The creations shared in "my Sicilian kitchen" have been prepared by members of the Bilo family for generations, and now are passed on to you and your family. Buon Appetito."-Linda Bilo-Brechtel

For Valentine's Day 2013 King Jewelers is offering special savings on an exclusive selection of fine jewelry, watches, diamond studs, diamond pendants and fashion accessories that is sure to make locating the ideal Valentine's Day gift stress free.

Be A Doll, known for their personalized action figures, has developed a new product "Be A Bust". Submit 2 photos of your loved ones and get a 4 inch likeness of their head and shoulders, mounted on a stained wood base of your choice.

Red Horse Signs the leader in custom vintage signs launches newly redesigned eCommerce website at www.redhorsesigns.com. Also announced is their selection of over 300 customiuzable signs and free shipping on orders over $250.

Holiday Inn Express & Suites N-Atlanta Perimeter Mall hotel offers convenient lodging to guests attending the American Craft Council Show at Cobb Galleria Centre from March 15-17, 2013.

Uniwatches launch their official YouTube channel with video reviews of timepieces and expand their collection of Nixon and Hugo Boss watches.

In partnership with APW Asset Management, McTear's announced that more than 10,000 bottles of New World's finest wines will go under the hammer in Glasgow. The sale has attracted considerable interest from collectors from across the globe.

After last year's popular Nashville Diamond Week, King Jewelers has opted to dedicate the entire month of April to diamonds and diamond jewelry. Nashville clients can benefit from discounts, gift card offers and a chance to win a special gift package

GoldMax USA announces the grand opening of two new stores in Murrieta, California at 40790 California Oaks Road, Suite B and C and 39209 Winchester Road, Suite 102.

A wide variety of brand-new coupon codes and discounts is now available at e-coupons.vn for customers to enjoy.

According to Pratt Institute's website, Industrial Design students have been assigned to make those "Isolation Chairs" from last month…

"Isolation Chairs" made by students in Industrial Design Studio II (via @PrattInstitute/Instagram)

…but apparently not everyone's thrilled with the curriculum. The Daily News reports that a group of undergraduate Pratt Institute students have brought a lawsuit against the school, demanding a tuition refund in the face of inadequate online instruction.

"The online learning options being offered to Pratt students are subpar in practically every aspect, from the lack of facilities, materials and access to faculty," a lawyer for the students wrote in the suit. "Students have been deprived of the opportunity for collaborative learning and in-person dialogue, feedback and critique."

…The Pratt Institute lawsuit argued that the university's design focus makes remote, online learning even less feasible for students.

I can't imagine how one would go about teaching Industrial Design from afar. If you're an ID student, whether at Pratt or elsewhere, please drop us a line in the comments--I'm intensely curious to hear how your online classes are going.

For tradespeople, farmers and others who frequently need to cover and uncover their shoes (to protect interior surfaces from mud or worse), disposable booties are an unsustainable solution. They're also a pain to take on and off. This reusable and automatically-wrapping design seems much better:

I've been searching for something like this for a long time. On our free-range farm, I inevitably step in the shit of some animal on a daily basis, and pulling my boots off and on every time I need to go back inside to retrieve something gets old.

However, these wouldn't 100% work for my application. While getting them on looks easy, getting them off requires a fair amount of manual manipulation…

…meaning every time I removed these, I'd wind up with animal feces on my hands.

Question for you: How do you reckon these work? I figure inside the fabric is a polypropylene sheet molded into a sprung shape, with raised tunnel-like seams serving as hinges, and when you collapse the tunnels by stepping on them, the spring action is released. [Edit: I believe reader Kyle Lamson has figured it out. See his comment below.]

(Lastly, I was not able to find what company or designer invented these. There are tons of variants on the market. It's possible they were invented by a fellow named Joel Fersaci, whose Step in Sock model is featured in the video above.)

