In October, more than 100 NRCA members attended NRCA's 2015 Fall Committee Meetings and Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. The event provided an opportunity for members to visit Capitol Hill to advance NRCA's government relations agenda, discuss topics of interest to roofing professionals and continue the work of NRCA's committees.
Agenda
The meetings kicked off Oct. 20 with a presentation explaining the Hiring Our Heroes program operated by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. Hiring Our Heroes provides employers with resources and connections that enable them to hire military veterans who are transitioning to civilian life. Numerous NRCA members expressed interest in using the program to help address their workforce needs.
NRCA's Government Relations Committee met to discuss the association's work on federal legislative and regulatory issues that affect the roofing industry. Committee members and staff discussed NRCA's advocacy efforts toward regulatory and immigration reform legislation, Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations, tax policy, workforce development legislation and other issues relevant to the roofing industry. There was consensus that NRCA should continue to push for regulatory reform legislation that provides relief from burdensome regulations, as well as immigration reform and other policies to help contractors address workforce challenges.
On Oct. 21, conference participants gathered with guest speaker Rep. Reid Ribble (R-Wis.), a former NRCA president who was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010. Ribble discussed his bipartisan legislation to reform the federal budgeting process primarily by going to a two-year budgeting process and provided observations about the 2016 presidential race and the rise of his colleague Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to speaker of the House. He also provided insights for NRCA members in advance of their meetings with senators and representatives on Capitol Hill that afternoon.
NRCA members then headed across Capitol Hill to meet with lawmakers and urge action on NRCA's priority legislative issues. The key issues of focus were efforts to support the Regulatory Accountability Act, which would provide relief from burdensome regulations by reforming the federal regulatory development process; immigration reform legislation that meets the roofing industry's workforce needs; and legislation to extend the investment tax credit for renewable energy sources, including rooftop solar energy, which is scheduled to expire at the end of 2016.
In general, NRCA members received positive responses from their representatives regarding the need for Congress to address these issues, and this will greatly enhance NRCA's advocacy efforts in the coming months.
On Wednesday evening, NRCA members enjoyed a reception at the Library of Congress. NRCA members were joined by special guest Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), a key lawmaker involved in regulatory reform and immigration legislation. After the reception, members of NRCA's Political Insiders Council gathered for a dinner with Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.), who will be running for the Senate next year.
The PAC Advisory Committee also met to discuss efforts to strengthen and expand ROOFPAC, NRCA's political action committee. NRCA is implementing new outreach efforts aimed at broadening participation in ROOFPAC.
To conclude the conference, NRCA members received an economic briefing by Marty Regalia, chief economist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Regalia discussed the outlook for the U.S. and global economies and discussed the effect of federal tax and budget policies on economic growth. He noted lackluster economic growth in recent years is at least partly a result of the failure of Congress and the president to address counterproductive tax, budget and regulatory policies with effective solutions. This reinforced NRCA's efforts to support economic policies that would promote robust growth in the U.S. economy.
Time well spent
NRCA's Fall Committee Meetings and Legislative Conference provided an opportunity for members to take the industry's message directly to Capitol Hill. NRCA encourages all members to communicate concerns about how government policy is affecting their businesses with lawmakers in their states or congressional districts. NRCA's Grassroots Advocacy Tool Kit, a complete guide to becoming more involved with NRCA's government relations activities, is available at www.nrca.net/Grassroots-Advocacy-Toolkit.
Duane L. Musser is NRCA's vice president of government relations.
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