David Howell Elected NUCA Chairman of the Board

NUCA’s Board of Directors formally inducted David Howell as our new Chairman on February 13 at their Annual Meeting held in Tucson, Arizona during the 2026 National Convention. “This coming year we will continue the efforts that the last few Chairmen have been leading and that is the advancement and modernization of our organization,” said Howell in his acceptance speech. “The one thing we cannot do is to ever rest on our laurels…We will continue to work together on funding, regulation, damage prevention, safety, and workforce development. My goal is that as part of our efforts we also work to find ways to provide for the future generations with the same opportunities I was able to take advantage of that NUCA has offered.”

Howell currently serves as NUCA’s Vice-Chairman. He has also represented multiple NUCA Chapters on the association’s executive committee, including the chapters in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia.  Howell is the Vice President of Business Development for Midwest Mole. Also elected to the leadership team at the 2026 NUCA Annual Meeting was Jason Clark as Vice-Chair, Kirk Blomgren as Treasurer, and Victor Serrambana as Secretary. Kevin Cripps, the former NUCA chairman, now becomes Immediate Past Chairman.

House Hearing on Drinking Water SRFs

Over the last month, Congress has slowly begun its work on its 2026 water infrastructure agenda. On Feb. 24, the House Energy & Commerce Committee held a subcommittee hearing, “From Source to Tap: A Hearing to Examine Challenges and Opportunities for Safe, Reliable, and Affordable Drinking Water.”

Lawmakers examined the use of $50 billion in Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) funds allocated to the EPA for water infrastructure via the State Revolving Fund (SRF) programs. Both Democrat and GOP lawmakers stressed aging infrastructure, a projected $625 billion need over 20 years for maintenance and upgrades, and emerging threats like PFAS contamination, lead pipes, cybersecurity risks, and workforce challenges. NUCA calls for continued strong federal support and stable funding for the SRFs to address modern challenges, while noting federal aid alone cannot solve the problem.

US Customs Agency Not Ready To Reimburse Tariff Costs

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced on March 6 that it needs an extra 45 days to establish an automated system for processing refunds on Trump-era tariffs recently invalidated by the Supreme Court. The agency is working to disburse approximately $166 billion in collected duties to over 330,000 eligible importers. In a court filing, CBP’s Brandon Lord explained that the volume of refunds is unprecedented, requiring reprogramming of the agency’s entry tracking system. The Supreme Court ruling called for automatic refunds with interest, but CBP cannot comply immediately. Around 2,000 lawsuits have already been filed by importers seeking refunds.

USDOL Proposes New Independent Contractor Rule, Repealing Biden-Era Regulations

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced on February 26 a proposed rule to clarify worker classification under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The proposal would rescind the 2024 Biden-era final rule—which used a six-factor “totality of the circumstances” test often seen as favoring employee status—and replace it with a streamlined “economic reality” test similar to the 2021 Trump-era rule.

The DOL aims to provide greater clarity and predictability for workers and employers. NUCA has applauded the DOL for revising the regulations to better clarify independent contractor standards.

Association News

Your NUCA membership delivers business benefits that will help your bottom line. Are you or your employees taking advantage of them?

NUCA Assurance: Get more control over your business insurance program

Join like-minded NUCA contractors who have taken control of their claims, managed their risk, and secured better, more focused insurance services for their businesses. NUCA Assurance is a construction-focused group captive owned by NUCA members and designed by insurance experts to deliver the claims control and risk-management support smart construction business owners need. This cost-effective association benefit helps your company purchase workers’ compensation, general liability, and auto liability insurance. Find out how to get more control over your utility construction company’s insurance needs by starting at NUCAAssurance.com.

NUCA Benefits: The expanded NUCA Advantage member benefits program

Your NUCA membership investment can deliver benefits far in excess of its cost — but only if you ask your human resources office to explore what it offers. Start by forwarding this document to them and ask them to check out NUCA Advantage. Our online portal leads to expanded health care benefits options for your company, as well as payroll, wellness, compliance, benefits administration, 401K programs, online training, OSHA logs and a wealth of free HR benefits available only to NUCA members. Find our expanded NUCA Advantage benefits program at www.NUCAAdvantage.com.

NUCA Benefits: Why NUCA Members Should Rethink Their 401(k) Strategy

Managing a 401(k) plan often creates more work than it should especially for NUCA members already stretched thin. That’s why NUCA has now partnered with Voya, AMP Administrator, and Greenline Wealth Management to create the Voyager 401(k) Pooled Employer Plan (PEP), built specifically for utility contractors and their employees.