Pandemic-time party pioneers in Germany have been holding social-distance-obeying drive-in raves. The cars line up in rows and no one gets out of the cars, so presumably your dancing is limited to whatever you can pull off in a seated position. Also, since all cars have built-in noisemakers, attendees aren't shy about using them.

I'm sure it was fun for the people who went, but between the honking, the flames and whatever that music is, it looks and sounds like a living hell to me. But I recognize I'm not the target market, and I hope this helps attendees blow off steam.

Climbing coconut and arecanut trees to harvest their prizes is strenuous, dangerous work, and requires a young body. But in Dakshina Kannada, India, "there is a substantial migration of well-educated youngsters to the cities for white collar jobs," K. Ganapathi Bhat told India's The News Minute. "There is a huge scarcity of employment in labour-intensive sectors like agriculture, especially those skilled in climbing trees."

"Having been born in a family with an agricultural background, it was painful to see the ripe coconut and arecanut either eaten by birds or falling across the fields," Bhat says. At 60 years of age, he's too old to climb the trees himself. But unlike most farmers, he has a Bachelors of Science in Physics, Chemistry and Maths. Thus he cobbled this together:

The bike-based contraption runs on gas, using what appears to be a chainsaw motor. After testing it out for two years on roughly 2,000 arecanut trees on his own farm, Bhat reckons the "mileage" is 90 trees per liter of gas (360 trees/gallon), and that the machine can carry an 80kg (175-pound) person to the top of a 30-meter (98-foot) tree in 30 seconds--safely. If the brakes fail, a backup brake kicks in to jam the wheels in place. As long as your tree isn't mushy and algae-covered (he tested those, too, and found the performance unsatisfactory), you're in business.

Here's more footage of the machine in action, including Bhat jumping up and down on it, to demonstrate that it safely stays in place:

Although he's been approached by several manufacturers, Bhat has turned them down, as he's not interested in profit. "I wish to partner with an organisation that would help me share the technology with the farmers to benefit them," he says. "I do not wish to seek royalties for such a venture. But I want to make sure that this product reaches as many farmers as possible, so that, in some way, it helps in the development of the overall agricultural scenario of the country."

Dave M. Finklang, CPA/CGMA, MBA, tax partner at Anders, has been named a Best Accountant in St. Louis by Small Business Monthly (SBM). Each month, SBM polls readers and asks them to help identify the best in the region in… Read More

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Accounting is an extremely competitive industry, especially for those fresh out of college. Accounting firms are always trying to recruit the best up and coming accountants to grow their staff. Accounting graduates may have certain firms that they are interested… Read More

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Giving back is part of our social responsibility and corporate culture at Anders, and we proudly support local charitable, civic, community and trade organizations. The Anders Community Impact Report takes an in-depth look at our commitment, connections and involvement in… Read More

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The Missouri Department of Revenue has announced the 2019 individual income tax year changes, effective for the tax year beginning January 1, 2019, which will be reflected on 2019 Missouri individual income tax returns.
Income Tax Brackets
The income tax… Read More

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• The storied investment bank is seeing leadership shakeups under CEO David Solomon and a slew of partner departures. 
• Goldman has been moving away from high-risk businesses like trading and is making pushes into more stable areas like consumer lending, wealth management, and transaction banking. 
• There have been big cultural changes, too. Solomon is looking to create a more transparent workplace, while new tech execs are taking cues from Silicon Valley heavy-hitters. 
• At Business Insider, we are closely tracking the latest developments at Goldman. You can read all of our Goldman coverage on BI Prime.

Storied Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs is going through some massive changes under CEO David Solomon.

It's taken big steps involving transparency and inclusion to change up its culture. It has seen a slew of partner departures — many in the securities division. And it's making big pushes into businesses like wealth management and transaction banking.  

