As you probably know, LCCA not only works for you on the labor front thru MARBA but legislatively as well.

We are on the front line to keep the Structural Work Act from being passed again. In case you forgot, this Act was extremely costly and detrimental to our industry. It was when almost any construction worker had the right to sue for damages from General Contractors, Owners, Engineers, Municipalities, other subcontractors and anyone else that could be showed had ANY hand in the injury. These third-party suits go millions beyond Workers Compensation - and could jeopardize your company as well. Other current issues we are working on is the Prompt Payment Act, Employee Classification Act and Prevailing Wage, just to name a few.

At the April Membership Meeting, we will be hosting an auction to raise funds for the LCCPAC. WE NEED YOUR HELP - donate auction items and come and bid! Between now and March 23 we will be collecting items to auction off. Some items will be assigned to a "silent auction" and others to a "live auction" with Ritchie Brothers Auctioneers calling the auction. Some items you might consider are:

- Construction materials - load of concrete, brick, stone. . . whatever
- Golf for three or four at a country club or public course
- Sports memorabilia, sports equipment
- Case of wine, good scotch, whiskey, etc.
- Tickets for Bulls, Bears, Cubs, Sox, etc.
- Use of vacation condo
- Anything else you can think of that would be unique

You know as well as I that there are many special interest groups out there all trying to get the attention and ear of our legislators. It is extremely important in this economic climate that WE have their ear. So mark your calendar to attend the auction April 26th. Be prepared to SPEND, SPEND, SPEND! Remember, Father's Day and Mother's Day is just around the corner. I am sure that there will be something here for that special person, and you'd be helping a great cause. Don't forget to donate as well.

I thank you for your help.

Columbian Agency
1005 Laraway Road
New Lenox, IL 60451
Phone: (815) 485-4100
Fax: (815) 485-2936
ASSOCIATE
Steve Heim, Vice President
Insurance and bond services.
Sponsor: Char Manusos, Manusos General Contracting

Construction Risk Assoc., Inc.
5 Revere Drive, Suite 200
Northbrook, IL 60062
Phone: (847) 498-7351
Fax: (847) 295-9204
ASSOCIATE
Frank Keres, President
Risk management consulting.
Sponsor: Vickie Taylor, Arthur J. Gallagher

Kapur & Associates
6025 S. Pine Street
Burlington, WI 53105
Phone: (262) 767-2747
Fax: (262) 767-2750
ASSOCIATE
Wisconsin and Illinois consulting engineering.
Sponsor: Rick Grabowski, Pickus Construction

LCCA's Annual Trade Show will be held Thursday, March 22, 2007, at Midlane Golf Resort. The hall is filling up with vendors just waiting for you to come by and visit.

Contractor member companies have received two tickets for complimentary registration for the trade show. Non-member contractors will also be invited to attend. All others will be charged $40 per person.

The following companies are scheduled to exhibit:

Anthony Pontiac GMC Buick
Associated Professionals, Inc.
The Blue Book
Boller Construction Co., Inc.
Burris Equipment Co.
CISCO
Construction Risk Associates, Inc.
Corporate Imaging Concepts, Inc.
Dam, Snell & Taveirne, Ltd.
Lance Construction Supplies
Lee Jensen Sales
McCann Industries, Inc.
Metrolift, Inc.
NorStates Bank
Northern Illinois Mack, Inc./Rockford Kenworth
Ogletree, Deakins
Osco Oil
Petersen Excavating, Inc.
Positioning Solutions Company
John Sakash Company Inc.
U.S. Cellular
Waukegan Roofing
Waukegan Steel Sales Inc.
Zeigler Associates, Ltd.

By now you should know that this year's Summer Outing will be a boat cruise on Lake Geneva on Friday, June 22, 2007. Come welcome the first day of summer with your friends at LCCA. Look for all the details later this month!

The April 26, 2007 Membership Meeting brings the LCCPAC Auction. The Auction will raise money to help keep members competitive. 100% of Auction proceeds will go to candidates who support our efforts!

What can you do to help? Donate auction items and come to the auction ready to bid. Donations must have a value in excess of $150. We would like to have all items by March 23.

