PHCC will participate in a public meeting on Jan. 18 to discuss the WaterSense's (http://www.epa.gov/watersense/index.html) intent to expand the WaterSense Single-Family New Homes Specification (http://watersense.c.goolara.net/Click.aspx?ID=0-24510486-3509). With this modification, which was announced in October 2011, WaterSense hopes to allow homes constructed in multi-family buildings to earn the first national label for water efficiency. Interested contractors also can call in to join the teleconference. Register here (https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/149113946).

The NLRB has postponed (https://www.nlrb.gov/poster) the date by which employers must put up posters that display information about employee rights. The requirement will now take effect on April 30, 2012, rather than Jan. 31. Among other things, the poster informs employees of their rights to start a union. 

Start the New Year off right with some new training courses for yourself and your employees. The PHCC Educational Foundation is offering 20 percent off all courses in the Virtual University for the month of January. The Virtual University, developed in partnership with 360training.com (http://360training.com), contains a variety of online training courses for contractors and technicians in the subject areas of contractor continuing education; environmental topics; and technical, industrial and safety skills. Among the most popular courses are the OSHA 10- and 30-Hour certification courses. Designed for convenience and affordability, these courses (http://phccweb.360training.com/) are available at all times online. Enter the code "20%OFF" at checkout to receive the discount.

As reported previously, President Obama has signed legislation that not only repeals the 3% withholding tax but includes a tax credit of up to $5,600 for hiring veterans who have been looking for work for at least six months and a tax credit of $9,600 for hiring veterans with disabilities. For a detailed description of the tax credits, click here.

Though both political parties want to extend the payroll tax cut, the debate in Congress and the Administration is more around how to pay for it (offsets in the budget). If Congress fails to extend the cut, it will expire on December 31^st of this year and the payroll tax cut will return to 6.2 percent from the temporary 4.2 percent rate. There is also talk on Capitol Hill about reducing the rate to 3.1 percent. Democratic leaders want to pay for an extension by raising taxes on millionaires while Republican leaders have said they would consider extending a freeze on federal salaries to cover the cost. Stay tuned for further developments! 

95 – 0 in the Senate and 422 – 0 in the House….now that’s as good as it gets! Congress passed PHCC-supported legislation to repeal the 3% withholding tax, and also added jobs legislation to encourage companies to hire veterans. The repeal action was supported by a very successful PHCC grassroots letter writing campaign. President Obama has already said he will sign the legislation, so we are now awaiting that final step. Thanks and congratulations to all PHCC members who expressed their opinion on this legislation.