The latest people moves

• Goldman Sachs just hired Kurt Hoffman, an expert in distressed situations and bankruptcy, to join a trading unit known for some of the bank's most lucrative deals
• Goldman Sachs' top tech exec explains how a fresh slew of senior hires are transforming the bank's approach to building products
• Read the full memo Goldman Sachs just sent naming 4 execs to lead its private-equity investments across the merchant-banking division

Culture and talent

• Read the full memo Goldman Sachs just sent to staff announcing its new head of regulatory affairs. The former White House counsel will be tasked with helping clean up the bank's 1MDB drama.
• Goldman Sachs just hired 2 senior recruiting execs focused on luring top talent from other firms —and it's a huge departure from the firm's traditional promote-from-within mentality
• Read the full memo David Solomon just sent to 38,000 Goldman Sachs employees explaining why he's moving his management team out of stuffy offices and into open seating
• Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon and his management team are ditching their stuffy offices and moving to an open floor plan closer to the people so they can feel the buzz of New York headquarters
• Goldman Sachs just unveiled a new gender pronouns initiative as part of a broader inclusion push at the Wall Street firm
• Read the memo Goldman Sachs just sent to its employees unveiling a new pronouns initiative

Coronavirus response

• Inside a 38,000-person remote work rollout at Goldman Sachs: sleepless nights, assembly lines, and an Amazon-like hub on a Manhattan trading floor
• How a massive New York hospital secured 130,000 N95 masks from China with help from a senior partner at Goldman Sachs, private jets, and a call to Warren Buffett
• Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon just sent a firm-wide voicemail about the coronavirus crisis. Here's what he told employees.
• Goldman Sachs and Bank of America just updated their WFH policies — again. Here's what they're telling employees about the latest steps aimed at combating the spread of coronavirus.
• Read the full memo Goldman Sachs top brass just sent detailing the firm's coronavirus contingency plans, including separating employees into 'blue' and 'white' teams to alternate working from the office and home

Consumer push, transaction banking, wealth management

• Goldman Sachs just announced its first partnership for transaction banking as it looks to build a new $1 billion business moving money around the world
• Goldman Sachs is sending much less mail to potential Marcus customers. A senior exec lays out the reason why.
• A Goldman Sachs exec explains why the bank isn't sweating concerns over the Apple Card's profitability
• A Wall Street firm crunched the numbers around how much Apple will make from its new credit card with Goldman Sachs
• Here's why Goldman Sachs just did its biggest deal in nearly 20 years as part of a pivot to less wealthy clients
• Goldman Sachs execs are opening up about their plans for Marcus, and they think it can do to banking what iTunes did to the music industry
• Goldman Sachs' partnership with Apple could move it a step closer to being 'a bank branch in your pocket'
• Human resources is the next battleground for Wall Street wealth advisers as Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs jockey over new turf
• Goldman Sachs has a novel method for predicting the next economic slump, and it's at the heart of its hot new business

Technology

• JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs are finally beginning to embrace fintech startups. Here's how they test the waters before committing to working with them.
• We talked to the execs behind Bloomberg's new data partnership with Goldman Sachs. Here's why they think it's a sign of Wall Street's future.
• Goldman Sachs is putting its own Marquee app on Amazon's cloud in a pitch to lure more fintech developers
• Goldman Sachs is embracing open-source code and its chief data officer says it's part of a "new world" of software
• Read the memo the new Goldman tech chief sent to the firm's 9,000-plus engineers where he urges them to ditch presentations in favor of Amazon's famous narratives
• A new Goldman Sachs tech exec hired from Amazon is taking a page from the Jeff Bezos playbook by urging engineers to ditch PowerPoint and write memos
• Goldman Sachs' new CTO shares his strategy for attracting outside developers to work more closely with the bank, giving a glimpse into the future of how Wall Street will work
• A Verizon executive is joining Goldman Sachs as chief technology officer as the Wall Street bank reshuffles its ranks
• Marty Chavez is retiring from Goldman Sachs. We chatted with him about the bank's tech transformation, why now is the right time for him to step down, and what he's planning next.
• Goldman Sachs tech guru Marty Chavez is retiring from the bank
• Goldman Sachs' CEO just warned that the bank's big tech bets might not pay off as quickly as people hope
• Goldman Sachs is scrapping a homegrown email app it once touted — and it's a sign the bank is moving away from building tech in house
• Goldman Sachs is exploring plans to create a Netflix for data, and it marks a new frontier for Wall Street
• Goldman Sachs' internal idea factory hatched a plan for the Google of Wall Street, and it's now looking for the next big thing to disrupt the bank
• Goldman Sachs' big bet on the future of Wall Street had a rocky start. Here's the inside story of the bank's struggle to grow its next business and an exclusive look at its plans

