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1999 Legislative
Update
NRCA is the legislative advocate at the
federal level for the roofing industry. In fact, NRCA works on a
daily basis with Congress and federal agencies, tracking hundreds of
bills and proposals annually and delivering formal testimony. NRCA
also has a federally registered political action committee, ROOFPAC,
and initiates grassroots efforts when
appropriate.
LEGISLATIVE AND REGULATORY VICTORIES AND
ACTIVITY
- NRCA lobbied to ensure that the federal government's
fiscal-year 2000 budget resolution included spending caps. Before
the vote, former NRCA president Steven Kruger, L.E. Schwartz &
Son Inc., Macon, Ga., sent a Western Union Mailgram to the Senate
and House stating "NRCA urges you to support passage of the
Republican Budget Resolution, which includes adhering to spending
caps. NRCA encourages you to maintain true fiscal discipline and
give some much-needed tax relief to hard working Americans." After
the budget bill passed, Chief Deputy House Majority Whip Roy Blunt
(R-Mo.) wrote to NRCA stating "The Office of the Majority Whip is
grateful for your willingness to put aside your own interests to
shepherd this effort [that] will be so beneficial to all
Americans. Thanks for all that you do."
- The budget resolution enabled Congress to approve the largest
tax cuts in 20 years. Thus far, NRCA and the Family Business
Estate Tax Coalition have succeeded in making elimination of the
estate tax a priority in this year's tax cut legislation. NRCA
also is fighting for lower payroll taxes by repealing the federal
unemployment payroll surtax and increasing the expense limit for
small businesses and the health insurance deduction for
self-employed individuals. In addition, NRCA and other
associations are pushing to allow small-business owners to use the
cash method of accounting without limitation instead of the
required accrual method. NRCA is working overtime to make sure
these provisions and Welfare-to-Work and work opportunity credits
for employers are included in any final agreement between the
White House and Congress.
- NRCA is a member of the Tax Reduction Coalition, helping
Republican leaders cut taxes. After the tax cut bill passed,
Congressman Blunt (R-Mo.) wrote to NRCA stating "Our entire
[Republican] conference is grateful for the work of the Tax
Reduction Coalition. We couldn't have passed this tax bill without
all of our players. Thanks for being a key one!"
- NRCA and the American Society of Association Executives cut
the proposed anti-association tax. The administration included a
new tax on association investment income in its proposed budget.
The cost to NRCA and its affiliates would have been significant,
but fortunately Republican allies responded to the outcry from
associations and killed the dubious tax proposal.
- NRCA lobbied to include roofing contractors in the Skilled
Workforce Enhancement Act. This act would give small-business
owners who train employees in highly skilled trades a tax credit
of up to $15,000 per employee per year for up to four years. To
qualify for the credit, an employer must provide 2,000 hours of
shop and classroom training per year to produce a skilled
employee. This bipartisan legislation was introduced too late this
year to be part of the tax bill, but it will be considered by
Congress in the future.
- NRCA is a recognized leader in the fight for regulatory
reform. NRCA was asked to join the Small Business Coalition for
Regulatory Relief and the Alliance for Understandable, Sensible
and Accountable Government Rules and has a seat on the Regulatory
Affairs Committee of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. These groups
successfully have moved several bills to various stages of
passage:
- The Regulatory Right-to-Know Act passed the House and would
give the public more information about the costs and benefits of
federal regulations.
- The Small Business Paperwork Reduction Act passed the House
and would grant small businesses six-month grace periods for
most first-time violations of federal paperwork
requirements.
- The Mandates Information Act passed the House and would
establish new procedural limitations on legislation that imposes
costly federal mandates on the private sector.
- The Senate Committee on Small Business asked NRCA to help set
its agenda for 1999. Chairman Kit Bond (R-Mo.) and Ranking Member
John Kerry (D-Mass.) invited NRCA to participate in a series of
roundtable discussions. Direct input into the planning process
focused on predatory agencies, such as the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA) and has produced two bills thus far:
- The Small Business Review Panel Technical Amendments Act was
reported out of the Senate Committee on Small Business. The act
would bring the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) under the Small
Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act by making it
convene a review panel to assess the impact of new regulations
on small businesses. It also would make improvements to the
review panel process currently required for the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) and OSHA.
- The Independent Office of Advocacy Act was reported out of
the Senate Committee on Small Business. It would give the Chief
Counsel for Advocacy, Small Business Administration, more
independence and more funding to better protect small businesses
from OSHA and other federal agencies.
- On Aug. 3 the House voted to prevent OSHA from issuing its
ergonomics standard. NRCA and the National Coalition on Ergonomics
have been lobbying Congress to stop OSHA from proposing an
ergonomics standard until the National Academy of Sciences
completes a comprehensive study of the issue. Prior to the vote,
NRCA President Jamie McAdam, F.J. Dahill Company Inc., New Haven,
Conn., sent a Western Union Mailgram to every member of the House
urging them to vote for the Workplace Preservation Act. This bill
passed by a vote of 217-209. The bill now is in the Senate, as
introduced by Kit Bond (R-Mo.), chairman of the Committee on Small
Business.
- OSHA now recognizes electronically accessed Material Safety
Data Sheets (MSDSs). NRCA lobbied Congress last year for a bill
that would require OSHA to permit electronic access to MSDSs. For
contractors, electronic access would be recognized by OSHA as the
legal equivalent of paper copies. Though it passed the House by
voice vote, Congress adjourned before the Senate could act.
However, OSHA altered its policy after receiving intense political
pressure and contractors now can use electronically accessed MSDSs
in lieu of paper copies.
- Government agencies can't play "hide the ball" anymore with
research data used to write regulations. NRCA and others supported
language inserted in the federal government's fiscal year-end 1999
Omnibus Appropriations Act by Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) to
make federal agencies, such as OSHA, give public access to all the
studies and data used to support regulations. Now, for the first
time, the public can challenge an agency and have access to all
the facts as determined by all the research conducted by a
government agency, and not just on the information an agency
selects as appropriate to support its position. For example, EPA
refused to share all its research data for new clean air
standards, but in May a federal appeals court, with the power to
obtain and analyze the data, struck down the standards.
POLITICAL VICTORIES AND ACTIVITY
- For the 1998 elections, ROOFPAC was able to contribute
$201,000 to 130 candidates for the U.S. Senate and House of
Representatives—the first time ROOFPAC raised and spent more than
$200,000 since being formed in 1990. ROOFPAC's goal for the
1999-2000 election cycle is to reach $250,000. Thus far, ROOFPAC
has contributed $75,500 to 57 candidates. ROOFPAC has a solid 76
percent win rate during the past four elections and its growing
political clout would not be possible without the generous
contributions from NRCA
members.
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