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Adv. Supervisory Training (March 8-10)
Noise & Dust Workshop (March 9-11)
Basic Sales Course (March 22-25)
YLC Annual Meeting (April 16-19)
Noise & Dust Workshop (May 18-20)
Marketing Summit (May 23-25)

1. Congressional Roundup

Late on Feb. 27, Congress passed a two-month extension until April 30 of the highway program after House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) dropped his objection to an unrelated provision being attached to the legislation. The president signed the bill on Feb. 29, preventing the furlough of employees from the Federal Highway Administration, Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration and some from the Federal Transit Administration. The two-month extension was considered clean; that is, it did not change any transportation policy, it just allows the departments to continue operating while Congress works on a comprehensive six-year reauthorization bill. The House previously passed a four-month extension, a time-period considered two months too long by Senate counterparts. Senate leaders argued for a shorter extension in order to keep the pressure on the House to pass its six-year bill. John Boling has further details.

House Transportation Committee at Major Decision Intersection

House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska) must soon make a decision on how much transportation funding he is going to seek. The transportation committee staff has been locked behind closed doors as they carefully work to address the $318 billion Senate bill. Last week, President Bush met with the House leadership, including Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), to talk about transportation and sources confirmed the president is not budging from his position of $256 billion over six years. A later meeting between the Republican members of the T&I committee with the Speaker and another meeting with White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card allowed individual members to voice their concern. Now, with the potential window for passing major legislation like the transportation bill rapidly closing, it is time for Chairman Young to decide what his bill will look like.

Options circulating around Washington include some form of a two-year extension of TEA 21 funded at higher levels versus some form of a six-year bill funded at a level closer to the $318 billion Senate-passed version. It will be a tough decision because the administration's veto threat against the Senate bill remains in effect. NSSGA and coalition allies continue to push for at least a $318 billion six-year bill that meets the needs of the country. Contact Joe Colaneri for additional information.

Senate Majority Leader Pledges Vote on Asbestos Bill

At the conclusion of the Senate session on Feb. 27 and after the Senate passed the two-month TEA 21 extension, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) discussed the upcoming Senate schedule. He pledged to begin floor action on S. 1125-legislation that would create a multibillion trust fund for workers exposed to asbestos-either the last week in March or the first week in April.

Under the bill, workers who were exposed to asbestos no longer would be allowed to sue their former employers in court. Instead, they would be able to seek no-fault monetary remedies for their impairments through the trust fund's administrator. Businesses and insurance companies that could be liable for the asbestos exposure would pay into the fund for 27 years. Frist and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) are charged with resolving the more controversial questions of how much victims of asbestos exposure would be paid. Under the bill, payments to asbestos victims would be based on severity of the victims' medical impairments and the likelihood that asbestos exposure contributed significantly to their conditions.

Late last year, NSSGA succeeded in assuring that the legislation includes an accurate definition of asbestos so that aggregates are not inadvertently included. NSSGA will remain vigilant during floor consideration of the legislation should attempts be made to change the definition included in the bill. For more information, contact Pam Whitted.

TCC Fly-In Participants Urge Action on TEA 21 Reauthorization

More than 400 members of Transportation Construction Coalition organizations, including NSSGA, converged on Washington Feb. 24-25 and made hundreds of visits to members of Congress to urge passage of TEA 21 reauthorization legislation. At the Tuesday afternoon legislative briefing, which opened the fly-in, participants heard from congressional transportation leaders Reps. Tom Petri (R-Wis.), chairman of the House Highways Subcommittee, and James Oberstar (D-Minn.), ranking Democrat on the full House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. They urged attendees to take the case for a needs-based reauthorization bill to Congress. Senators Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and Kit Bond (R-Mo.), chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee, reiterated the need for the House to act on reauthorization after Senate passage of SAFETEA with a veto-proof majority. Although Sen. Inhofe conceded a few votes might be lost on an override vote, he still expressed optimism that supporters could override a presidential veto.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee majority staff member Frasier Verruchio urged attendees to continue to support Committee Chairman Don Young's (R-Alaska) case for a needs-based reauthorization bill at breakfast on Feb. 25. The needs of the highway program as defined by the Department of Transportation are $375 billion over the term of a six-year reauthorization bill, which served as the basis for Chairman Young's TEA LU bill.

NSSGA extends its sincerest thanks to its members who took time from busy schedules to attend the fly-in and take the reauthorization message to members of Congress. In order to be effective in our advocacy efforts, we need to know what you heard in your Capitol Hill visits. Please take a moment to fill out the meeting follow-up form and return it to us. Contact Government Affairs with any questions.