Trading

• Bank of America is shaking up its global markets division and poached a Goldman Sachs exec to fill a key new role
• Goldman Sachs' massive quant business now rivals AQR and Two Sigma. We talked to the bank's top quant about asset growth, finding data sources, and why critics of computerized trading are wrong.
• Goldman Sachs' CEO tells us the bank is winning over quant clients. That helped it outpace rivals like JPMorgan last quarter.
• Goldman Sachs is cutting about 5% of sales and trading staff after senior equities leaders delivered a tough town-hall talk
• Goldman Sachs is moving away from a tool championed by its former CFO as it pushes its traders to see clients where they once saw quick wins
• Goldman Sachs is shuffling its top stock trading executives as the business tries to claw back market share from Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan
• Goldman Sachs's bond trading unit is still trying to find its way — and it represents a key challenge for new CEO David Solomon

Alternatives

• Read the full memo Goldman Sachs just sent naming 4 execs to lead its private-equity investments across the merchant-banking division
• Goldman Sachs is making targeted hires for a 'storefront' for alternative investments that's modeled after firms like KKR and Blackstone
• Goldman Sachs' push into private equity is ruffling feathers at Blackstone — and it might be a sign of big client skirmishes to come
• Goldman Sachs execs are jockeying for control of the firm's lucrative private investing units after a plan to merge it — and the stakes couldn't be higher
• Meet the Goldman Sachs execs tasked with building the firms' new Blackstone-esque private-investing unit — and pumping up the bank's flagging stock price
• 'It's good to be Rich': Meet the Goldman Sachs banker who has built a private investing empire that goes head-to-head with Blackstone — and you've probably never heard of him
• Goldman Sachs is considering a shakeup of its alternative investing units as part of a plan to simplify the bank's strategy

Deals

• Goldman Sachs is assembling a team of senior bankers focused on middle-market private equity. Here are the key hires and the playbook they'll use to land new clients.
• Goldman Sachs unloaded some of its WeWork shares before its investment bankers pitched investors on what it once considered a $60 billion-plus IPO
• Goldman Sachs just revealed it sold part of its Uber stake to SoftBank and it helped boost a $4.5 billion business
• A senior Goldman Sachs fintech banker was about to join JPMorgan — but then got lured back —and it's another sign of the fierce battle for M&A talent
• Goldman just promoted a star tech banker close to Tesla and Microsoft to co-head one of its most profitable businesses, as incoming CEO Solomon makes his mark
• Goldman Sachs just announced a shakeup of its leadership — and it signals the rise of bankers over traders
• A tug-of-war between Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan over a top banker highlights Wall Street's $1 trillion battleground

Investor day 2020

• Inside Goldman Sachs' first investor day, where avocado toast and crab apples were served with tech talk, 3-year plans, and a surprising trading mea culpa
• Goldman Sachs just revealed a new wealth brand at its first-ever investor day. It shows how the bank is trying to reshape its strategy — and image.
• Goldman Sachs just unveiled hundreds of slides laying out the future of the company. Here are the 10 crucial slides that show how it plans to transform into a bank for everyone.
• Goldman Sachs is rethinking how it makes private-equity bets with its own money – and one analyst thinks that shift will be a big driver of its stock price

