Source: AGC Highway Facts Bulletin
On July 24, AGC submitted more than 50 pages worth of regulatory reform recommendations to the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) in response to the department’s request for comment. In this comprehensive document, AGC put forth recommendations for improving the highway work zone safety, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration mandate on electronic logging devices, the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program, and the federal environmental review and permitting processes, among other things. AGC also recommended that U.S. DOT eliminate its local hire pilot program and rescind the outstanding proposed rule for such a program.
This AGC submission comes on the heels of U.S. DOT putting forth its 2017 regulatory plan last week. As part of the semi-annual Unified Regulatory and Deregulatory Agenda, U.S. DOT revealed that it has not yet determined the next action on the Obama administration’s proposed regulation on local hiring requirements. In response, AGC was once again successful in pushing Congress to include a provision in annual spending legislation that—when signed into law—would restrict the use of local hire requirements on highway and transit projects that have federal funding.
Additionally, the U.S. DOT terminated a highway work zone safety rulemaking—mandated by statute under MAP-21—that would have ensured that positive protection measures and temporary longitudinal traffic barriers would be used in work zones in certain situations. The department, however, did indicate its intent to follow through on a rulemaking to establish a pilot program authorizing five states to conduct environmental reviews and make approvals for projects under state environmental laws and regulations, rather than through the National Environmental Policy Act.