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Association & Industry News
The hotel reservation deadline for NRMCA's ConcreteWorks 2018 is Tuesday, September 4. NRMCA has a discounted room rate at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center of $249/night plus taxes and a $22/night resort fee that covers several in-room amenities. Hotel reservations can be made by calling the Gaylord National Resort directly at 877-382-7299, option 4, and asking for the “NRMCA’s ConcreteWorks 2018” rate; however, we encourage you to make your hotel reservations online. The room block is available until Tuesday, September 4, or until the room block sells out, whichever occurs first. The discounted rate cannot be guaranteed after the cut-off date or on a night where the block may be sold out. Click here for more information on hotel and reservation information or contact the NRMCA Meetings Department at meetings@nrmca.org or 888-846-7622, ext. 1135. *The following was posted earlier this month by The Concrete Producer's Editor Bill Palmer. 
Buildings
Lionel Lemay of NRMCA has co-authored a book titled Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment: Reference Building Structure and Strategies published by the American Society of Structural Engineers. The publication serves as a guide for a project team to define and model the structural system within the reference building design as required by green building standards and rating systems. The book is organized in two parts: the first sets terms of reference, including definitions, reference building options and general considerations in reference building design and the second describes specific strategies the structural engineer may employ to reduce life cycle impacts on a project. Whereas whole building life cycle assessment (WBLCA) is a relatively new application of life cycle assessment (LCA), this book aims to guide and encourage structural engineers to take an active and meaningful role in green building development. The book is available from ASCE here. For more information, contact Lionel Lemay at LLemay@nrmca.org or 847-918-7101.
NRMCA is working with the White House to promote workforce development, job training and skills-based education. Last month, President Trump signed an executive order directing his administration to develop a national strategy for creating and promoting workforce development through skills-based training and partnerships with private employers, educational institutions and non-profit organizations like NRMCA. As part of this initiative, the White House is calling on America’s employers to pledge to train and retrain its current and existing workforce through the Pledge to the America’s Workers. Across America, companies like IBM, Walmart, Lockheed Martin, FedEx and Home Depot are signing. NRMCA's Government Affairs Committee will meet on Thursday, September 27, at 11:30 a.m. at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in association with NRMCA’s ConcreteWorks 2018. The minutes of the March 4, 2018 meeting are posted here, the draft agenda is posted here, along with the Antitrust Statement here and the Committee Policy here. The Government Affairs team is soliciting input from the committee in advance of the meeting. Government Affairs Committee members are invited to click here to take a brief survey and provide feedback on the upcoming meeting. For more information, contact Andrew Tyrrell at atyrrell@nrmca.org. 
Government Affairs
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced recently that the Senate would begin confirmation hearings next week on President Trump’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge Brett Kavanaugh. As previously reported in E-NEWS, Judge Kavanaugh has a well-established record of taking a low view of regulatory and administrative action and has a reputation as a deregulation judge. NRMCA strongly supported now-Justice Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation and looks forward to seeing more Supreme Court justices in the mold of the late Justice Antonin Scalia and Justice Gorsuch. The first public meeting of the 2018 farm bill conference committee will be held September 5. NRMCA and coalition partners have worked throughout the formulation and consideration of both the House and Senate farm bills to oppose the inclusion of mass timber building competitions – provisions that would unfairly favor timber in the construction materials marketplace. The Stop the Timber Innovation Act Coalition sent letters to the House and Senate Agriculture Committee chairs and ranking members, and will soon follow with letters to each of the 50-plus members of the conference committee, stressing our opposition to dropping in new language to promote mass timber construction. For more information, contact Andrew Tyrrell at atyrrell@nrmca.org.
SEO
Last week, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) published an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register (FR) asking for comments from stakeholders on four specific Hours of Service (HOS) regulations areas. Specifically, in the form of 25 direct questions, FMCSA is looking for input to potentially make HOS changes to: “the short-haul HOS limit; the HOS exception for adverse driving conditions; the 30-minute rest break provision and the sleeper berth rule to allow drivers to split their required time in the sleeper berth.” The proposal was also accompanied by an announcement that FMCSA will hold listening sessions across the country over the next several weeks to hear from stakeholders in person. NRMCA plans to both attend listening sessions and submit written comments. FMCSA is accepting written comments through Monday, September 24. Click here to review the FMCSA notice. For more information, contact Kevin Walgenbach at kwalgenbach@nrmca.org. Is your company represented at the upcoming National Mixer Driver Championship? This year’s National Mixer Driver Championship brings an even more enhanced sponsorship program. With the continued growth of the event, sponsorship opportunities for members and non-members have been expanded. Please review the new sponsorship program opportunities and circulate them within your company and to any outside vendors you deem appropriate. Enhanced sponsorship opportunities include entertainment and activities, driver spouse appreciation, tenting, DJ, beverage station, course challenges and many more. Click here to review the 2018 sponsorship program. For more information, contact Jacques Jenkins at jjenkins@nrmca.org. 
Pavement
Swederski Concrete Construction, Inc. (SCCI) is no stranger to NRMCA and its many successful parking lot projects through the years. Father Len has been a guest speaker at a number of NRMCA events and now the second generation of Swederski’s is taking the business to new heights: the NRMCA Local Paving Team is happy to announce that Joe Swederski will address the Promotion Committee meeting at NRMCA ConcreteWorks on Thursday, September 27, from 9 to 11 a.m. Swederski will share success best practices that have made SCCI the premiere concrete parking lot contractor in the nation. Attendees will also have time for “Ask Joe” questions on how to do in their regions what SCCI has done in the Upper Midwest. “I encourage everyone to attend this one-time opportunity to meet Joe Swederski, interact and learn from SCCI success. To prepare for the meeting, check out the over 60 YouTube videos for before and after photos of its projects,” said Jon Hansen, NRMCA senior vice president, local paving. For more information contact Jon Hansen at jhansen@nrmca.org. 
November 5 – 9, Silver Spring, MD November 14 – 15, Dallas November 27 – 29, 2018, Orlando, FL November 29, Kansas City, KS December 4 – 6, Silver Spring, MD December 11 – 14, Austin, TX Sold Out 2019 January 8 - 10, Orlando, FL January 15 – 17, Silver Spring, MD January 15 – 18, Tucson, AZ January 22 – 24, Kissimmee, FL February 19 – 22, Charlotte, NC March 19 – 21, Silver Spring, MD Engineering
This month's Concrete International cover story, "Who is Watching Out for the Cylinders?", is available for free to you for use as a resource in training classes and in your technical bulletins or newsletters. The article is authored by NRMCA’s Karthik Obla, Bud Werner (CTL Thompson), John Hausfeld (Baker Concrete), Gregory Moody (Cemex USA), and Nicholas Carino (formerly with NIST). The article lists codes and standards requirements that govern initial curing of concrete cylinders and summarizes benefits that better initial curing offers to the various stakeholders. The article provides suggestions for improving initial curing, including actions on the part of the engineer and the concrete producer. Click here to access and then download the article. If you reprint the article or post on your Web site, notify Rex Donahey and credit ACI, if possible. 
Calendar
*Please note that e-mail and direct links to each event listed below can be accessed from NRMCA's Web site. Summer/Fall, Cheyenne/Casper, WY September 6, Phoenix September 29 – October 1, Metro Washington, DC October 9 – 12, Silver Spring, MD October 16 – 18, Glendora, CA October 17, Las Vegas, NV October 17 – 18, Milwaukee October 23 – 24, Springfield, MA October 30, Okemos, MI |
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