Published by Sarah Harrington
Tile Roofing Industry Alliance Lobbyist, Craig Brightup, has provided the latest government relations update and activities for September 2023:

Appropriations Bills
With the federal government’s fiscal year 2023 ending Sept. 30, Congress has two weeks to pass all 12 appropriations bills for FY24. Debates over spending levels in the House and amendments in the Senate have stalled individual bills so a short-term Continuing Resolution (CR) to extend current funding will be necessary. However, a short-term CR might also be difficult and a government shutdown is possible at every stage of the process.

OSHA Heat Standard
NRCA’s Rod Petrick (Ridgeworth Roofing Co., IL) and John Fleming (Weathercraft, CO) will participate in Small Business Advocacy Review teleconferences on Sept. 18 and 19, respectively, to offer feedback on unrealistic options in OSHA’s draft Heat Injury and Illness Prevention Standard. NRCA and TRIA have been working together in prep sessions for Petrick and Fleming facilitated by the law firm Conn Maciel Carey for the Employers Heat Illness Prevention Coalition.

Corporate Transparency Act
The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) is part of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 to crack down on criminals who use shell companies to launder money. The CTA’s disclosure requirements apply to businesses with under $5 million in annual revenues and fewer than 20 employees (approximately 32 million entities). But its unlikely criminals will self-report while legitimate businesses must contend with more paperwork, privacy risks, and big fines. Also, Treasury hasn’t finalized CTA regulations for the Jan. 1 effective date, so Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Chairman of the Committee on Financial Services, introduced the Protecting Small Business Information Act (H.R. 4035) to delay the CTA. Attached is a coalition letter to McHenry in support of his bill that’s signed by TRIA.

DACA
On Sept. 13, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen ruled a revised version of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program created by President Obama in 2012 is still illegal. Hanen declared DACA unconstitutional in 2021 and the Biden Administration tried to satisfy his concerns with a new version in Oct. 2022. Hanen’s ruling extended the injunction in place since 2021 which bars new applicants but leaves the program intact for existing recipients during the ongoing legal review. Eligible undocumented youth receive protection from deportation and work permits, but DACA status must be renewed every two years.
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For more information on our Government Relations Committee or the Tile Roofing Industry Alliance (TRIA) please email us at [email protected] or visit our website at www.tileroofing.org

By Rick Olson, TRI President & Technical Director
​Energy Efficiency is becoming one of the leading decision drivers for new construction and retro fit of existing buildings. The ability to help reduce overall energy demands, or shift peak load usage to more cost friendly times is the demand of building owners. The TRI Alliance technical team has been developing expanded research programs and projects to help provide more energy efficient steep slope roof design alternatives to the market. Our work through the DOE Oakridge National Lab (ORNL) years ago helped define the ability of roofing tile to help reduce the heat transfer to the condition space through the Above Sheathing Ventilation (ASV) and natural Thermal Mass of the roofing tile products. While material colors provides one element of benefit, concrete and clay roofing tiles have unique properties that can help provide even greater energy cost reduction through the addition of the inherent properties of ASV and thermal mass. These qualities will help reduce long term energy costs and will shift peak load demands in areas with high tiered energy costs to later in the evening. In colder climates, these properties will provide benefit in the revers by helping to retain heat in the attic.
In 2023-2024 the TRI Alliance is launching an expanded research project that will help identify and quantify the actual energy consumption in the 10 code defined climates in the USA. This 3 year study will compare concrete and clay tiles to other steep slope materials to help quantify the difference in energy consumption. Our goal is to have these 10 locations up and running by December 2023, that will begin gathering extensive readings from the 10 sites in real time.
For more information on the activities of the TRI Alliance, please visit us at www.tileroofing.org

Published by Sarah Harrington


Tile Roofing Industry Alliance Lobbyist, Craig Brightup, has provided the latest government relations update and activities for August 2023:

OSHA Worker Walkaround Rule
On August 30, OSHA published its proposed “Worker Walkaround Representative Designation Process” rule in the Federal Register.  The preamble states OSHA is proposing to amend its regulations to clarify that the representative(s) may be an employee of the employer or a third party.  Despite the proposed rule’s bureaucratic language that tries to disguise its motives, this is nothing more than an attempt to allow third-party union representatives (organizers) to join OSHA inspectors at non-union workplaces for reconnaissance to aide union organizing campaigns.

OSHA Heat Standard
NRCA’s Rod Petrick (Ridgeworth Roofing Co., Illinois) and John Fleming (Weathercraft, Colorado) had their names submitted to the SBA’s Office of Advocacy to be Small Entity Representatives (SERs) for the Small Business Advocacy Review panel that will provide feedback on OSHA’s draft Heat Injury/Illness Prevention standard.  They were notified on August 21 they’d been accepted and the panel will begin its SBAR teleconference meetings in September.  It’s great to have roofing contractors on the panel and that one is a union contractor and the other non-union.

DOL Overtime Regulation
On August 30, the Dept. of Labor (DOL) released its proposed OT regulation “Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional Outside Sales, and Computer Employees.”  The current OT threshold for these categories is $35,568/year, and DOL proposes to take the threshold to $1059/week or $55,068/year with the ability to bump it to $59,285/year for the 4th quarter of 2023 and $60,209/year for the 1st quarter of 2024.  Any employee not being paid a salary equal to the threshold will be eligible for OT for work past 40 hours/week and the proposed regulation also has an automatic escalator provision that will increase the salary threshold every three years.

IRA Energy Credit Labor Regulations
On August 29, Treasury/IRS released a proposed rulemaking on prevailing wage and registered apprenticeship requirements for Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) clean energy tax incentives.  Adhering to these requirements is necessary for the full benefits of these tax breaks which include multifamily buildings for the New Energy Efficient Homes Credit (IRC Sec. 45L) and the Energy Efficient Commercial Buildings Deduction (Sec. 179D).  Basically, the proposed regulations encourage project developers to put in place pre-hire collective bargaining agreements to avoid getting hit with hefty fines.

MSHA Silica Rule
The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), created by the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, has proposed changes to its silica rule for mine operators but jurisdiction also covers surface construction activity at mining sites.  As such, the Construction Industry Safety Coalition (CISC), to which TRIA belongs, met on August 21 to discuss the potential ramifications of MSHA’s silica rule on OSHA’s silica rule and is drafting comments to MSHA which are due Sept. 11.
For more information on our Government Relations Committee or the Tile Roofing Industry Alliance (TRIA) please email us at [email protected] or visit our website at www.tileroofing.org