Chairman’s message: ABC is successful at advocating for members - by John Anderson

I’m proud to say that for the last several years, ABC has been increasingly successful at advocating for member priorities on Beacon Hill and blocking initiatives that would hurt members and our industry.  

As we prepare for the next state legislative session that will begin in January, the first step toward building on our momentum is to identify the issues that matter most to our members.  To that end, we have asked members to complete a survey to help us identify their top concerns, such as:

• Situations in which state laws and/or regulations create impediments to business

• Examples of laws and/or regulations that are necessary but could be improved

• New laws and/or regulations that could improve the industry

Among the issues ABC worked on during the last legislative session were providing veterans with credit toward licensing for their experience while in the military, offering tax credits to encourage the hiring of apprentices and authorizing vocational students to receive on-the-job training.

We also encourage our members to contribute to the ABC Political Action Committee (PAC). With the state elections recently occured, ABC has identified several legislators and legislative candidates from both parties who we believe will fight for our philosophy of fair and open competition in both the construction industry and the larger business community. Helping them get elected or reelected, or supporting them during the coming year, is an important part of our legislative efforts.

Members can contact Rob McGovern, ABC’s director of public affairs, at Rob@abcma.org with any ideas about our chapter’s strategy for the upcoming legislative session.

Thank you in advance for your support.

John Anderson is the 2018 chairman of the Associated Builders and Contractors Inc.-Mass. Chapter, Woburn, Mass. and is the president of  Plumb House Inc., Milford, Mass.