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No matter which party you belong too, it’s a full-contact sport this year on the National, State, and Local levels.While many of us would like to turn down the volume or simply tune out all of the political chatter it doesn’t appear that we can get away from the constant 24/7 coverage.

“Just because you do not take an interest in Politics doesn’t mean Politics won’t take an interest in you”. -Pericles

The MCAA is actively engaged on the national level on a number of fronts and our new president, whether you claim him or not, is addressing some key issues for the construction industry on regulatory reform via repeal of executive orders regarding Overtime and Fair Pay & Safe Workplaces. Additionally, we hope with the new year we will see some action on pension reform. Surprisingly, the National Building Trades met with the new President last week and supported his executive order on the Keystone Pipeline which, while controversial, will create thousands of jobs and miles of pipe to be fabricated.

The UMCA is in full swing with the State Legislature. Presently, the legislatures big issues all revolve around Education Funding, Homelessness, Taxes, and Air Quality, with some discussion around eliminating the Zion Curtain and Medical Marijuana. We predict you will see some action and/or serious discussion around Education, Homelessness, and Taxes, however, the same can’t be said for Air Quality and Medical Marijuana. With respect to issues affecting the Construction Industry we are only tracking a handful at this point, but as we enter the second week of session there appears to be a record number of bill requests that will rapidly increase the bills we will be tracking in the coming weeks. With that said, the “Post Employment Restrictive Covenants” or Non-Compete Contracts is back this session and will be creating some angst among the business community. For those individuals that would like to monitor legislative issues or suffer from insomnia please log onto the UMCA website where you will find our 2017 Utah Legislative Session Bill Tracker under Advocacy, Utah State Legislature. The bill tracker is updated on a regular basis throughout the session so don’t hesitate to contact Robert Bergman if you have questions or concerns with any of the proposed legislation.