly, overbearing regulations and set the groundwork for other pri�orities such as life-cycle costing of fed�eral projects.
We were also quite successful at the end of 2013 in promoting H.R. 1563, the Concrete Masonry Products Research, Education, and Promotion Act and will take this momentum into 20 14 to, hopefully, push Co ngress to pass our legislation an d have the President sign the bill into law. We are currently up to 121 bipartisan cosponsors in the House of Representatives (over one-quarter of all Members of the House) and con�tinue to work with Leadership in the House to schedule a vote on the House floor. I will, once again, encourage you, if you have not already done so, to contact your Member of Congress and request that they cosponsor this vital piece of legisla�tion (information on the legislation can be fo und at w,-.,,.v.masoncontrac�tors.org or by contacting MCAA).
We have had great success in states like Wiscons in and Texas in partner�ing MCAA member outreach with our lobbyi ng efforts here in Washington, D.C., to gain vital sup�port for this issue and legislation, and would love to replicate those efforts in
This year's biggest outside
influence will be the
mid-term primary elections
and the general election
in November.
states throughout the country.
I will end this article by giving you an update on what will likely be the biggest issue that MCAA and you will face in 2014, and that is the proposed new rule being pursued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to further reduce the permissible amount of workers' exposure to crystalline silica. As currently written, this proposed rule would have a drastic impact on you and the masonry industry as a whole, as it is vastly unworkable. MCAA has joined various coalitions, will testify in fro nt of OSHA at its public hearings, and continues to edu�cate Members of Congress on this wrongheaded approach to workplace safety. With the rulemaking process continuing to quickly roll forward and deadlines fast approaching, this issue will remain our top priority in the fi rst half of 2014, and I would implore you to educate yourself on this issue and get involved in MCAA's efforts to block OSHA's misguided push to enact this new rule.
We look forward to yet another eventful and exciting year in fighting for you and your businesses, and we will continue to update you on our efforts here in Washington, D.C., as the year progresses. Happy New Year! IMAS
10 MASONRY � February 2014 � www.masoncontractors.org The Voice of the Masonry Industry