Voyager simplifies plan administration by pooling multiple NUCA companies into a single structure unlocking access to economies of scale and service. Greenline also conducts a no-cost benchmarking review for NUCA members to identify savings and help reduce fiduciary liability through full outsourcing. Whether you’re offering a plan today or considering one for the first time, Voyager offers a compliant, cost-effective solution designed around your construction business. Schedule your free plan review today by calling 561-405-6609 (option 7), or email info@greenlinewm.com.

NUCA Benefits: NUCA-WINS–Now Featuring AI-Powered Report Generation

We’re excited to announce a major new feature in NUCA-WINS — AI-Powered Report Generation! With this new tool, you can now generate detailed reports instantly using natural language. NUCA-WINS new AI report generator understands your request in plain English and produces accurate, ready-to-share results in seconds — no need for filters, formulas or complex queries. Each report may be immediately exported to your choice of a PDF, CSV or Excel file. This means you can now get insights faster, save hours on manual report prep and share data-driven updates instantly with your team.

It’s live now! Just log in to your NUCA-WINS account and look for the “AI Reports” button in your “Outputs” section. Go to www.nucawins.com to start today.

The post NUCA News Summary – March 2026 appeared first on NUCA of South Florida.

Starting in August 2024, the program offers students the opportunity to earn their OSHA 10 certification, a valuable asset for future employment. Classes will take place at Park Vista High School every Tuesday and Thursday evening from 6 to 8 p.m., ensuring accessibility for interested students in the local community. Join us as we pave the way for the next generation of skilled professionals in the field of underground utility infrastructure!

Click here to register online!

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Please Note: Grandchildren, nieces and nephews are not eligible for the NUCA of South Florida Scholarship Program. 

The 2024 NUCA of South Florida Scholarship applications for high school, undergraduate and trade school are online.  The deadline for applications is June 3, 2024.

The Annual Scholarship Awards Night will be held on July 24, 2024 at Maggiano’s in Boca Raton.  Attendance at the Awards Night is strongly recommended.I have attached links for all of the 2024 Scholarships offered to YOU for being a member of NUCA of South Florida. 

NUCA National Scholarship
Deadline May 30, 2024

ASJMSF/NUCA of Florida Scholarship
Deadline May 15, 2024

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(Fairfax, Va.) – The chief executive officer of the National Utility Contractors Association (NUCA), Doug Carlson, issued the following statement on the reintroduction of the “Fair and Open Competition Act” in the 118th Congress:

“Rep. James Comer and Sen. Todd Young should be applauded by all NUCA members and their hard-working employees for introducing legislation to promote fair and open competition in business. Competition is a basic building block of modern American business operations, promoting efficiency and reducing costs.”

“The Fair and Open Competition Act protects government construction contracts from project labor agreement mandates and will allow all contractors, including small, women, and minority-owned businesses, to have a fair opportunity at competing to rebuild and improve this nation. All companies need to have a level playing field when competing for the projects to build America.”

“This industry’s hard-won infrastructure legislation is facing enough implementation challenges this year. Passing the Fair and Open Competition Act will help this industry and its employees equitably compete for the contracts to build and repair America’s neglected underground infrastructure. NUCA strongly supports its passage this session.”

The post Fair Competition Efficiently Builds America’s Infrastructure appeared first on NUCA of South Florida.

Register your company at www.dcnonline.org.

Thank you in advance for your commitment to helping the recovery and rebuild efforts for our fellow Floridians.   

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“Late Friday night, after years of advocacy by NUCA members, the U.S. House passed on a 228-206 a historic milestone for our nation’s water infrastructure. Never before has the American utility construction industry been given by Congress resources of this magnitude to improve thousands of communities across America.”

“Our member’s visits to lawmakers this week urging this bill’s enactment paid dividends to this nation that will be realized across the 21st century. With this legislation enacted into law, we can repair broken water mains, replace harmful lead service pipes, build new water systems, and deliver clean water to millions of American citizens. And this bill will expand access to high-speed broadband to households and businesses across the country.”

“This bill and its funding resources are an extraordinary achievement. Our industry is grateful for the work of House infrastructure leaders such as Reps. Peter DeFazio and Frank Pallone, Jr., who supported this bill and our industry members throughout this fight. We’re eager to begin work on building the subsurface infrastructure strengthening our nation’s economic foundations of the next 100 years.” 

The post NUCA Delivers Infrastructure Win For The Nation appeared first on NUCA of South Florida.

