Category: Legislative Updates

Congress Begins Work on Reconciliation Package

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by LICA-National

The House returned from a two week Easter recess and began work on a reconciliation package that will address the President’s priorities to continue and enhance the 2017 tax cuts, increase spending on defense and border enforcement while significantly cutting overall federal spending. Various committee of jurisdiction have been issued targets to fulfill their part of the reconciliation puzzle to accomplish these goals. According to Punch News, Congress is scrambling to come up with a package that meets Trump’s goal of cutting taxes for Americans making less than $200,000, plus four years of no taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security payments.


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House Committee Addresses Highway Funding Shortfall – Recommends Increased Vehicle Registration Fees

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by LICA-National

The House Subcommittee on highways and transit held a hearing on April 29 to address long-term solution for the Highway Trust Fund revenue shortfall. The HTF has faced an insolvency crisis dating back to at least 2008, as current user fees are no longer sufficient to sustain necessary investment in our surface infrastructure needs. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) failed to address this issue and only made matters worse by increasing spending $102 billion and relying on a general fund transfer of $118 billion in support. The subcommittee chairman said Republicans support investing in infrastructure, but our highway funding system is founded upon the principle that roadway users must pay for their use of the system. Failing to restructure our surface transportation funding sources will have severe consequences for our nation’s transportation system and the American people. He said, as part of reconciliation, the Committee will vote on a proposal to leverage existing state vehicle registration systems and assess a new fee of $200 on electric vehicles (EVs), $100 on hybrid vehicles, and a $20 fee on most other passenger vehicles. If approved, these new user fees would represent the first new funding streams into the Highway Trust Fund in more than 30 years.


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LICA Participates in Family Business Coalition Supporting Continuation of Tax Relief

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by LICA-National

The Family Business Coalition (FBC) is a diverse collection of organizations and industry groups united for the common purpose of protecting America's family businesses across the country. The group meets monthly to connect top decision makers from Capitol Hill with family business coalition partners, family business owners, and state-based allies. The coalition is the voice of America's main economic engine - family businesses - working together towards a better business climate that promotes private business expansion and job growth. A key issue for this group is preserving business related tax cuts from the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act.


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Administration Tells Agencies to Use Technology to Speed Project Reviews

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by LICA-National

The Trump administration has placed a major emphasis on overhauling the environmental review and permitting process that significantly slow down the delivery of a variety of infrastructure, energy and other projects. April 15 the President issued a memorandum directing federal agencies to integrate technology into their review workflows in order to accelerate the processing time for infrastructure projects.


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House Passed Budget Resolution Opens Door to Moving Trump Agenda

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by LICA-National

Just before leaving for a two-week Easter/Passover recess the House took a necessary next step towards a reconciliation package that will allow the President’s legislative agenda to move forward by approving the Senate passed amended version of the budget resolution. Reconciliation is a legislative process that allows items addressed in the budget resolution to be approved in the Senate by a majority vote thereby bypassing a Senate filibuster.


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Tariffs Increasing Contractor Material Costs

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by LICA-National

The price of construction materials increased 0.5% in March, while nonresidential input prices climbed 0.6%, both unusually steep jumps, according to an analysis by Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data as reported by Construction Dive. Both overall and nonresidential input prices are now 0.8% higher than a year ago and sit more than 40% higher compared to February 2020, largely due to a sharp rise in natural gas, steel, copper and lumber prices. The price escalations across the board reflect early impacts from tariffs and mark the third straight month of price jumps, said Anirban Basu, ABC chief economist. “Construction input prices increased at a rapid pace for the third consecutive month in March and have now risen at a 9.7% annualized rate through the first quarter of 2025,” said Basu.


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Legislation to Repeal Truck Excise Tax Proposed

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by LICA-National

Legislation to repeal a World War 1-era tax on new heavy-duty trucks, tractors and trailers was recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, Transportation Topics reports. Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.), a senior member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has renewed an effort to repeal this 12% federal excise tax on certain commercial vehicles. The Modern, Clean and Safe Trucks Act, was reintroduced on March 27 following unsuccessful attempts to get the legislation passed during recent sessions of Congress.


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Secretary Rollins Names NRCS Chief

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by LICA-National

Agriculture Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced the appointment of Audrey Bettencourt to lead the department’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Bettencourt is a third-generation California farmer and most recently served as the Global Director of Government Relations and External Affairs at Netafim, an international company specializing in irrigation technology. Among other positions, Bettencourt previously served as President and CEO of the Almond Alliance of California, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water and Science at the U.S. Department of the Interior during the first Trump Administration, California State Executive Director of USDA’s Farm Service Agency, and Executive Director of the California Water Alliance.


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Trump Rescinds Executive Order on Minimum Wage for Contractors

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by LICA-National

President Trump has rescinded an executive order issued in 2021 by then President Biden increasing the minimum wage for employees of federal contractors. EO 14026 sharply increased the minimum wage rate in effect for federal contractors from $13.30 to $17.75 per hour and set annual adjustments to account for inflation.

This was one of numerous EOs revoked by Trump in a second wave of reversals of Biden executive actions. EO 14026 and the Department of Labor (DOL) rule implementing the EO have faced several legal challenges. Most recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld the EO concluding it was a valid exercise of presidential authority. However an earlier decision in Ninth Circuit held Biden exceeded his authority when he issued the EO. Supreme Court action on these split decisions is likely.