Inside Washington: August 2026
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Western Ohio NECA Hosts Senator Moreno and DOE Leadership in Dayton
Grid Operators Begin Rewriting the Rules for Data Center Interconnection
NECA Submits Comments to NRC on NEPA Modernization
Defense Authorization Stalls in Senate as MILCON Gap Remains Unresolved
Congress Averts Shutdown, Extends Government Funding Through December 11
Surface Transportation Reauthorization Pushed to December
Western Ohio NECA Hosts Senator Moreno and DOE Leadership in Dayton
On August 19, Western Ohio Chapter NECA hosted Senator Bernie Moreno (R-OH) and a Department of Energy delegation led by Associate Deputy Secretary Alex Fitzsimmons for site visits and a member roundtable in Dayton. Chapter Executive Director Carter Harrison and NECA's Marco Giamberardino moderated, with contractors from ESI Electrical Contractors, Sidney Electric, Studebaker Electric, and Chapel Electric taking part alongside the Dayton Electrical JATC and IBEW Local 82.
The day opened on the prefabrication floor at ESI's Innovation Center, where the group saw conduit prep, panel and gear assembly, rack and skid systems, and cable and wire assemblies. The tour showed how contractors are using prefabrication to absorb an unprecedented increase in work across Ohio while meeting customer demands for efficiency and short schedules. The group closed the day at the American Line Builders Apprenticeship and Training center in Medway, observing a live climbing demonstration by an active apprentice class.
At the roundtable, members took the Senator and DOE through what it will take to meet surging electricity demand: community and local government pushback on data center development, rising copper and steel costs and the case for a resilient domestic supply chain, the grid capacity needed to serve large loads, and the regulatory hurdles facing small modular reactors. Members also described how the chapter is easing the manpower burden in Dayton by increasing apprentice class sizes and adding new labs at the JATC.
"It was an honor for us to host Senator Moreno and the Department of Energy team in Dayton, and we're grateful they took the time to hear directly from our members. The roundtable at our JATC let our members speak directly to the challenges faced on the ground. Having Senator Moreno and DOE in the room to hear these challenges, and what it will take to overcome them, is how our members stay ahead." Carter Harrison, Executive Director, Western Ohio Chapter NECA.
Grid Operators Begin Rewriting the Rules for Data Center Interconnection
While Congress was out of town for August recess, one of the most consequential regulatory processes for electrical construction moved forward at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). In June, the Commission issued show cause orders to all six regional grid operators, including PJM, MISO, SPP, CAISO, ISO New England, and the New York ISO, finding that their existing tariffs may be unjust and unreasonable because they lack clear rules for connecting data centers and other large loads to the transmission system.
The orders put grid operators on a tight clock to either defend their current rules or propose reforms. In July, all six filed reports detailing how much generation capacity is available to serve new large loads. In early August, each operator asked FERC to pause the show cause proceedings so it can develop and file its own tariff reforms rather than have the Commission impose replacement rules, with PJM filing first on July 28 and the remaining five following on August 3. FERC granted PJM's request on August 18, and PJM is targeting an advisory stakeholder vote on its proposal at its October 28 Members Committee meeting. Proposals from the other operators are expected this fall.
The direction of the reforms is clear regardless of how each docket proceeds. FERC wants large loads connected to the grid faster, with transparent study processes and firm rules requiring data centers to cover the full cost of the network upgrades their connections require, rather than shifting those costs onto residential ratepayers. The approach builds directly on the White House Ratepayer Protection Pledge, covered in last month's newsletter, and FERC Commissioner David LaCerte has said he expects grid operator proposals to dovetail with state efforts to implement the pledge.
For NECA contractors, every one of these interconnections is a construction project. Faster queues and clearer cost rules mean more substation buildouts, transmission upgrades, switchgear installations, and protection and control work moving from planning to award.
NECA Submits Comments to NRC on NEPA Modernization
On August 21, NECA submitted formal comments to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission supporting the agency's proposed revisions to how it implements the National Environmental Policy Act. The rulemaking comes as the Administration and Congress push to expand nuclear deployment, and it aims to bring the NRC's environmental review process in line with that goal.
