House maintains funding for Perkins Career and Technical Education State Grants … for now
On July 14, a House subcommittee passed its fiscal year 2024 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations bill, which includes funding for education and workforce development programs. House Republicans chose to develop appropriations bills at overall spending of fiscal year 2022 levels, which makes significant cuts across workforce programs. In this bill, 60 programs were eliminated and 50 programs saw reductions. Overall, the bill reduced spending 29% below the fiscal year 2023 level.
The bill maintained career and technical training grants, suggesting the Perkins Career and Technical Education State Grant level would be funded at fiscal year 2023 levels. This legislation will move to the full committee soon.
Join NRCA in advocating for increased funding for CTE programs in high schools, community colleges and trade schools to help address future workforce development needs. With Congress finalizing funding levels for fiscal year 2024, now is the time to make your voice heard. Visit the NRCA Grassroots Advocacy Network to email your legislators.
NLRB issues memorandum regarding use of noncompete agreements
On May 30, National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo issued a memorandum to all NLRB regional offices indicating that “except in limited circumstances,” the “proffer, maintenance, and enforcement of” noncompete agreements by employers may violate provisions of the National Labor Relations Act. Abruzzo’s interpretation is the use of noncompete agreements may limit employment opportunities for employees. In the memorandum, she suggests narrowly tailored agreements designed to protect proprietary or trade secret information may be appropriate, but avoiding competition from a former employee or an employer’s interest in retaining employees or protecting investments in training are unlikely to justify an overly broad noncompete agreement. The full board will have to adopt Abruzzo’s theory for this to become board policy, but the memorandum could have implications for NLRB investigations of unfair trade practices regardless of full board approval.
Legislation to address supply chain issues passes House committee
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has approved a package of bills designed to address various supply chain issues. NRCA has endorsed the following bills within this broader package that will help provide relief for the roofing industry regarding supply chain problems:
- The Ocean Shipping Reform Implementation Act of 2023 (H.R. 1836) by Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) would increase competition and reduce prices by allowing the Federal Maritime Commission to review complaints about market manipulation and anti-competitive operations of maritime exchanges.
- The Supply Chain Improvement Act (H.R. 3365) by Rep. John Duarte (R-Calif.) would provide priority consideration to projects that would improve resiliency within the supply chain under Department of Transportation grant programs.
- The Licensing Individual Commercial Exam-takers Now Safely and Efficiently Act (H.R. 3013) by Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Ill.) would eliminate regulatory barriers and address truck driver shortages by reducing unnecessary red tape in the process to obtain a commercial driver’s license.
- The Streamlining the Environmental Review Process for Major Projects (H.R. 3316) by Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) would expedite major construction projects by streamlining certain federal environmental review processes for port, aviation and pipeline projects.
- The Intelligent Transportation Integration Act (H.R. 1500) by Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) seeks to build a more efficient transportation system to expedite the flow of goods and services by directing the Department of Transportation to implement new network management techniques and leverage third-party data.
These bills were approved by the committee with bipartisan support and may advance in the full House later this year. NRCA will continue working to support these and other initiatives designed to address supply chain challenges within the roofing industry.
