Updated 1/30/23 by TRI Lobbyist, Craig S. Brightup; photo by Andy Feliciotti on Unsplash 118th Congress Republicans control the House 222-213 and Democrats the Senate 51-49. With Speaker McCarthy (R-CA) in place the House was able to pass a rules package mostly focused on preventing more gigantic omnibus bills, and… Read more

Update 1/4/23 by TRI Lobbyist, Craig S. Brightup; photo by John Jensen $1.7 Trillion Omnibus Bill Signed Into Law On Dec. 29, President Biden signed an omnibus spending package for the remainder of FY23 that Congress was able to pass with all Democrats and 18 Republican Senators.  At 4,000 pages,… Read more

Update and photo by TRI Lobbyist, Craig S. Brightup Midterm Election There was no red wave because abortion was a factor in states like Michigan and races like VA’s 7th CD where Republican Yesli Vega came up short against Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D), and Trump endorsed candidates underperformed in Republican-leaning… Read more

Updated 11/1/22 by TRI Lobbyist, Craig S. Brightup DOL Independent Contractor Rulemaking On Oct. 11, DOL released its proposed Independent Contractor rule under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).  The NY Times reports it would, “make it more likely for millions of janitors, home-care and construction workers and gig drivers… Read more

Photo by Andy Feliciotti on Unsplash Updated 10/3/22 by TRI Lobbyist, Craig S. Brightup Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) On August 24, the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) issued its DACA final rule which codifies existing policies and is effective Oct. 31.  The DHS News Release explains that pursuant… Read more

Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Taxes Update by TRI Lobbyist, Craig S. Brightup In addition to giving the IRS $80 billion to hire 87,000 new auditors, Inflation Reduction Act revenue raisers include a 15% minimum tax on companies making $1 billion annually; a stock buyback tax; and targeted taxes like the… Read more

Schumer-Manchin Reconciliation Deal On July 27, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) released a relatively “slim” Build Back Better reconciliation bill.  The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 would extend Affordable Care Act subsidies from the American Rescue Plan and allow Medicare to negotiate certain prescription… Read more

OSHA Proposal to Revoke Arizona State Plan TRIA submitted comments to OSHA on June 24, opposing its move to revoke the Arizona State Plan.   Spring Unified Federal Regulatory Agenda On June 21, the 2022 Spring Regulatory Agenda was released listing agencies’ agendas.  Items of concern beyond OSHA’s move to revoke… Read more

TRIA Fly-In to Washington, DC From April 5-7, TRIA’s Government Relations Committee held a fly-in to Washington, DC in conjunction with NRCA’s Roofing Day In DC.  TRIA supports Roofing Day, which lobbies on industry-wide consensus issues, and this year’s emphasized workforce needs including more funding for career and technical education… Read more

TRIA’s Washington, DC, lobbyist is Craig Brightup, CEO of The Brightup Group LLC, a government affairs consulting firm. Previously, he was NRCA’s VP of Government Relations, opening its Capitol Hill office in 1990, and before that headed congressional affairs for the Federal Trade Commission by appointment of President Reagan. In… Read more

Wade Shepherd, Rick Olson, Congressman Mike Johnson, TJ Curtis, Craig Brightup April 5-7, 2022 – Washington, DC –  the Tile Roofing Industry Alliance (TRI Alliance) Government Relations Committee held a fly-in to Washington, DC to meet with key U.S. House and Senate members to raise attention to the serious issues… Read more

Updates from Washington, DC OSHA Recordkeeping Rule March 30, 2022 – OSHA published proposed amendments to its recordkeeping regulations that essentially requires businesses to submit additional injury and illness info to OSHA in keeping with what the Obama Administration had in mind. Current regulations require summary Form 300A to be… Read more

Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act Implementation Implementation of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA – bipartisan infrastructure bill) is moving slowly. According to POLITICO, “About 75% of the infrastructure law will be distributed to states via a complicated formula set by existing statute, including the bulk of federal highway… Read more

TRI Alliance is Active in Sacramento re: AB1227 On March 10, 2022, the TRI Alliance joined with ARMA, asphalt shingle manufacturers and the roofing contractor trade associations in Sacramento to meet with numerous California Senators dealing with energy initiatives. Our strong coalition represented 95% of the steep slope roofing materials… Read more

State of the Union, FY22 Funding, OSHA Updates & New Executive Order State of the Union Address The State of the Union address that normally occurs in late January is on March 1. This date may have been chosen to buy more time for the Build Back Better Act (BBBA)… Read more