Masonry Magazine August 2006 Page. 48
News
to allow for blending within a project. Each brick also contains "through the-body" color and Palmetto's 150-year guarantee.
Executive Director's Report
Michael Adelizzi
Executive Director, Mason Contractors Association of America
Overall, the Association has done a remarkable job of doing more, being more visible while using less financial resources. MCAA staff continues to be engaged in coming up with innovative ideas and programs to expand the MCAA influence, as well as working hard to protect current programs and resources in the face of strong competition for existing MCAA activities.
Washington Review
Our influence and activities have dramatically increased since the beginning of January. The MCAA opened its successful Legislative Conference to the membership of the Brick Industry Association (BIA), Building Stone Institute (BSI) and National Concrete Masonry Association (NCMA), as we conducted the first-ever joint Masonry Industry Legislative Conference. Sixty-five conference attendees heard from key policymakers in Washington about the issues that will impact our industry. The MCAA staff worked hard to make over 35 appointments for our members to visit their Congress representatives; based on the feedback from our members, the Hill visits were the highlight of the conference. The four associations are in discussions about continuing the joint Legislative Conference next year.
MCAA's director of government affairs, Jessica Johnson Bennett, along with MCAA's director of engineering, Rashod Johnson, P.E., and I, have been very active in Washington meeting in numerous coalitions on issues such as immigration, tax and OSHA reform.
Through our pilot Masonry Best Practices Seminar for OSHA field personnel, we have made great strides in strengthening our relationship with both OSHA and the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA). We conducted a highly successful seminar in St. Louis, and we will conduct two more seminars in Massachusetts and Illinois. It is our hope to conduct this cooperative event in every OSHA region over the next two years.
MCAA staff was recently invited to two highly visible meetings at the White House. Bennett attended a briefing on immigration, and both Bennett and Johnson attended President Bush's signing of the tax break legislation on the South Lawn.
Our staff has been extremely active in the immigration debate, as well as other issues being debated in Congress. Bennett was on the Hill until the late hours on May 22 to lobby Senators to eliminate a provision in the immigration legislation that would make mason contractors criminally liable for hiring outside firms that had illegal aliens on their payrolls. We were successful in helping to get that provision changed.
Silica Taskforce Chairman Mark Kemp presented a draft document of our silica standard to OSHA for comment. We are awaiting a response from OSHA.
Last year, there was a great deal of concern over the long-established ASTM silica standard. Through Johnson's strong efforts, we have been able to exempt construction from the current ASTM Silica Standard.
Also, ASTM has selected Johnson to serve as chairman of a new ASTM subcommittee on Occupational Safety and
Johnson Earns Professional Engineer License
Rashod R. Johnson, P.E., director of engineering for the Mason Contractors Association of America (MCAA), has earned a professional engineering license from the State of Illinois.
Professional engineer licenses are regulated by the State of Illinois in order to safeguard the public by setting defined minimum standards of professional performance when professional services are needed. Professional licensing raises the standards of the profession by limiting practice to those meeting objective standards through rigorous examinations and experience.
Johnson, who has been with MCAA for over six years, serves on many codes and standards committees representing the interests of mason contractors throughout the country. Prior to working for MCAA, Johnson worked in engineering sales for a material distributor and as a project engineer for a major contractor in Chicago.
"Rashod has worked hard over the last six years to establish MCAA's credibility within America's masonry codes and standards. This already solid credibility was strengthened even further by Rashod's earning of his P.E. license," said Michael Adelizzi, MCAA's executive director.
Johnson's professional memberships include the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Construction Specifications Institute, the National Society of Professional Engineers, and the American Society of Testing and Materials, where he is on the executive committee for C12-Masonry Mortars, C15-Manufactured Masonry Units and E34-Occupational Health and Safety.
He holds a bachelor of science in civil engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and a master of science in civil engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago.