Masonry Magazine June 1995 Page. 8
FROM THE PRESIDENT
By L. C. PARDUE, JR.
President, Mason Contractors
Association of America
The First Hundred Days
I'VE JUST returned from the associated Specialty Contractors Association's National Legislative Conference, which was held in Washington, D.C. in early April. Once a year this group, (which MCAA is a member of, along with the mechanical contractors, painters, electrical contractors, roofers, plumbing, heating, cooling, sheet metal and insulation contractors) sponsors this legislation conference for the purpose of bringing members up to speed on the current legislative issues in Congress, and allowing members to interact with elected representatives. Before ASC can take a stand on an issue, all member associations must approve of the position.
Following a briefing by ASC, the delegates descended on Capitol Hill, calling on their Senators and Congressmen to lobby for or against various issues currently under consideration. Both houses are full of Republicans this term, and they were at the tail end of their first "100 Day Contract with America" at the time of our visit. The legislators we talked with were excited about their accomplishments and optimistic about achievement of their remaining goals.
Following is a brief review of some of the legislation, either pending or passed by one or both houses, which I believe will impact us as mason contractors.
Regulations Transition Act-This act would provide a moratorium on new regulations from November 20, 1994 until January 1996. Regulations (which are not laws but are devised and put into effect by the bureaucrats) are no longer gauged by number, but by how many feet high they are when stacked one on top of the other. As an example OSHA is a law, but the items which we must abide by and the resulting fines are regulations devised and implemented by the bureaucrats which are supposed to make the law work. Currently all federal government regulations stack up to about thirteen feet high. This moratorium would put a hold on about two additional feet of regulations which are in the wings ready to be implemented.
The key item that would be stopped for the mason contractor is OSHA's ergonomics regulation that deals with repetitive motion in the work place. Special emphasis is being put on this for bricklaying because of the repetitive use of the trowel.
When asked in hearing if they would stop writing these regulations (by Representative Charles Norwood of Georgia) because of the moratorium, OSHA responded "Not at all. We plan to continue writing them and will implement them immediately after the moratorium is lifted." This I am happy to report ruffled some congressmen's feathers at which time they cut an additional $3.5-million dollars on top of the $16-million dollars that had already been cut from OSHA's budget. If Representative Norwood had his way, he would repeal the law and their would be no OSHA.
The Regulatory Flexibility Act-Currently regulations produced by the government are not subjected to judicial review. This would allow lawsuits to be brought to throw out bad regulations through the court system.
Risk Assessment, Cost-Benefit Analysis This would require federal agencies to present detailed scientific data evaluating the health risks and to compare the risk in question to similar risks encountered in every-day life. This could eliminate a whole potful of regulations from the OSHA books.
Striker Replacement-I don't have to expound on our position on this one.
Legal Reforms-This would place a cap on punitive damages to the greater of three times the amount of monetary damages sustained or $250,000. This would lower medical costs and limit my liability should someone sue because a third party picked up one of my bricks off of a job and beat somebody to death with it.
Estate Taxes-This would increase the unified credit amount for estate Continued on Page 34
8 MASONRY-MAY/JUNE, 1995