Top Three 3/8/19

1. Water Quality Protection and Job Creation Act Introduced; House Ways and Means Addresses Infrastructure

On March 5, 2019, Chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Chair of the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment Grace Napolitano (D-CA), Representative Don Young (R-AK), and Representative John Katko (R-NY) introduced the Water Quality Protection and Job Creation Act of 2019. In related news, the House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-MA) held a hearing focused on infrastructure entitled, “Our Nation’s Crumbling Infrastructure and the Need for Immediate Action.”

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2. HELP Committee Holds Hearing on Multiemployer Pension Crisis

On March 7, 2019, the House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions held a hearing titled “The Cost of Inaction: Why Congress Must Address the Multiemployer Pension Crisis.” The hearing covered numerous topics and points of contention surrounding the multiemployer pension arena. While subcommittee hearings tend to receive less interest, this hearing drew a large crowd and heated discussion.

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3. DOL Proposes Regulation to Raise Threshold for Overtime Rule

Reports have begun to trickle out of the Department of Labor (DOL) that it is close to proposing a new regulation to update the overtime threshold which would require businesses to pay overtime wages for all employees who work more than 40 hours per week. The DOL is expected to propose a threshold raise from $24,000 to $35,000 per year after an Obama-era proposal to raise the threshold was blocked in federal court. 

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