NUCA’s leadership is monitoring this unprecedented demand by the U.S. Government on America’s utility contractors and our employees, and upon this nation. To date, the three Covid-19 vaccines have reached 177 million Americans through voluntary demands by individuals.

• Our industry is not against the successful Covid-19 vaccine programs, but we have very serious concerns about our government mandating its adult citizens to undergo a medical procedure or face serious financial or personal consequences. NUCA trusts our members know what is best for their employees and their jobsite environments. Safety is paramount in our member’s operations, and we exercise all caution to keep them safe and have been doing so since the Covid-19 pandemic emergency was declared in early 2020.

• Applying it to large companies with 100 employees or more is questionable for our industry. Our larger companies for most projects employ subcontractors who may only employ a few people, but all work together in confined spaces. Questions will arise as to the usefulness of this mandate to keep employees free of Covid-19 risks if they, for example, cannot social distance because of the confined spaces found in excavations.

• Our member businesses also have concerns about the costs that businesses are expected to shoulder for this government mandate. Who will pay for these new requirements, and will the federal government share in these expenses? Who will pay for compliance costs and administrative requirements, especially for those undergoing weekly testing?

• Utility construction businesses also have to be concerned about this policy affecting their contracts if they are unable to have enough employees available to perform work because of government mandates. Some of our members are already facing this dilemma in performing work for federal contracts.

• Our association is concerned about the precedent being set by this policy. 100 employees today could by executive order or emergency regulation turn into 50 employees tomorrow, and continue even lower if the Administration so chooses. We have regulatory standards in place today that serve the administrating rulemaking function very well, and the use of an emergency standard for this policy is shortsighted, especially since Covid-19 has been known for over a year-and-a-half and the vaccines have been available for since the beginning of the year.

• Finally, the Administration’s action is guaranteed to face legal challenges in multiple courts, potentially leading to injunctions placed on the policy being carried out while it is addressed by the judiciary. Before this happens, our industry believes it is the responsibility of the federal government to provide answers to these questions and many others before introducing another mandate on American businesses still struggling to recover from the pandemic’s effects. 

NUCA remains strongly committed to monitoring this governmental demand and will be reacting to it as this proposed policy’s effects unfold over the following weeks and months. The Biden Administration has given no formal timetable for its implementation through an OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard, only hinting at “weeks ahead.” 

We will take the best course of action available through the three branches of government to protect our member’s interests. Our members rely upon us to represent their businesses in Washington, and we will do so by using all means at our command. 

We remain committed to keeping our members informed about this demand by the Biden Administration and will keep you informed about this situation through our regular member communications. 

Thank you for your continued support of NUCA and our essential American industry.

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“This bill is a significant milestone for our nation. The infrastructure bill delivers historic levels of funding for water infrastructure and lead pipe service line replacement. This is welcome news for thousands of American communities and millions of our citizens. $55 billion to replace obsolete water distribution systems and remove harmful lead pipes, plus another $65 billion to install modern broadband infrastructure, is an extraordinary achievement and the Senate should be thanked for their hard work. This bill is a big win for NUCA members,” said NUCA CEO Doug Carlson.

This $1.2 trillion bill and its $550 billion in new spending also reauthorized federal surface transportation programs for the next five years. Industry members use this long-term authorization schedule to efficiently plan and finance the highway projects they are contracted to build by state and local jurisdictions.

Carlson thanked the members of the U.S. Senate who made a down-payment on fixing America’s leaking and outdated water systems. NUCA is grateful for the work of Senate Environment and Public Works Committee leadership to shepherd this long-awaited legislation through the Senate. Our industry extends a special thanks to Chairman Carper and Ranking Member Capito, and subcommittee Chairman Duckworth and Ranking Member Lummis for their support and enthusiasm. Clean water and sanitary wastewater requirements are universal and bipartisan.

Passage of increased water system infrastructure investment has been a long-standing legislative goal of NUCA. The bill authorizes $35 billion for water projects, including $14.7 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) and $14.7 billion for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) over five years. This is a significant increase from prior appropriations for these funds.

NUCA has advocated for and supported this process from the very beginning, and the passage of this Senate bill is the biggest increase in funding our industry has seen in years. The act is a significant milestone in the effort to reauthorize water funding that has been moving forward across several Congressional sessions. The Clean Water State Revolving Fund, which has been appropriated for but never reauthorized since its establishment in 1987, is the primary funding mechanism for water quality projects.

