Greetings!
John’s Soapbox-
EVP Newsletter 1-23-17
MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
On Saturday I attended the “Retirement Party” for our former 5th District Sonoma County Supervisor, Efren Carrillo. While I believe West County will be ably represented by Lynda Hopkins, Efren will be sorely missed. His comments were gracious, and the message was quite clear as he specifically spoke to young people in the community-“do not be hesitant to get involved. Leadership is all about being involved. Involvement will MAKE A DIFFERNCE!”
I related Efren’s comments to our association-the ECA. We just got done with our 2017 Strategic Planning Retreat at which President Dale Mahoney suggested we “raise the bar” as to being involved as individuals involved with the General Engineering Contracting Industry of Northern California.
I have two action items to share with you:
- The Board and President Dale have directed me to reach out to our membership to find out what issues or topics you find relevant in your business or community. Even if we do not first believe that a topic is directly related to our industry, things are so interrelated these days that directly or indirectly, if something is important to you, chances are that topic is affecting your business and others like it. Dale wants your voice to be heard. In that regard, I have attached a brief survey that I ask you to take and share with others at your firm and send back to me. Hopefully you can convince a principal to answer the brief survey and help us to understand what your topics of interest are such that the ECA can be even more effective than we already are in our industry and community. Your responses and your firm will not be linked so you can rest assured that no company “secrets” or viewpoints will be leaked. I only want to see the results of the survey in a general manner to know where my focus should be in 2017 to best serve the membership.
- President Dale wants our Board meetings to be more participatory by our Board members. In that respect, I have been asked to come up with a list of “topics” that will be presented at each of our nine scheduled Board meetings this year. I am asking for your feedback right here and right now. Let me share with you the concept, and a few topics I think have relevance to have our Board present and discuss and then please, please, get back to me with your feedback:
- Cannabis growing, manufacturing, and distribution are taking off in a big way. How might this affect our community, our businesses, and our local government?
- Homelessness is an issue that used to be out of sight a lot more than it is now. We now see homeless folks under our overpasses and in our doorways in our business district. How can homelessness affect your business and what options do we have to deal with it? Is providing more services the answer?
- Housing ownership and rental of housing is becoming more costly than ever locally. Many feel this is an obvious result of not building enough housing in the last 25 years. What is the current housing shortage and high cost of housing doing to your ability to find and retain good workers in your firm? Can we just build our way out of this problem?
These three are examples of what was discussed and what may be discussed. If you have other issues you want us to address and focus on, please share them. Perhaps the topic of lessening the red tape that is restricting your business is more important to you? Maybe finding and developing skilled workers is your biggest concern?
Well-we want to know. Send me an email, or pick up the phone and let me know. I am here only because of you and I want to hear YOUR thoughts on what we should be discussing and accomplishing this year!
MAKE A DIFFERENCE-LET ME KNOW WHAT ISSUES YOU WANT THE ECA TO GET INVOLVED WITH!
Here is a short survey to get us started.
Thanks for all you do!
That’s All Folks
John
Prevailing Wage and Certified Payroll Payments for Concrete Ready Mix Drivers-Confusing as Hell!
I got a call last week from a General Contractor asking me what is the status of AB 219. He had heard that the law was suspended in October but maybe back in place in December of 2016. He was correct. Here is a very brief history of AB 219:
- AB 219 passed into law and took effect July 1, 2016. The new law imposed massive new burdens on the ready-mix industry, including complex new record-keeping and tracking requirements. Many ready-mix companies raised their prices to cover implementation of the new laws as a “pass through” to purchasers of delivered concrete. I have heard the “surcharge” per load of concrete is about $75 per load, regardless of how many yards.
- On June 30, 2016, a group of eight ready-mix companies filed a lawsuit challenging the new statute as a violation of Equal Protection and federal law. The U.S. District Court in Los Angeles granted the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction on October 18, 2016. The effect of this ruling essentially suspended the Department of Industrial Relation’s ability to enforce AB 219. Even though the injunction was granted, an appeal was expected. The reasoning of the U.S. District Court’s decision to grant the injunction against enforcing AB 219 was because of the persuasive argument that established the that plaintiffs “raise serious questions as to whether including ready-mixed concrete but excluding other building materials under the prevailing wage law is rationally related to a legitimate government interest.”
- December 20, 2016 -The federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has lifted a district court’s preliminary injunction against AB 219, meaning that the law’s requirement that prevailing wage be paid to all drivers of trucks carrying ready-mixed concrete to a public works project is in full effect because the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) can again enforce the law. The Attorney General of California (Kamala Harris), the Teamsters and the State Building Trades appealed to stay that injunction and were successful on 12-20-16.
I hope this brief outline is helpful. If you want more info you can access the DIR’s website and explore of just call me up!