Bargaining Right Assignment Forms were sent recently to Contractors who employ Operators and Technical Engineers as we get ready to negotiate both contracts this year. Assigning Bargaining Rights is very important to getting a contract we all can live with. By not joining the collective bargaining group, you just strengthen the hand of the unions - and there could be a significant downside for you since the union is under no obligation to give you the same agreement.

Assignment of Bargaining Rights forms must be returned to the LCCA Office no later than March 1. If you did not receive the forms, just call the LCCA Office and we will send you the necessary information. Remember, complete, sign and send the assignment by March 1!

The Operating Engineers Local 150 has asked MARBA to renegotiate the Landscape Agreement that expired December 31, 2006. Notices were sent to Contractor Members in November but no LCCA members elected to assign bargaining rights for the contract negotiations. The primary negotiator for the agreement is the Illinois Landscape Contractors Bargaining Association who have not yet reached an agreement. It is expected that the existing contract will be extended for several months while the parties continue to negotiate.

There has been some confusion regarding payment of wages and fringes for Carpenters in Will County. Unfortunately, the MARBA agreement covering Will County does not have the same wages and fringes as the other counties covered by the agreement. Wages are lower and fringes are higher presenting problems for contractors bringing their carpenters into the county. Currently, the difference is:

	Cook, Lake, DuPage	Will
Journeyman:	$36.52	$36.05
H&W:	7.96	6.85
Pension/Annuity:	5.91	9.81
Training:	.49	.49
International funds:	.06	.06
IAF:	.04	.09
CCSC:	.01
CISCO:	.01
Labor/Management Promotion:	.02	.02
	Dues Deduction-3% of Gross Wages	Same
Total Benefits	14.50	17.32
Total Package	51.02	53.37

Plus, the agreement requires that fringes be paid to the Will County funds rather than the District Council's funds. For the man to get credit for the payments, he must REQUEST a transfer of funds by contacting the District Council.

The Lake County Transportation Alliance has hired a lobbyist to pursue transportation funding for Lake County. His job will be to assist in securing funding for the transportation concerns identified in last year's Transportation Summit. Dave Manning, Manning Consulting Group, will be our voice in Springfield.

We have already seen some success when he identified a bill that would permit certain counties to raise a local gas tax - something that Lake County has never been permitted to do. Cook, DuPage, Kane, even McHenry all have the ability to impose local gas taxes but Lake was excluded from the original bill.

House Bill 224 introduced by Rep. Patricia Linder would permit Kendall, Boon, DeKalb and Grundy to impose a county gas tax with a referendum. We were able to get Lake County added to the bill and if passed will provide a revenue option if other avenues do not provide the transportation relief we need.

The 2007 session of the Illinois General Assembly is well under way and as usual, hundreds of bills are being introduced. Here are a few that might have a significant impact on you. (Our comments are in bold.)

SB 126 - Landscape Transfer Stations Exclusions - Sponsor Sen. Susan Garrett (D-Lake Forest) - This bill would exclude Landscape Transfer Stations from coverage by the Environmental Protection Act. (Sounds like a good bill that will reduce the permit hassles associated with IEPA sites.)

SB 155 - Painting-Drywall-Glazing Licensing Act - Sponsor Sen. Terry Link (D-Vernon Hills) This bill would require painting, drywall and glazing contractors to be licensed. (Currently, only plumbers and roofers need to be licensed in Illinois.)

HB 224 - County Gas Tax Act - Sponsor Rep. Patricia Linder (R-Aurora) - Would permit Lake, Kendall, Boone, DeKalb and Grundy to impose a county gas tax with a Referendum. (See discussion in LCTA article.)

SB 330 - Rental Mechanics Lien Act - Sponsor Sen. Carole Pankau (R-Roselle) - This bill would provide companies who rent equipment or materials used in a construction project with the right to lien the project for non-payment. (This has been submitted for the last several years but has failed to pass.)

SB 232 Local Impact Fees - Sponsor Sen. Chris Lauzen (R-Aurora) - This would permit municipalities to impose impact fees on new developments. (Everybody wants their piece of the pie - and the developer and their customers have been selected to pay!)

