For 140 days every two years, lawmakers, their staffs, armies of lobbyists, activists, journalists, and others descend on the Texas Capitol for the regular session of the legislature. What some call lawmaking could just as easily, and perhaps more accurately, be named "bill-killing." That's because, as one insider recently put it to me: "That system is designed to kill things, not pass them." The legislative issue we're watching most closely at Construction Citizen is worker misclassification. The problem, sometimes called "payroll fraud", has been a real scourge in the construction industry. University of Texas researchers recently found that more than 40 percent of the workforce is misclassified and there are now competing visions for how the state might address this.
Reshaping the Construction Industry
Construction might be slow in some parts of the country, but despite Mayor Bloomberg’s restrictions on soft drinks, there is a big gulp on the West Side of Manhattan right now that will change the skyline again.Ground was broken in December on the Hudson Yards project. The “Big Gulp” (my words) mini-city will consist of, according to Business Insider, 16 buildings, one of them taller than the Empire State Building. The development, when fully built and re-zoned, will consist of 25 million square feet of Class A office space, 20,000 housing units, 2 million square feet of hotel space, a 750 seat public school, a million feet of retail and 20 acres of public open space. The first building will be a 1 million square foot office building whose major tenant will be
February 25, 2013
To call Exxon's Project Delta and the Springwoods Village that goes with it "huge" or "massive" or "enormous" would all be understatements. I'm not sure I've seen so many...
February 22, 2013
After talking about it for months, Sen. John Carona filed a bill that he believes will help stop the problem of worker misclassification, also known as payroll fraud.The bill...
February 21, 2013
Just before the December holidays, I had the privilege of touring a job site at which Marek Brothers Systems, working closely with designers from Slovack-Bass, is providing a variety of work on a high-end commercial office remodel. Interestingly, I got to view both finished product and work in progress on the same day, because the job involves work on two separate floors for a banking firm’s corporate offices in Houston’s Williams Tower. The remodel of one floor had been completed, and was already being occupied by executives and staff of the company who ordered the work. Another floor showed how the remodel had looked at a much earlier stage. We were guided by Ron Assad from Marek and Lauren Lucas representing the owner.The interior design of the finished space features light colors and see-through glass walls to allow as much natural light to surround all the workspaces, and to keep the look of the offices open. This is partly to encourage collaborative work, but also makes the environment feel more like a comfortable and beautiful living space
February 20, 2013
We recently interviewed Katrina Kersch, the Acting Executive Director of the Construction Career Collaborative (C3), to better understand the origins and the current status of the overall program.In this video, Katrina tells us that the C3 movement developed out of The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) studies in 2008 and from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics projections that predicted a major shortage of mid-level construction workers in the middle of this decade.
February 19, 2013
The University of Texas study on the construction industry that we've been telling you about is getting attention across the state, from TV reports in Austin and Dallas to a...
February 18, 2013
Google is bringing its “driverless cars” to I-35 this week in a bold move to convince Texas Legislators to look to the future and to consider how we might accommodate “driverless” cars on the roads of Texas.The possibility of “driverless” cars and trucks (they are guided by their GPS and equipment) on the roads of Texas is both scary and exciting. Scary in that we cherish our cars and the way we can drive them. Exciting in that we can reduce deaths on our highways and, faced with a longstanding shortage of funding not only to build new roads, but also maintain the ones we have, this technological change might
February 18, 2013
According to an article in the Washington Post, the uptick in the economy has many highly skilled workers looking for better jobs. These workers may have been frozen in place during the last 4 years when jobs were limited and just having a job was primary, but now with the improvement in the job market, many employers are finding themselves with more voluntary turnover. That means either their key employees are being wooed away or their workers are feeling more confident in their future and are venturing out into the marketplace.The article states: “Experts say the increased interest in jumping ship is driven by a variety of factors, most of which seem to reflect a workforce that has grown weary of the corporate belt-tightening that was commonplace during the recession.
February 15, 2013
One of the trends we've been watching closely at Construction Citizen is the shift in attitudes when it comes to the "college for all" mentality that has dominated public policy in recent decades. Now, a plan in support of that shift is picking up steam at the Texas Legislature. Workforce Commissioner Tom Pauken, who has been sounding the alarm about the need for more skilled workers, says the plan "is clearly going to pass the House. There's a recognition in the importance of multiple pathways to a high school diploma and the value of career and technical education." While Pauken believes the plan will pass the House of Representatives, there may be more of a fight in the Texas Senate. If it passes both houses and Governor Perry signs it, "We're going to be saving a lot of kids who would otherwise drop out of school," Pauken said.
February 14, 2013