ABC March 22 joined 44 other organizations and businesses in supporting a bill, the Auto Enroll Repeal Act (H.R. 2206) that would repeal a provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that requires employers of 200 or more full-time employees to automatically enroll employees in a health plan should coverage not be chosen by the employee.

The Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Treasury recently issued a list of FAQs related to the Feb. 14 final rule implementing the provision on summary of benefits and coverage in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Washington, D.C. – In advance of the second anniversary of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) on March 23, Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) said the sweeping health care law fails to curb the cost of health care coverage and imposes new taxes, as well as costly and burdensome federal government mandates on businesses, including ABC members.

The overwhelming majority of construction businesses are organized as pass-through entities, meaning that their income is taxed at the individual level. These job-creating small and medium-sized businesses would bear the brunt of higher marginal tax rates, wealth surcharges, and corporate-only attempts to reform the code.

More than 800 members of the design and construction community came together for an evening of dinner and dancing at the biannualBuilders’ Ball, which benefits several charities in the metro Washington, D.C., area. Although the 2010 Builders’ Ball was canceled due to the difficult economic climate, organizers found an excited and generous base of supporters for the most recent ball on Nov. 19, 2011. 

Washington, D.C. – Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) today announced it received a $50,000 grant from the Atlanta-based Turner Foundation, Inc., founded by Ted Turner. This is the third consecutive year ABC has received this grant, which will be used to support the association’s green building initiatives with a focus on expanding its green certification and training programs.

On March 5, the ABC-led Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW) appealed a ruling by a U.S. District Court judge who found that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has the authority to mandate its biased “employee rights” poster.  

On March 12, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a final rule on health insurance exchanges, which combines policies from two other proposed rules published last summer.

Beginning on June 1, the design values for certain types of visually graded Southern Pine lumber will be reduced, according to a Jan. 11 decision by the American Lumber Standard Committee. 

On March 2, a U.S. District Court issued a decision in the legal challenge against the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) biased “employee rights” notice posting requirement, ruling that the NLRB has the authority to mandate the notice posting itself, but it cannot impose an up-front, blanket penalty policy for failure to post.