Careers 

• Goldman Sachs is now hiring high-school graduates for roles in Salt Lake City, one of the company's 'high value' locations
• Goldman Sachs has lost at least 54 partners since David Solomon became CEO. We're keeping a running list — and compiling details from insiders about how the exits are being celebrated.
• Read the full memo Goldman Sachs' top brass just sent to staff announcing 2 heads of the bank's private-investing arm are out as it's gearing up to raise billions
• 2 coheads of Goldman Sachs' private-investing business are retiring, in a blow to David Solomon's fundraising plans
• A Goldman Sachs partner who just resigned is leaving behind a job overseeing $2 billion for a London VC with a leading stake in neobank Revolut
• Read the memo announcing the departure of Adam Korn, the Goldman Sachs exec who was 'instrumental in building and championing' innovations like the bank's Marquee platform
• Another Goldman Sachs partner is out. HR chief Dane Holmes is the latest key player to leave the Wall Street bank in a matter of days.
• Goldman Sachs is offering buyouts to encourage partners to leave as CEO David Solomon works to shrink one of the most elite clubs on Wall Street
• Goldman Sachs is making renewable energy a big priority based on its hiring strategy. It's a sign that its ideas incubator is working.
• The David Solomon era at Goldman Sachs kicked off with 43 words Lloyd Blankfein would never say
• Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon shares his best leadership advice
• Goldman Sachs is shaking up the way it stocks one of the most elite clubs on Wall Street — and it shows how banks are back to making money again
• Goldman Sachs' 1MDB problems are eating into employee morale, and insiders worry the firm will use its legal woes as an excuse to scrimp on bonuses
• Goldman Sachs is about to move dozens of jobs out of pricey New York to Utah as Wall Street turns to cheaper cities

NOW WATCH: Why electric planes haven't taken off yet

See Also:

• Goldman Sachs just hired Kurt Hoffman, an expert in distressed situations and bankruptcy, to join a trading unit known for some of the bank's most lucrative deals
• With retailers like J. Crew and Neiman Marcus floundering, top restructuring bankers are seeing a surge in work. Here's how firms like Lazard, Evercore, and Moelis are staffing up.
• A startup that uses AI to scan Wall Street chats is flagging more people for cursing and complaining — and it could be a sign of bigger compliance issues while people work from home

AP Photo/John Minchillo

• The Ohio State University will pay $40.9 million to settle lawsuits brought by 162 men who allege a former university team doctor sexually abused them.
• An independent investigation in 2019 found that Dr. Richard Staruss sexually abused at least 177 students during his tenure from 1979 to 1997.
• The investigation found that OSU personnel had knowledge of allegations against Strauss and repeatedly failed to act.
• Strauss died by suicide in California in 2005.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The Ohio State University announced on Friday it will pay out $40.9 million as part of a settlement of a combined series of lawsuits brought on by 162 men who said a team doctor who worked at the university for nearly two decades sexually abused them.

"The university of decades ago failed these individuals — our students, alumni and members of the Buckeye community," university President Michael V. Drake said in a statement. "Nothing can undo the wrongs of the past, but we must do what we can today to work toward restorative justice."

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

NOW WATCH: Inside London during COVID-19 lockdown

See Also:

• The best Showtime TV shows of the last decade — and the worst
• Online learning is growing faster than ever — we compared 4 of the top platforms leading the way
• 37 perfect graduation gifts for her — as recommended by a recent college graduate

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

• The federal government on Saturday announced initial plans for distributing a promising coronavirus drug, remdesivir.
• The drug, manufactured by Gilead Sciences, was authorized for emergency use last week, but doctors and hospitals weren't sure how they were going to get it.
• The Department of Health and Human Services now say the drug is first being distributed to health departments in some hard-hit states, and the departments can distribute it to hospitals as they see fit. 
• Eventually, HHS expects the drug to be delivered to all 50 states, terrorities, the Veterans Health Administration and the Indian Health Service. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The federal government released its initial distribution plans today for the promising coronavirus drug, remdesivir, which was approved for emergency use last week. 

