2021 Government Affairs Accomplishments

NECA’s Government Affairs team has worked extensively throughout 2021 to advance our members’ priorities and educate members of Congress both in-person and virtually on key issues. We have made significant progress reaching out to the Biden Administration and held meetings at the White House, the Department of Labor, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Transportation. Over the course of this year, NECA Government Affairs returned to a full in-person schedule.

As a matter of policy portfolio, we have advocated on numerous issues covering five areas: infrastructure, tax reform, workforce, energy, and contracting. In order to achieve our goals, we have employed the following strategies: 1) legislative and regulatory advocacy, 2) leveraging coalition partnerships, 3) political action, and 4) constituent action.

NECA has invested heavily in communicating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the electrical construction industry to Members of Congress and ensuring that our members’ businesses remain viable and not unnecessarily burdened during this period of recovery.

The U.S. Department of Labor reinstated the Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship and appointed NECA CEO David Long as one of the 22 member representatives. The members of this committee provide advice and recommendations to the Administration on issues related to Registered Apprenticeship.

American Rescue Plan

NECA worked closely with the Biden Administration and Members of Congress on key provisions in the American Rescue Plan:

• The legislation expanded the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) with an additional $7.25 billion for PPP, $15 billion for EIDL loans, and $1.25 billion for the SBA Shuttered Venue Operators Grant Program 
• The American Rescue Plan provided zero-premium COBRA coverage to ensure workers who have been laid off or subject to reduced hours can access health coverage. This provision would allow workers and their families to keep their doctors, maintain continuity of care, and avoid restarting their annual deductibles and out-of-pocket limits mid-year.  
• Finally, the American Rescue Plan included The Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021, which would potentially help stabilize a few troubled NECA-IBEW pension plans and protect retirees’ pensions. 

National Defense Authorization Act of 2022 (FY22 NDAA)

NECA worked closely with House and Senate Armed Service Committee members to include key policy provisions to provide a better procurement climate for NECA contractors: 

• The FY22 NDAA included a topline increase of $3.5 billion of additional military construction projects above the President’s budget.  
• The military construction portfolio included the following provisions: 
  • A pilot program to deploy 5G wireless infrastructure on military installations; 
  • Establish port development grants to reduce emission mitigations such as electrification of ports and the use of hydrogen; 
  • Encouragement building of microgrids; and,  
  • Prioritize energy efficiency when retrofitting buildings on military installations.  
• The FY22 NDAA also repeals the preference for fix-price contracts, allowing NECA contractors to have better opportunities to bid on military construction projects. 

Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

The NECA-supported $1 trillion infrastructure package includes a five-year highway reauthorization, as well as funds for transit, water and broadband projects across the country:

• $7.5 billion to build out a national network of EV chargers 
• $5 billion in zero emission and clean buses and $2.5 billion for ferries 
• $17 billion in port infrastructure 
• $25 billion in airports to address repair and maintenance backlogs, reduce congestion and emissions near ports and airports, and drive electrification and other low-carbon technologies 
• $55 billion investment in clean drinking water 
• $65 billion investment for national broadband deployment  
• $65 billion investment in clean energy transmission: 
  • Funding for upgrading our power infrastructure, including by building thousands of miles of new, resilient transmission lines to facilitate the expansion of renewable energy. 
  • Creation of the Grid Deployment Authority, investing in advanced transmission and electricity distribution technologies, and promoting smart grid technologies that deliver flexibility and resilience.  
  • Invests in demonstration projects and research hubs for next generation technologies like advanced nuclear, carbon capture, and clean hydrogen. 

FY21 Omnibus

NECA worked with Members of Congress on the end-of-year FY21 omnibus package, which included both funding for the Federal Government for the fiscal year as well as additional COVID-19 pandemic relief. In addition, the agreement included: 

• Over $284 billion for first and second forgivable PPP loans;  
• Expanded PPP eligibility for non-profits, including NECA Chapters; and, 
• Key modifications to PPP to serve the smallest businesses and struggling non-profits. 

