Paca conveyor
PACA Conveyor – Week of October 25, 2019
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1. PACA News
2. Advocacy News
3. Environmental News
4. Promotion News
5. Safety & Health News
6. PACA - Building and Connecting Communities

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PACA News
Kallie
PACA News
As reported by Kallie Kline, PACA's Director of Member Services.
PACA News
Anirban
Economist Basu to Once Again Headline the PACA Annual Meeting
Economics and entertainment - not two words that one would generally associate with each other. However, when Mr. Anirban Basu provides his economic forecasts, all are ALWAYS entertained. If you read his bio on the Sage Policy Group website, where he serves as Chairman and CEO, the first few lines read, "Anirban is a study in contradictions. He has been called an economist with a personality, or alternatively, one with a sense of humor." And, these are extremely accurate statements.

Mr. Basu is one of our most highly requested speakers and we've had the pleasure of hosting him several times at PACA membership meetings. This year, he will once again headline the Annual Meeting in Hershey as our keynote speaker on Tuesday morning, November 19th.

Basu has twice been recognized as one of Maryland's 50 most influential people, but, fun facts - he's read every one of Agatha Christie's novels, is an avid fan of James Bond and all Baltimore sports teams. Who wouldn't want to hear more of what he has to say, right?

Basu founded Sage Policy Group in 2004 and is among the most recognizable economists who has written several high-profile economic development strategies on behalf of government agencies and non-profit organizations. He serves as the chief economist for the Associated Builders and Contractors and as chief economic advisor to the Construction Financial Management Association.

Sage Policy Group's focus lies in two areas - analytics and effective messaging. While the numbers are important, properly translating and communicating them is critical. There is no one that provides the best of both worlds as well as Mr. Basu.

There is still time to register for the PACA Annual Meeting, and, believe us, when we say, you WILL walk away entertained after listening to Mr. Basu's economic forecast.

Register today at https://www.pacaweb.org/Education/PACAAnnualMeeting.aspx.
PACA News
Spouse Event Image
Spouses' Activity Added to Annual Meeting Agenda
New addition to the Annual Meeting schedule - a tour of the Hershey Gardens and Butterfly Atrium, including a butterfly jewelry making class.

Hershey Gardens opened in 1937 with Milton Hershey’s request to “create a nice garden of roses.” More than 80 years later, the small rose garden has blossomed into 23 acres of botanical beauty.

Overlooking the town of Hershey, Hershey Gardens features a breathtaking assortment of flowers and shrubs and a stately collection of rare, signature trees.

The year ‘round Butterfly Atrium offers a truly spectacular experience. Walk among hundreds of butterflies from around the world in a tropical setting that features colorful plants and a soothing water feature. Only one of 25 indoor, tropical butterfly atriums in the country, Hershey Gardens’ Butterfly Atrium is home to dozens of rare butterflies from South and Central America, Africa and Asia.

After touring these beautiful sites, those who register will have the opportunity to choose their own butterfly colors and make jewelry from actual butterfly wings (no butterflies are purposely harmed for use in these classes - the life span of the average butterfly is about 48 hours and rather than wasting their rare beauty, they are put to good use for all to admire.)

Cost to participate is $70 pp and all must be registered to attend the Annual Meeting to qualify.
Advocacy News
E-Verify is Now Needed for Both Private and Public Construction in Pennsylvania
Article submitted by PACA Lobbyist, Hank Butler.House Bill 1170 (HB 1170) (introduced by Representative Ryan Mackenzie (R-Lehigh)) expands the use of the E-Verify system to all construction private and public. HB 1170 passed through both the Pennsylvania House and Senate and went to the Governor’s desk. The Governor decided not to sign nor veto the legislation. Without any action from the Governor, the legislation became enacted. Upon passing of the legislation, the bill is now known as Act No. 75 of 2019.

HB 1170 expands the E-Verify system to all construction private and public in Pennsylvania. In 2012, Senate Bill 637 (SB 637) passed and was signed into law. SB 637 required E-Verify for all public works projects in the Commonwealth. HB 1170 expands the requirement to ALL construction in Pennsylvania.

E-Verify is an Internet-based system that compares information from your Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, to U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Social Security Administration (SSA) records to confirm that you are authorized to work in the United States.