The drug, donated by manufacturer Gilead Sciences, "will be used to treat hospitalized COVID-19 patients in areas of the country hardest hit by the pandemic," the US Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) said in a press release.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

NOW WATCH: How the Navy's largest hospital ship can help with the coronavirus

See Also:

• The coronavirus drug remdesivir was OK'd for emergency use a week ago. The plan to get it to patients is still mired in confusion.
• Dispensed: Hospitals are stuck waiting for a promising coronavirus treatment
• 'It's hard to pay off your medical school loans in this kind of a job': Doctors who can protect the world against pandemics are in short supply

NECA is excited to announce the launch of the NECA Educational Advancement Resource Network (EARN), an initiative designed to facilitate relationships and learning between individuals in electrical construction firms and institutions of higher education.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) today announced an interim enforcement response plan for the coronavirus pandemic. The response plan provides instructions and guidance to OSHA Area Offices and compliance safety and health officers (CSHOs) for handling coronavirus-related complaints, referrals, and severe illness reports.

To fill a void of relevant benchmarking data, Anders and our accounting association, the Leading Edge Alliance (LEA), have launched the third annual National Manufacturing Outlook Survey, and we are requesting participation. Created specifically for privately-held manufacturers, this is the… Read More

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More manufacturers may be exempt from the Uniform Capitalization (UNICAP) rules following tax reform. The UNICAP rules from Code Section 263A generally require that certain direct and indirect costs associated with real or tangible personal property manufactured by a business… Read More

The post Tax Reform for Manufacturers: UNICAP Exemption Changes appeared first on Anders CPAs.

Many not-for-profits organizations have been concerned about the taxability of parking and transportation benefits as a result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Fortunately, Congress recently moved to repeal the dreaded “parking tax” on fringe benefits, such as free… Read More

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Reporter Andrew Leland has always loved to read. An early love of books in childhood eventually led to a job in publishing with McSweeney’s where Andrew edited essays and interviews, laid out articles, and was trained to take as much care with the look and feel of the words as he did with the expression of the ideas in the text. But as much as Andrew loves print, he has a condition that will eventually change his relationship to it pretty radically. He’s going blind. And this fact has made him deeply curious about how blind people experience literature and the long history of designing a tactile language that sometimes suffered from trying to be too universal.

The Universal Page

Before 1992, the easiest way to run the time off the clock in a soccer game was just to pass the ball to the goalkeeper, who could pick the ball up, and hold it for a few seconds before throwing it back into play. This was considered by some to be unsportsmanlike and bad for spectators. So in 1992, the International Football Association Board, the committee in charge of determining the rules of soccer, made a minor change to the laws of the game. From that season forward, in every league throughout the world, when a player passed the ball back to the goalkeeper, the goalkeeper could no longer use their hands. The backpass law didn’t seem like a huge change at the time, but it fundamentally changed soccer.

Unsure Footing

The long-awaited return of Smart Stuff with Justin and Roman, featuring Justin McElroy and Roman Mars.

Make your mark. Go to radiotopia.fm to donate today.

Everyone should listen to My Brother, My Brother, and Me on the Max Fun Network.

99% Invisible producer Katie Mingle had already been working on a series about unhoused people in the Bay Area for over a year when the current pandemic began to unfold. Suddenly, this vulnerable demographic was cast into the spotlight due to the virulent spread of COVID-19. It is clear from the data that this virus is hitting black and poor communities the hardest. COVID-19 has made American society’s racial and wealth inequities even more obvious. The disease is most dangerous to older and immunocompromised people, two groups to which those experiencing homelessness disproportionately belong.

Plus, hotels have long been used as crucial infrastructure during disasters. Now they’re being used to help fight the pandemic.

Unsheltered in Place

The St. Louis County Small Business Relief Program, (SBR), slated to award $17.5 million to small businesses, was recently announced by County Executive Sam Page. The grants make up about 10% of the $173.5 million in federal relief funds the county received from the CARES Act. The program will provide financial relief to small businesses...

