Pictured: Left to right -Tyler Allwood, Wade Shepherd, Craig Brightup, Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL), John Campbell, T.J. Curtis
Last week, our TRI Alliance Government Relations Committee traveled to Washington, DC, to help support NRCA’s 2023 Roofing Day in DC. While there, Craig Brightup, our TRI Alliance DC Lobbyist, set meetings for the TRI Alliance team to meet with key House and Senate members to help voice the concerns of TRIA members and the overall roofing industry.
Our gatherings on April 18 began with a breakfast for Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV), who’s on the Appropriations Committee, to discuss OSHA regulations challenging our industry and where the new Congress might intervene.
After that was a meeting with Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) and her staff to discuss her efforts on the Workforce Protections Subcommittee which oversees OSHA. The meeting touched on OSHA’s Heat Illness standard, which might be final this fall and would impact our roofing community.
The TRIA team then had lunch with Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), the Ranking Member on the Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. Sen. Cassidy asked for input from TRI Alliance members on HELP-related issues. This was followed by a joint meeting with former OSHA head Loren Sweatt (now HELP staff), where our TRIA team was joined by NRCA’s Cheryl Ambrose to discuss OSHA’s Heat Illness standard and other pertinent OSHA items.
The final meeting on April 18 was with staff for Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS), who’s also on the HELP Committee, to explain industry concerns on various topics from Julie Su’s nomination to be Secretary of Labor to OSHA oversight.
As with every visit to DC, we concluded our TRI Alliance meetings with our industry partners at the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). As part of the Construction Industry Safety Coalition (CISC), we work with NAHB’s Brad Mannion, Director of Labor, Health and Safety, and Felicia Watson, Sr. Counsel, to share the mutual concerns of our two associations.
For more information on the TRI Alliance and our Government Relations efforts please visit our website at www.tileroofing.org.