About the Associated General Contractors of Texas
The Texas Highway, Heavy, Utilities and Industrial Branch is a statewide organization representing the highway, heavy, utility and industrial contractors of the state. Over 95% of the highways in Texas have been built by members of this organization.
National Affiliation
The Texas Highway, Heavy, Utilities and Industrial Branch holds the national charter for Associated General Contractors (AGC), the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), and the National Utility Contractors Association (NUCA).
The dues paid into the IEF fund support ARTBA and NUCA. In addition, the IEF funds support the Texas Goods Roads/Transportation Association (TGR/TA), which is an influential citizen group designed to protect and preserve highway funding in Texas.
The current awareness program promoted by the TGR/TA will develop strong incentive for members of the Texas Legislature to increase funding for highways.
Market Development-Market Stability
The Texas Highway, Heavy, Utilities and Industrial Branch has been instrumental in strengthening the constitutional protection of our highway funds. the current level of funding in Texas is between $1.7 and $2 billion. The reason Texas has one of the most stable highway markets in the nation is a direct result of the efforts put forth by members of the Texas Highway, Heavy, Utilities and Industrial Branch. The association not only wrote, but passed the constitutional protection of highway funds, and has pushed hard for continued privatization of highway construction in Texas.
Without the constitutional protection of our highway funds, our market would be much like other states where gasoline taxes have been used for other purposes.
The highway program in Texas went from $350 million per year to apporximately $2.0 billion per year.
Workers' Compensation
The Texas Highway, Heavy, Utilities and Industrial Branch was instrumental, along with other major business associations, in rewriting our workers' compensation statutes to take lawyers our of the business. Most members of the association have found the changes in workers' compensation to be extremely rewarding. The rules and regulations written following the massive rewrite of our workers' compensation statutes was done by a commission chaired by a member of the association, Mr. Jack Garey. The intricacies of the legislation that were pro-business and pro-contractor were written by Jack Garey who used to be a trial lawyer and is now a highway contractor. When he was appointed chairman of the Workers' Compensation Commission, the chapter hired legal counsel and spent thousands of dollars to fight trial lawyer constitutional challenges of the statute, and challenges to the rules and regulations written by Mr. Garey.
Merit Shop
Each year, organized labor has made tremendous efforts to unionize employees. During the last two years the effort was principally in the El Paso area, where there was an attempt to put union wages and union working conditions in all public works contracts. The chapter spent over $60,000 on attorney fees to prevent this from happening, and through a combination of court case victories and modification of state statutes, contractors in Texas continue to have the ability to operate under merit shop programs.
A member in Jasper County credits the COMET program for a victory over organized labor.
Joint Meetings with Texas Department of Transportation
The chapter meets quarterly with division heads from the Texas Department of Transportation. Copies of the minutes from the meetings are available at the chapter office upon request. In addition, the committee meets with the Design Division as well as with the Materials & Tests Division, and other areas within the Texas Department of Transportation.
There are monthly committee meetings held with the district engineer in the metropolitan areas, and meetings either quarterly or annually in the smaller districts.
For example, in Houston, there is a one-hour informal business session with the district engineer to discuss any problems facing the industry. This meeting takes place just prior to the monthly luncheon. Similar meetings are held in Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio.
Partnering
The chapter has sponsered the partnering effort with the Texas Department of Transportation. As we enter into Partnering 2, the AGC Specifications Committee worked with the department and in the future, all projects will be partnered, and there will be a list of approved facilitators. Chapter staff person, Roger Welsch, serves on the selection committe to approve facilitators. In addition, the chapter has scheduled a series of partnering seminars around the state to outline the Partnering 2 program.
Safety Conference
There will be a safety conference during the Trade & Equipment Show. It will be extremely informative.
Equal Employment Opportunity
The approved OJT program has been in existence for over 25 years, and has been recognized by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, as well as other civil rights entities.
Training
The chapter has been working with the Texas Workforce Commission and soon will probably announce a massive training program to provide additional skilled personnel statewide.
CDL
The chapter sponsored joint meetings with the Texas Department of Public Safety to let members give their employees CDL training. Recent meetings with the Department of Transportation eliminate the requirement for CDL on construction equipment that had been proposed by the Department of Transportation.
The chapter furnishes detailed information to help members prepare for current DPS audits.
Other Agencies
The Texas Highway, Heavy, Utilities and Industrial Branch has an ongoing relationship with the Corps of Engineers and has been instrumental in helping members obtain 404 permits, as well as work on specifications and construction matters with the Corps of Engineers.
In addition, the association works with the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission to preserve the exemption on Air Control Board Permits for portable plants, even though there has been a strong move to require permits or prohibition of using both concrete and asphalt plants in metropolitan areas. Water permits are also obtained by the chapter through the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission.
Monitoring Federal and State Legislation
The chapter monitors all federal and state legislation to prohibit the passage of bills that would adversely affect the construction industry. Each year legislation is introduced that would attempt to weaken the constitutional protection of highway funds, as well as prohibit the issuance of temporary water permits or allow for exemptions on portable hot mix and concrete plants. Over 6,000 pieces of legislation are reviewed by the chapter's Legislative Drafting & Review Committee.