Other sections of the Senate’s $1.2 trillion version of H.R. 3684 which could affect NUCA members and their future project schedules include:

•            $110 billion for new highways, roads and bridges

•            $73 billion for power infrastructure improvements

•            $7 billion for Army Corps of Engineers infrastructure priorities

•            $2 billion for Bureau of Reclamation water infrastructure facilities

•            $25 billion for airport improvements, including better drainage systems

•            $17 billion for ports and waterway modernization

•            $7.5 billion for electric vehicle charging infrastructure

•            $11 billion for highway safety programs

NUCA and other trade organizations were able to keep the anti-business PRO Act out of this version of the legislation, which must be seen as a victory for the industry. This Senate bill also reforms certain permitting processes used by the construction industry, such as improvements to the FAST-41 law to expand its permanent reach into more federal projects to ensure they are completed on-time and under budget.

This bipartisan, revenue-neutral bill is a long-overdue investment in our nation’s infrastructure that will help ensure millions of Americans have access to clean and healthy drinking water and modern communications. It will deliver an economic boost to our industry and the American economy once the full effect of its resources is realized in the years ahead. Finally, this bill will also create hundreds of thousands of new jobs in the decade ahead, not only in our industry but in others who depend on better transportation and infrastructure for their business model success.

The bill now goes to the U.S. House for action. NUCA remains hopeful the House will take quick action on this legislation when it returns in September.

“NUCA applauds the Senate for this welcome step towards fulfilling the promises that new infrastructure projects can deliver for our nation and our economy. Our members are eager to begin building more of a better America. Speaker Pelosi, we’re ready to start our backhoes and begin digging—let’s get this bill passed and send it to the President,” exclaimed Carlson.

About The National Utility Contractors Association (NUCA)

Founded in 1964, the National Utility Contractors Association represents nearly 1,700 U.S. utility and excavation contractors, manufacturers, and suppliers who provide the materials and workforce to build and maintain our nation’s intricate network of water, sewer, gas, telecommunications, and electric infrastructure. NUCA is found online at www.nuca.com, and can be followed on Twitter at @NUCA_National. The association’s Twitter hashtags are #WeDigAmerica and #NUCAdigs. 

The post Senate Passes Historic Water & Broadband Infrastructure Act appeared first on NUCA of South Florida.

H.R. 3684 also included some labor policy proposals not supported by NUCA, such as mandated project labor agreements on certain projects. However, this bill is far from being finished, and NUCA and other business groups are lobbying Congress to remove this policy from the final legislation. “We urge Congress to avoid being sidetracked by partisan policy proposals that sound good in theory but in practice will have the economic recovery this bill aims to strengthen,” wrote NUCA CEO Doug Carlson.

This surface transportation bill will serve as the opening ploy in negotiations with the Senate’s own version of the bill. Nothing is yet written in stone that these funding levels will remain intact, nor will policy proposals. NUCA continues to lobby Congress to keep these water infrastructure resources at least at this level of funding, arguing that these amounts would enable good progress to be made in addressing the back catalog of needed public works projects across the U.S.

Read More

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Bills of Interest That Passed & Subsequently Approved by the Governor

Public Works Project—HB 53 by Rep. DiCeglie (SB 1076 by Sen. Brodeur)

HB 53 removes the “50 percent or more state-appropriated funds” funding threshold for public works projects on competitive solicitations for construction services, thus increasing the prohibition on local preferences to any project that is state- funded. The bill also revises the definition of “public works projects” to remove the 50 % state-appropriated funds criteria and replaces it with a cost threshold of more than $1M value paid for with any state-appropriated funds. The bill prohibits the state or any local government that contracts for a public works project from preventing a certified, licensed or registered contractor, subcontractor, or material supplier or carrier, from participating in the bidding process based on the geographic location of its headquarters, offices or residences of its employees.

HB 53 was amended to require the Office of Economic & Demographic Research (EDR) to include an analysis of the expenditures necessary to repair, replace, and expand water-related infrastructure in its annual assessment of Florida’s water resources and conservation lands. By June 30, 2022, and every five years thereafter, the bill requires each county, municipality, or special district providing wastewater or stormwater services to develop a needs analysis for its jurisdiction over the subsequent 20 years. The analyses must be compiled and submitted to EDR and EDR must evaluate the compiled documents for the purpose of developing a statewide analysis for inclusion in the annual assessment due January 1, 2023.

HB 53 passed the House 78-36 on 4/23, was amended and passed the Senate 24-16, returned to the House and finally passed 79-34 on 4/28. Approved by the Governor on June 29^th. 

View the Full Legislative Recap Report

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