ROCKVILLE, Md. - The Mechanical Contractors Association of America’s (MCAA’s) 2008 Legislative Conference, set for May 19-20 in Washington, D.C., will include two members of Congress who have assisted MCAA and its allies in their push for procurement reform this year, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.).

Rep. Maloney helped MCAA and the Campaign for Quality Construction take the Contractors and Federal Spending Accountability Act of 2008 through a successful House vote. She will address the conference on May 20 about that bill and other construction procurement measures, such as the Construction Quality Assurance Act of 2007 (H.R. 3854) (which she co-sponsored), the federal contracting subcontractor bid listing bill that is being addressed as a way to reform the flagging use of low bid procurement in the federal sector.

Rep. McDermott introduced H.R. 5804, the Taxpayer Responsibility, Accountability, and Consistency Act, which addresses reform of independent contractor misclassification abuses. The conference program will also include Congressional speakers who favor repealing the new 3 percent withholding tax on public contracts.

Publication date:05/12/2008