The post $17.5 Million in Grants Available for St. Louis County Small Businesses appeared first on Anders CPA.

On April 30, 2020, the IRS issued guidance to change one of the key benefits related to the tax treatment of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan program. This benefit is that loan proceeds which are forgiven under the program are nontaxable income to the business. With other types of loans, loan forgiveness results in taxable...

The post IRS Provides Guidance on Expenses Funded by PPP Loan Proceeds appeared first on Anders CPA.

Some small business owners are finding themselves in yet another predicament as they try find new ways to keep their businesses open and comply with Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness – workers are taking unemployment over returning to work. In some cases, employers are offering to match or even exceed the unemployment amounts to...

The post Businesses Get a Break on Employees Taking Unemployment Over Returning to Work appeared first on Anders CPA.

What does returning to business look like in a post COVID-19 world? Join us on Thursday, May 14 at 10:00am CDT for a webinar discussing the state of the world after we reach the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. You’ll learn about: Economic impact from COVID-19 Best practices for moving your business forward How to...

The post WEBINAR – The Great Viral Recession: Light at the End of the Tunnel? appeared first on Anders CPA.

Funding for the federal government runs out in 28 days.

The 2020 Presidential election is in 361 days.

Funding for the federal government runs out in 21 days.

The 2020 Presidential election is in 354 days.

On November 25, 2019, members of NECA’s Penn-Del-Jersey Chapter met with Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.). The group discussed small business issues, composite plans, and the importance of infrastructure investment. Pictured from left to right are PDJ Chapter’s Aaron Kelley, Dan Hahn of Furness Electric, Christine Meyer of Battaglia Electric, Rep. Blunt Rochester, and PDJ Chapter Executive Jeff Scarpello. 

1. Multiemployer Pension Reform Update

Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), Chairmen of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee and the Senate Finance Committee, respectively, published a white paper on November 20 with their initial proposals for solving the crisis and challenges facing the multiemployer pension system. This document is the first proposal of weight coming from Republican Senate leaders but is not a legislative text, or a declared bill. The white paper is intended to begin a more in-depth discussion on potential fixes and should be understood as the starting point of negotiations.

NECA’s Look Ahead: NECA will submit comments and continue working with Members of Congress and meeting with congressional leaders and staff on this matter before final legislation is introduced to make sure the industry’s needs are met. While the white paper includes composite plan design and other beneficial aspects, there are revisions that should ultimately be made. To that end, NECA will focus its advocacy on the following topics:

• Maintaining Responsible Employer Premiums
• Limiting the Damages of Withdrawal Liability
• Passing Innovative Composite Plan Design

As this is the initial proposal in a multifaceted negotiation, we continue to urge restraint from our membership. Your government affairs team will tirelessly work on your behalf to represent your companies and our industry to insure we achieve a positive result.

More information can be found here

2. 2020 Legislative Conference Dates Announced

The NECA 2020 National Legislative Conference will be held April 27-30, 2020 in Washington, DC.

NECA’s Look Ahead: NECA looks forward to welcoming our contractors to the nation’s capital for another year of advocating for our industry.

3. Take Action on Nuclear Powers America Act

Tell Congress to support the bipartisan Nuclear Powers America Act (H.R. 2314/S. 1134). This legislation will help NECA contractors by extending the ITC to include nuclear work by creating a 30 percent tax credit for refueling costs and qualified nuclear power plant capital expenditures for each taxable year through 2023. Thereafter, the credit rate would be reduced until it reached 10 percent in 2026. Nuclear power accounts for 20% of the nation’s electrical supply, produces more than 60% of the emissions-free generation in America, supporting 475,000 jobs.

NECA’s Look Ahead: Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Ill.) introduced the NECA-supported bipartisan Nuclear Powers America Act (H.R.2314 / S.1134). NECA has long advocated for a diverse portfolio of energy sources especially, clean and renewable energy sources such as nuclear power.

Funding for the federal government runs out in 14 days.

The 2020 Presidential election is in 347 days.