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WECA Political Update September 17, 2020

Thursday, September 17, 2020

Government Affairs and Merit Shop Advocacy
L.A. controller’s report says homeless housing costs $531,000 a unit The Los Angeles City Controller performed an audit  that found that the average cost of building a single unit of housing for the homeless in Los Angeles is now $531,000, but also found that prices for these units have reached as high as $746,000 per unit--far more than the cost of building some luxury high rise condos in downtown. The audit also found that nearly four years after voters approved $1.2 billion in bonds to build homeless housing, only three projects have opened, construction hasn’t begun on 75% of planned units, and many projects may “never come to fruition.” The news came the same day the city council refused to give the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority the majority of funds from a $97 million federal grant to rapidly rehouse homeless people until the agency can show it’s made progress with an initial $30 million payment. Story

California Court Allows Subcontractor to Pursue Project Owner for Tortious Interference A California appellate court recently held that an owner on a construction project could be liable to a subcontractor for the tort of intentional interference with the subcontractor’s contract with the general contractor. The decision further eroded an apparent exception under California law that immunized parties from tortious interference claims who were technically strangers to a contract but had an “economic interest.” While the decision is not limited to the construction context, it could have broad implications for owners and contractors on California construction projects. Story

The State of Trump/Union Relations In spite of the urging of several construction groups since his election in 2016, President Donald Trump has refused to repeal Obama-era EO 13502 that encourages federal agencies to use union-only project labor agreements (“PLAs”) on construction projects, the cost of which exceeds $25 million. Trump recently invited construction union leaders to the White House, “but he utterly failed on delivering what they wanted most: his promised $1 trillion infrastructure plan that would have created hundreds of thousands of construction jobs. Infuriating union leaders and many workers, the Trump administration has refused to adopt any regulations requiring employers to take specific steps to protect workers against Covid-19. Many labor experts say the Trump National Labor Relations Board has taken myriad steps to make it harder to unionize. Mr. Trump has tweeted out attacks against the A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s president and several union presidents.” Story

Projects Expedited by Trump EO Waiving Environmental Regulations Newly released documents provide details into some of the projects that have been expedited by President Donald Trump's executive order directing federal government agencies to waive environmental regulations and streamline infrastructure projects in order to hasten the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. In light of the June 4 executive order the Interior Department is considering exemptions to key provisions of the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act for more than 60 major projects, newly released documents show. The projects under consideration include highway construction, fossil fuel extraction facilities and pipelines, energy storage, mining, water delivery and wildfire mitigation projects. Story

U.S. Chamber's Vote for Jobs Toolkit. The Vote for Jobs site is a resource to check voter registration status, register to vote, request an absentee ballot, vote early, find polling locations, important dates, candidate information and other key data for all 50 states. You can find the tool here. A helpful resource is the Chamber’s How They Voted.
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Richard Markuson
WECA Government Affairs Advocate, Pacific Advocacy Group
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WECA is the premier independent merit shop contractors' association in the Western United States. We provide innovative training and education programs, critical business services, and responsive customer support to surpass the needs of our members and students. We are federally and state-approved, and our top-quality electrical training has found a nationwide audience. For over 90 years, we have been training the next generation of electricians, and advocating for and protecting fair and open competition in the electrical industry.
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