"Dear Colleague" Letter Seeks Support to Uphold Presidential Vetoes on Spending

Rep. Chris Cox (R-Calif.) has circulated a "Dear Colleague" letter in which he seeks the support of his fellow members of Congress to sustain any presidential veto that would result in "unnecessary spending." As of Feb. 26, Rep. Cox had obtained 99 signatories with 146 votes necessary to sustain a veto. This is significant given the veto threat issued by the administration on the highway reauthorization bill.

While the bulk of those signing the letter are known fiscal conservatives, many of them have also been strong advocates for highways in the past. One of the signers, Rep. J. D. Hayworth (R-Ariz.), spoke at the ROCKPAC major donor reception in Phoenix at the end of January. In his speech, he stated that one could be for fiscal restraint and for increased infrastructure spending because it was one of the few legitimate areas where the federal government has a role to play. It appears that the phrase "unnecessary spending" provides for some wiggle room due to the subjective nature of what an individual may deem to be necessary.

It is imperative that the aggregates industry weigh-in with the message that increased highway funding is a necessary and legitimate expense for the federal government to incur. Please be sure to use NSSGA's toll-free Direct Hotline to Congress to make your voice heard. Just dial (800) 450-8293 to be connected with a live Capitol Hill switchboard operator and tell him or her whose office you would like to be connected to and they will do the rest of the work.

Budget Process Begins Under a Deficit Cloud

The always-unpredictable congressional budget process for 2005 is in full swing on Capitol Hill. The stakes are higher than usual this year with the newfound emphasis on fiscal austerity emanating from the House and Senate Republican leadership. The outcome of these critical 2005 budget debates could have an impact on the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) authorization in 2005 and a ripple effect on the HTF in the years ahead as well as on the reauthorization of TEA 21 and many other construction projects.

Members of the Senate Budget Committee will get the first crack at the fiscal year 2005 budget blueprint this week, which will provide a first indication of how much appetite Republicans in particular have for getting tough on spending in an election year. House Republicans are waiting until the week of March 8 to mark up their budget plan, deciding to wait to see what Senate Republicans put together. Early indications are that the Senate Budget Committee spending blueprint may come in $6 billion below the administration's discretionary spending request of $823 billion as estimated by the Congressional Budget Office, or $818 billion if you refer to the Office of Management and Budget numbers. How does this affect the HTF? The Budget Resolution could propose level or even less spending for highways than is in the president's 2005 budget request. The Bush administration's 2005 authorization request for highways is $33.6 billion-the same level as that approved for 2004 earlier this year in the omnibus spending bill.

It is possible that highway spending, given its historic popularity, will fare better than many other domestic programs and that, in the end, despite hand-wringing about the deficit, many in the Republican Party will not want to appear vulnerable to election-year criticism from the Democrats by cutting mandatory or discretionary spending too deeply. This would bode well for at least retaining the $33.6 billion highway figure and maybe even increasing it. But other political factors will also be part of this year's budget debate-issues such as whether or not to make permanent the business and individual tax cuts enacted over the past several years and whether or not to increase the debt limit. All this and more will have an impact on the overall 2005 budget and individual programs such as the level of the HTF. NSSGA and our Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) partners will play a leading role as these critical budget debates begin to take shape. You may be certain of our leadership and strong advocacy in the weeks and months ahead. Joe Colaneri has details.

T&I Committee Endorses $375 Billion for Highways in Budget Views Document

In it's annual Views & Estimates of the FY2005 Budget, the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee endorsed spending what is needed to maintain the entire transportation system, from aviation to waterways. Specifically, the committee statement endorses a combined federal highway and transit program funding level of $54 billion in contract authority (and $53 billion in obligation limitation) for FY 2005 that it believes will meet the goal of improving our nation's highways, bridges, and transit systems. "There are going to be some in Congress who believe that we should reduce all federal spending to balance the budget," said U.S. Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), Chairman of the Committee. "Those people simply do not understand that the users of our highways and airports pay for the care of those facilities. This is a system that pays its own way." See item above, "House Transportation Committee at Major Decision Intersection."

The full document can be accessed on the Committee's website.

Courts Hand Down Significant ESA Victory

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a significant victory when it confirmed a lower court's decision that scientific contributions to species recovery must be incorporated in Endangered Species Act (ESA) decision-making. At issue in this case was how the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) counted Oregon Coast coho salmon in determining the species' status. According to Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), NMFS' counting of only naturally spawned salmon while totally disregarding hatchery spawned salmon kept the fish count artificially low, justifying otherwise needless ESA protections and locking up land use. For more information, contact John Boling.

At the trial level, U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan ruled that NMFS acted illegally in protecting fish spawning in the wild, but not hatchery fish, which are genetically identical. Judge Hogan ruled NMFS could not pick and choose among fish swimming side-by-side in a stream which it would protect and which it would ignore. Environmental groups appealed the decision to the Ninth Circuit.