Highlights of the language included in HB 1170 are:

  • A good faith provision whereby if a company, in the hiring process, prints out the E-Verify information, and inserts information (that the employee is working in good standing in the United States) in the employee’s personnel file, then that company will be immune from E-Verify prosecution.
  • Personnel Agencies – suppling temporary employees – will be responsible for E-Verify of their employees and not the company who hires from the agency.
  • A company who hires a subcontractor in violation of E-Verify will not be held liable nor responsible – the subcontractor will solely be liable.
  • The first violation from a company will be a written warning. Penalties will follow for second violations.
The construction community in Pennsylvania has one year to implement the use of the E-Verify system to their companies and employees.

Josie
Environmental News
As reported by Josie Gaskey, PACA's Director of Environmental, Safety & Health.
Environmental News
WOTUS Update
On October 22, 2019, the 2015 rule that expanded the Definition of the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) was revoked by EPA and the Corps of Engineers. This repeal can be found here and takes effect December 23, 2019. Essentially, the pre-2015 rule is in effect.

This was part one of a two-part rulemaking process to define the scope of “waters of the United States” that are regulated under the Clean Water Act.

The second part involves the rewriting of the 2015 rule by EPA and the Corps. On December 2018, EPA and the Army proposed a new definition of the difference between federally regulated waterways and those waters that rightfully remain solely under state authority.

The proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on February 14, 2019 and the public comment period closed on April 15, 2019. You can read the 11,412 comments at this docket.

On October 23, 11 groups from the environmental industry sued EPA and the Corps of Engineers in the US District Court for South Carolina, alleging they broke the law in the rollback of Obama’s 2015 rule.

We will be coordinating with NSSGA and others as this process moves forward.

Should you have any questions, contact Josie Gaskey.
Ken
Promotion News
As reported by Ken Crank, PACA's Director of Concrete Promotion.
Promotion News
Morning Call Posts Article on Cement Industry in the Lehigh Valley
The Morning Call, a news publication based in Allentown, PA, recently published an article on the cement industry in the Lehigh Valley and its contributions to our infrastructure system and a connection to the father of the President of the United States.

Many members of PACA's Cementitious Materials Technical Community and volunteers are quoting in this highly informative article. Take a moment and check out this outstanding example of industry promotion.
Josie
Safety & Health News
As reported by Josie Gaskey, PACA's Director of Environmental, Safety & Health.
Safety & Health News
MSHA Public Meeting on Workplace Exams
In the October 17, 2019 Federal Register, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) announced the dates and locations of five public stakeholder meetings regarding the Agency’s standards for Examinations of Working Places in Metal and Nonmetal Mines.

According to the notice, these stakeholder meetings are being held to inform the mining community of the requirements of the Examinations of Working Places in Metal and Nonmetal Mines final rule, which was effective September 30, 2019. At the meetings, MSHA will provide training and compliance assistance materials to attendees.

The closest meeting is November 21, 2019, 9 a.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn, Pittsburgh Downtown, 250 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222.

PACA will be attending this meeting. Please let Josie Gaskey know if you will be attending this meeting.
Safety & Health News
OSHA Releases Top 10 Violations for 2019
OSHA has posted the 2019 Top Ten Violations. We continue to see the same top ten violations year after year. These include (in top 10 order):

Fall Protection (Construction) 29 CFR 1926.501 6,010 violations.

Hazard Communication 29 CFR 1910.1200 3,671 violations.

Scaffolding 29 CFR 1926.451 2,813 violations.

Lockout/Tagout 29 CFR 1910.147 2,606 violations.

Respiratory Protection 29 CFR 1910.134 2,450 violations.

Ladders (Construction) 29 CFR 1926.1053 2,345 violations.

Powered Industrial Trucks 29 CFR 1910.178 2,093 violations.

Fall Protection—Training (Construction) 29 CFR 1926.503 1,773 violations.

Machine Guarding 29 CFR 1910.212 1,743 violations with the most frequent for failure to guard points of operation.

Eye and Face Protection 29 CFR 1926.102 1,411 violations.

Should you have any questions or wish to discuss, contact Josie Gaskey.

PACA - Building and Connecting Communities