Federal And State Advocacy Creates Industry Impact
SMACNA National is known for navigating and advancing key policy tax credits, grants and regulations, with the last few years proving to be full of successful accomplishments benefitting our industry.
Led by Stan Kolbe and SMACNA’s Government Relations and Labor Relations team, significant inroads have been made to further contractors’ interests from emerging legislation, such as the CHIPS and Science Act, the Infrastructure and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The fact that mega project manufacturing plants buoyed by the CHIPS and Science Act now require contractors to pay a prevailing wage and have a registered apprenticeship program or hire firms with registered apprentices was a substantial win for SMACNA and SMART.
The passage of these landmark infrastructure bills is just the beginning of the work yet to be done. Without proper administrative implementation at the federal and state levels, the laws could fail to achieve their intended goals. Stan and his team work diligently to ensure that contractors’ interests are related to elected officials and administrators through regulatory comments or needed reforms. An example of this is the series of amendments recently made to the Davis-Bacon Act and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). These targeted labor and tax reforms will help highly skilled signatory contractors be as competitive as possible when bidding for work in both the private and public sectors.
Contractors also play a key role in supporting the advocacy work that benefits our industry, whether by promoting the use of prevailing wages, energy efficiency standards or tax reforms. Members are encouraged to partner with SMACNA National by joining and contributing to the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ Political Action Committee (SMAC PAC). SMAC PAC provides funds directly to candidates for the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives as allowed by Federal Election law. Besides contributing resources, contractors have increased their impact these past two years by responding to targeted requests and submitting more regulatory comments than any other period in SMACNA history.
To discover more about ways to get involved or learn more about the legislative issues, go to the government affairs tab at SMACNA.org.