The agreement provides a tax credit to support employers offering paid sick leave, based on the Families First framework. The package also extends and improves the Employee Retention Tax Credit to help keep workers in their jobs during coronavirus closures or reduced revenue. Lastly, it also extended the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program of $300 a week through September 1, 2021. 

PPP Flexibility Act

The NECA-supported bill, H.R. 7010, fixes many of the technical and administrative issues with the Paycheck Protection Program, such as adjusting current restrictions on non-payroll expenses, extending loan forgiveness beyond the eight-week covered period, and extending the rehiring deadline for employers.

Pending Legislation

• H.R.6764, Put our Neighbors to Work Act: To improve congressional oversight and public transparency of military construction contract awards, and to encourage local hiring
• H.R. 2344, Small Business Payment for Performance Act: To secure partial payment for unilateral change orders on federal projects
• S. 4714: A bill to preserve health benefits for workers and to provide a federal subsidy for the payment of COBRA benefits.
• H.R. 4967, POST Act (Promoting Opportunities in Skilled Trades Act): Would increase awareness of skilled trades programs by using funds from the Perkins Grant Program
• H.R 447, National Apprenticeship Act: Would invest more than $3.5 billion over five years in expanding opportunities and access to Registered Apprenticeships, youth apprenticeships, and pre-apprenticeships.

Regulatory Affairs

The Federal Agencies have been full throttle under the Biden Administration rescinding previous Trump regulations, implementing ARPA regulations, and carving out the Biden Regulatory agenda for 2022 and the rest of Biden’s first term. Here are some key regulatory actions that have taken place and items to keep your eye on:

• Apprenticeship Regulations
  • In February 2021, President Biden issued an Executive Order to rescind the IRAP Regulation put in place by the Trump Administration. On November 12, the Department of Labor issued out Notice of Proposed Rule Making that would officially rescind the IRAP regulation restoring the previous regulations of a Registered Apprenticeship Program.
• Independent Contractors
  • On May 5, 2021 the Department of Labor repealed Trump rule on Independent Contractors restoring the economic realities test. The Trump-era rule that would’ve eased businesses’ ability to legally consider workers as independent contractors, a rollback the U.S. Labor Department said was necessary to broadly extend wage protections while cracking down on employer abuses.The Trump rule could have opened even more misclassification of bad contractors and undercut NECA Contractors. 

Special Thanks

2021 was a record-breaking year for NECAPAC! We raised over $20,000 more than we ever have for the PAC and $57,000 more for the Operational Fund! We have a record number of individual PLC members and PLC member chapters. Thank you to everyone for your support!

Personal Contributors

846

NECAPAC 2021 Total

$870,569

Operational Fund Contributors

1,372

Operational Fund 2021 Total

$379,708

Political Leadership Council Update

Special thanks to the 112 Political Leadership Council members who made the personal commitment of $5,000 to NECAPAC in 2021.

Congratulations to the 57 NECA chapters who reached their 2021 NECAPAC goals!

Government Affairs Advocate Program Members

Our first year of this program was a great success, thank you to our 7 inaugural members! We truly appreciate their choice to join the Government Affairs Advocate program!

• Puget Sound Chapter
• Western Line Chapter
• Oregon-Columbia Chapter
• Eastern Illinois Chapter
• Chicago & Cook County Chapter
• New York City Chapter
• Motor Shop Electric

Learn more about the program and how to get involved here.

Northern California Chapter Wins 2021 Chairman’s Challenge

Congratulations to NECA’s Northern California Chapter for winning the 2021 Chairman’s Challenge!

The Northern California Chapter held four in-district meetings with Members of Congress, promoting NECA’s priority issues. Across the country we had a total of 26 in-district meetings!

Special Thanks

Thanks to the support and competitive spirit of our members, we were able to break fundraising records while also having fun! Below are the winning chapters in each group:

Dirksen Group 

(14 or fewer members)

North Florida Chapter

Russell Group 

(15-30 members)

Alaska Chapter

Longworth Group

(31-49 members)

Atlantic Coast Chapter

Rayburn Group 

(50 or more members)

Chicago & Cook County Chapter