Construction Headline News for January 19, 2010
January 19th, 2010 by Lisa Cleaver. Posted in Construction News | Headline News for Construction ProsConstruction Industry Targeted in Health Care Reform
As Democratic Congressional leaders race to merge competing Senate and House health care reform proposals into one package, small employers in the construction industry remain the only employers explicitly targeted with removal from small business exemptions, says the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC). Â
JCB Donates Backhoes to Haiti Effort
According to a report on SavannahNow.com, British-based JCB, the world’s third-largest manufacturer of construction equipment, is donating equipment worth $150,000 to help the disaster relief effort in Haiti.
The gift of two 3CX backhoe loaders is being made by JCB Chairman Sir Anthony Bamford in response to an appeal from relief agencies for foreign aid.
“The scale of the devastation is unimaginable, and it’s heart-rending to see the human suffering caused by the disaster,” Bamford said in a statement.
Governor’s Gas Tax Idea Wrong, say Area Transit Officials
In one of his most significant budget-balancing proposals this year, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposes to eliminate the sales tax on gasoline and replace most of the lost revenue through an increase to the excise tax on gas.
The net result would be that public transit agencies would lose $1.65 billion they would otherwise receive from the sales tax on gasoline. Of that amount, $675 million would be used to pay off highway bonds, and motorists would receive a temporary $976 million tax cut – a 6-cents-per-gallon decrease in the amount of state taxes they pay at the pump.
Transit advocates are crying foul, as are proponents of highway funding who fear that, over time, the plan would reduce the amount of money available for road construction and maintenance.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood Volunteers in D.C. Community for MLK Day of Service
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood joined with senior DOT leadership, DOT employees, and community volunteers, to mark the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service by cleaning up a public space adjacent to Garfield Park in Southeast Washington, DC. Secretary LaHood and other volunteers worked to clear trash and debris, remove graffiti on the I-395 underpass and clean up the area surrounding the neighborhood park.
KellerOnline Announces 2009 Safety Professional of the Year
J. J. Keller & Associates, Inc., a national provider of risk and regulatory management solutions, has named Nick Dalis, of Joseph J. Albanese Inc. in Santa Clara, CA, as the 2009 KellerOnline Safety Professional of the Year (SPOTY).
Dalis serves as the director of safety for the company, a full service concrete contractor specializing in all aspects of site construction. When Dalis took over as the safety director in 2001, the recordable injury rate at his company was 24.4. Through the efforts of himself, his growing team of field safety coordinators and a top down buy in to safety from the top executive to the laborer in the field, the company’s recordable injury rate was reduced to 4.1 in 2009.
