Industry News & Advocacy


NUCA Chairman Atwell Testifies To Congress On Business Vaccine Mandates
NUCA's Chairman Lauren Atwell testified at a December 7 Congressional roundtable, informing the House lawmakers the Biden Administration Covid vaccine mandate for private businesses will substantially damage the economic gains promised from their new core infrastructure law.

“The Biden Administration’s Covid vaccine mandates are going to make our industry’s existing workforce labor shortages even worse,” said NUCA's Atwell. Chairman Atwell participated in the Dec. 7 House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Republican Member Roundtable held to discuss the Biden Administration’s employer vaccine mandate.


Courts Halt Vaccine Mandates For Private Businesses and Federal Contractors
A federal judge in Georgia on December 7 issued a nationwide temporary halt to the Biden Administration's Covid-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors. This joins the ruling by a Louisiana federal judge on Nov. 6 enjoining the Administration's OSHA standard for vaccine mandates on all U.S. private businesses with more than 100 employees. The nation now awaits the next steps from federal court decisions, which could be issued by the end of the year. It is predicted that eventually the U.S. Supreme Court will take up this issue in 2022 for a final decision. The mandates were scheduled to take effect on Jan. 4, 2022. For the latest news about these mandates and their effect upon the utility construction industry, NUCA's online vaccine mandate resources can be found at NUCA.com/vaxmandate.


811 Emergency: $61 Billion Lost In System To Protect Underground Utilities
Failures in the nation’s 811 system used to prevent damage to underground utility lines are costing $61 billion a year in waste and excess costs and creating unnecessary hazards for public safety, particularly in states where the implementation and accountability are most lax, according to a comprehensive independent review released on November 17.