NECA's comments made three core recommendations. First, the NRC should narrow the scope of its NEPA reviews to the effects it has the statutory authority and expertise to regulate, chiefly radiological contamination, rather than duplicating reviews already conducted by other agencies under laws like the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act. Second, NECA supports the expanded eligibility of Categorical Exclusions for license renewals, construction permits, early site permits, and other common licensing activities, reflecting how far construction methods like off-site prefabrication have advanced in reducing site impacts. Third, NECA urged strict timelines for every step of the permitting process, including the issuance of Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Statements.
For NECA contractors, faster and more predictable reviews move nuclear projects to award sooner. A bid commits crews, materials, and specialized equipment for the life of the contract, and a slipped review compounds costs across the job. As the buildout accelerates, NECA members will be wiring the facilities and building the transmission and distribution infrastructure that brings them online.
Defense Authorization Stalls in Senate as MILCON Gap Remains Unresolved
The House passed its version of the FY2027 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 8800) on July 22. The Senate has not advanced its own bill, S. 4784, after a July 14 cloture vote on the motion to proceed failed 50 to 46. A motion to reconsider remains pending, but the Senate has not scheduled further floor action. Congress has enacted an NDAA for more than six decades running, though final passage rarely comes before December.
Both bills authorize roughly $1.14 trillion for national defense. The consequential difference for the construction market is military construction and family housing. H.R. 8800 would authorize $28.6 billion. The Senate Armed Services Committee bill would authorize $52.5 billion, including $50 billion for core MILCON, well above the Administration's $19.7 billion request.
That gap will be a central issue in conference, and the final number shapes the size and timing of the FY2027 pipeline for work on installations, from barracks and hangars to maintenance facilities and utility infrastructure.
MILCON supports more than building construction. These projects carry electrical distribution, standby and backup generation, communications and controls, and increasingly resilient installation-energy systems such as microgrids, substation upgrades, and hardened distribution. A timely bill would give NECA contractors more certainty for workforce planning, procurement, and bidding.
Congress Averts Shutdown, Extends Government Funding Through December 11
Federal funding was set to expire September 30, and Congress cleared the stopgap well ahead of the deadline. On September 1, the House voted 370 to 48 to pass the Senate's version of the continuing resolution (H.R. 6500), which the Senate had approved 90 to 6 on August 8. President Trump signed the measure into law on September 2. The Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027 holds funding at current levels through December 11 and pushes the next funding fight past the midterm elections.
The measure carries several provisions relevant to NECA members. It delays action on the Office of Management and Budget's proposed rule reforming federal grant regulations, the rulemaking NECA submitted comments on in July, through December 11. It also extends surface transportation programs, the Defense Production Act, and the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, each of which would otherwise have lapsed September 30.
The stopgap does not settle FY2027 appropriations. The House has passed three of the twelve annual spending bills and the Senate none, and the two parties remain far apart on defense and nondefense toplines. That work resumes after the election against a December 11 deadline. For contractors, the near-term effect is stability. Federal project awards, payments, and agency permitting continue uninterrupted through the fall, and the Government Affairs team will report on the year-end negotiations as they take shape.
Surface Transportation Reauthorization Pushed to December
The stopgap also carried a short-term extension of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act's five-year authorization of federal highway, transit, and rail programs, which would otherwise have expired September 30. The extension keeps money flowing to projects already underway through December 11, but a temporary patch is no substitute for the long-term bill, and Congress has yet to pass a replacement.
In May, the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved the BUILD America 250 Act (H.R. 8870), a five-year, $580 billion reauthorization, by a bipartisan vote of 62 to 2. The bill, developed by Chairman Sam Graves (MO-06) and Ranking Member Rick Larsen (WA-02), includes roughly $474 billion in contract authority, giving states and project owners the long-term certainty needed to plan and bid major work. Chairman Graves has pushed for floor consideration as quickly as possible, though House leadership has not yet announced a timetable, and the Senate must still produce its own proposal.
For NECA contractors, the difference between an extension and a full reauthorization matters greatly. Multi-year contract authority is what lets state departments of transportation and transit agencies commit to the large electrical packages, including traffic systems, rail electrification, tunnel and bridge lighting, and EV charging infrastructure, that depend on a stable federal program. NECA continues to press for a full reauthorization and for the inclusion of scaffold law reform language that would address absolute liability exposure on federally funded projects in New York.