Archive for June 2023

ASA Welcomes New 2023-2024 Board of Directors As ASA’s new fiscal year starts on July 1, we welcome and thank the incoming members of our Board of Directors for their service. We would also like to encourage our members to become active in your local chapters and at the national level. Any progress and success…

Upcoming Webinar: “US Construction Industry Market Forecast” Join us on July 12th, 2023 at Noon Eastern for the webinar, “US Construction Industry Market Forecast”, presented by Luke Matelan.  During this presentation, attendees will learn more about which market segments & geographic locations are going to be growing and which will be contracting, so you know…

Get the Most Out of Your ASA Membership! Join ASA on July 19th, 2023 at Noon Eastern to learn more about how to get the most out of your ASA membership!  Whether you are a new member of ASA or have been with us for decades, don’t miss out on this opportunity to learn more…

This Week in Congress This week, the House and Senate worked on budget issues before they begin their two-week 4th of July recess. Speaker McCarthy will continue to quell his conservative members as he begins to outline a working agreement with the group to forge ahead with must-pass bills such as the farm bill, appropriations,…

The Slower Pace of the Senate This year, the Senate has operated at a snail’s pace due partisanship, absences, and other distractions have thwarted substantial floor action.  The chamber’s business has so far largely been confined to confirming President Biden’s nominees and dispensing with Republican-led challenges to administration regulation. While the Senate has always been…

Subcontractor Legal Defense Fund Task Force ASA has submitted yet another supporting brief for the Subcontractor Legal Defense Fund in New Mexico. The issue has to do with calculation of interest on prompt payment claims.  New Mexico took its language “1 1/2 percent per month, or fraction thereof” from tax statutes that contain the same…

Update on the FY24 National Defense Authorization Act The House Armed Services Committee considered the FY24 NDAA (H.R. 2670) with Chair Rogers’ initial draft calling for $842.3 billion for the Defense Department, plus $32.4 billion for atomic weapons programs in the Energy Department. The draft bill aligns with the $886.35 billion in defense spending proposed…

Contract Documents Task Force ASA has recently approved an updated round of contracts from the ConsensusDocs design-bid-build series. These are a series of ConsensusDocs most used prime and subcontract agreements and are being revised for publication as part of ConsensusDocs regular comprehensive revision cycle. This cycle occurs twice as frequently as the American Institute of…

The Bonding Perspective on H.R.1740 Last week, ASA advocated on behalf of H.R.1740, which would address payment and performance bonds regarding Water Infrastructure Financing Authority Act (WIFIA) financed public-private partnerships.  After those meetings, the National Association of Surety Bond Producers (NASBP) offered that they had a study conducted on behalf of the Surety & Fidelity…

EPA’s Offers their Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) Quotas Under a regulation finalized on Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency in 2023 will require the use of 2.82 billion gallons of biomass-based diesel, generally made from soybean and canola oil, a 2.2% increase over the 2.76 billion gallons mandated last year. For 2024 and 2025, the quotas…