For more information on this topic click here or here.

House Panel to Hear From Transportation Secretary

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation is scheduled to hear from Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta at a March 3 hearing. The focus of the hearing will be the president's Fiscal Year 2005 budget request, which flat lined most transportation spending and reduced spending on the Federal Aviation Administration's Facilities & Equipment account.

2. Orlando Plant Operators Conference & Expo a Tremendous Success

3. Industry Updates

• Vulcan Materials Co., Birmingham, Ala., has achieved the number one ranking in Fortune magazine's "America's Most Admired Companies" list in the "Building Materials, Glass" category. Information on the rankings will appear in the March 8 issue of the magazine. Vulcan also was ranked among the top 10 companies of the Fortune 1000 in the categories of financial soundness and social responsibility. In the financial soundness category, Vulcan was ranked fifth out of all Fortune 1000 companies.
• Vulcan Materials Co. announced that J. Wayne Houston has been named senior vice president--human resources. Houston most recently served as vice president-human resources. He joined the company in 1980 and has held positions of increasing responsibility within Vulcan's corporate office and the company's Midwest Division, which has its headquarters in Chicago.
• Hanson PLC (parent of Hanson Building Materials America, Neptune, N.J.), the international building materials company, announced that it has acquired U.S. brick manufacturer Athens Brick Company, Inc., from Texas Industries, Inc., for $40.4 million in cash (on a debt-free basis and subject to usual post-closing adjustments).
• McGraw-Hill Construction/Dodge reported that January construction dropped three percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $522.1 billion. Residential building remained steady with its December rate, but nonresidential building and public works dropped. Nonresidential fell 16 percent overall in January from December with a 23 percent drop in new highway starts and a 49 percent drop in bridge construction. The report attributes the last two figures, in part, to uncertainty about renewal of a six-year federal transportation infrastructure program.

4. Two UM-R Students Win Broaddus Scholarships

5. NSSGA Selects Student "Future City" Designers for Best Use of Aggregates

The students, Anna Brockway, Sarah Kiser and Garrett Tranquillo, featured a number of uses for aggregates in their winning design, including extensive use of riprap for erosion control, gravel paths for recreation areas and broken stone for ballast in an elaborate underground railway system, among other projects. In addition to recognition at the awards luncheon, the students received handsome plaques, a gift pack for their school and a special "behind-the-scenes" tour of The Rocks Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History.

If you're interested in finding out about how schools in your area can participate in the 2004-05 competition, contact Gus Edwards or Kelly Snyder.

6. Only Two Seats Remain for the First Noise & Dust Workshop of 2004

• Luck Stone Corporation, Fairfax, Va., May 18-20
• Tilcon Connecticut, North Branford, Conn., July 27-29
• Hanson Building Materials, San Jose, Calif., Oct. 5-7

7. On-line Safety Awards Form Off to a Great Start Among Producers

1) To access the form, click here.

2) Once there, you will be prompted for a USERNAME and PASSWORD. The USERNAME is your NSSGA Member ID (individual Member ID, not company) and the PASSWORD is your last name (lower case). If you do not have a NSSGA Member ID, get one from an NSSGA ID holder from within your company. If you have forgotten your Member ID, a function on the login site allows to you to receive it by email.

3) After log in, you will be prompted to ADD NEW ENTRY. Click this icon.

4) You will then be asked to enter all the data requested. Please complete the form in its entirety. The only exception is the section dealing with division or region names; only producers whose firms are organized by division and/or region are required to fill in that information. Also note that the information you provide must be exactly as you want the company, division/region and mine site names to appear on the plaque. We strongly encourage you to verify identifying information before sending in the form. NSSGA cannot be responsible for inaccuracies.

5) After verifying all entries, select the submit icon to complete the application process.

It's that easy! April 30 is the deadline to submit applications for the achievement awards. That is also the deadline for submittal of nominating packages for the James M. Christie Safety & Health Professional of the Year. Contact Brandon Viars or Trudi Brown with any questions or login problems. We look forward to a competitive awards contest.

8. Don't Delay…Register Today for March Basic Sales Course

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9. Sign Up Now for Young Leaders Council Annual Meeting in Tampa

This working weekend includes a group team building activity, leadership session, golf outing and a Q&A session with Rep. Adam Putnam (R-Fla.), currently the youngest member of Congress. Call the Marriott (813) 221-4900 by March 22 to get the special "YLC" room rate of $179 per night. Contact Kelly Snyder for more information.

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10. New Community Relations Awards Criteria Established in '04

Criteria

11. Who's Who at NSSGA?

12. Condolences

Welcome New Members