SB 633 - Public Building Commission Design-Build - Sponsor Sen. Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) - This bill would authorize the use of Design-Build as a method of delivery of construction project services. (Not sure how close this is to the Design-Build bill we passed a few years ago for CDB.)

SB 1176 - CDB Construction Subcontracts - Sponsor Sen. Terry Link (D-Vernon Hills) - This bill would permit the Capital Development Board to not bid the five subdivisions now required by law if: 1) the Board Requests and receives written approval from the Procurement Policy Board, 2) the successful bid identifies the subcontractors and the proposed cost for each subdivision, and 3) the resulting contract provides that no identified subcontractor may be terminated without the written consent of the CDB. (This will make for some interesting discussion!)

SB 1291 - Gas Tax Increase - Sponsor John Cullerton (D-Chicago) - This would raise the gas tax $.06 per gal - and allocate all the money to local and county road districts. (If this passes, then we would not need the county gas tax increase.)

HB 373 - Contractor Licensing Act - Sponsor Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock) -This bill would require all contractors to be licensed by the State of Illinois. (We have opposed this bill in the past since there is no attempt to ensure quality construction and is a lot of paperwork and fees.)

HB 555 - Contract Indemification Act - Sponsor Rep. Thomas Holbrook (D-Belleville) - Currently it is illegal to have a contract clause to indemnify or hold harmless another person from that person's own negligence. This bill would also prohibit requiring the purchase of an insurance policy to indemnify or hold harmless another person from that person's own negligence.

HB 743 - Contractor Prompt Payment Act - Sponsor Rep. John Fritchey (D-Chicago) - This would require owners to pay within 10 days after approval or 25 days after submission of payment request unless reasons for withholding are documented in writing. Payment will be required for any portion not in dispute.

Subcontractors, whose work has been accepted by the owner or contractor, shall be paid within 10 days or the contractors receipt from the owner of the subcontractors payment. (This is the bill most associations, including LCCA, have agreed to.)

HB 801 & SB 1582 - Capital Investment Accountability Act - Rep. David Miller (D-Dolton) & Sen. Susan Garrett (D-Lake Forest) - This bill would divide the state into districts and create a "District Prioritization Committee" to prepare lists of transportation projects, rank them and send them to another body called the "Statewide Prioritization Committee" that will then be sent to IDOT to serve as the annual project program. (Without more information, this would seem to take the decision making on projects out of IDOT's and the legislature's hands and give to "planning bodies" whoever they may be.)

HB 830 - Mechanics Lien for Breach of Contract - Sponsor Rep. Timothy Schmitz (R-Batavia) - This bill provides that in a breach of contract action (presently only in actions for payment of a claim), a provision in a contract that conditions payment to a contractor or subcontractor conditioned on payment by another party is not a defense.

HB 1252 - County No-Bid Contracts - Sponsor Rep. Patricia Linder (R-Aurora) - This bill would permit all counties (except Cook) to award contracts without advertising or regard to the low bidder if authorized by a two-thirds vote of the County Board. Currently this is only legal "in case of emergency."

The 17th Annual Construction Safety Conference & Expo was buried in snow but the enthusiasm of the attendee was not diminished. LCCA's Safety Committee Members manned the booth, and spoke to many potential members and others looking for safety services. A special thank you to the following Safety Committee Members who took time to help out:

Peter Graham, International Decorators
David Grum, Jos. J. Henderson & Son
Mike Hirvela, Camosy
Scott Johnson, Kelso-Burnett
Tom King, Continental Electrical
Fred Rodheim, Abbott Laboratories
Patrick Sankey, Rasch Construction
Vicky Taylor, Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management

We also are looking forward to a few new members from the show. Your Safety Committee makes great salesmen!

Metrolift, Inc. is pleased to announce the appointment of John Hofmeyer to its staff. John brings over 20 years of rental equipment experience to Metrolift. He returns to Chicago after a two year absence where he served as Area Sales Manager for Aggreko, LLC out of St. Louis.

Women in Construction Week - Women across the country are joining together for the 10th Annual Women In Construction Week sponsored by the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC). You are invited to join them on March 2nd at 5:00 AM at NBC Plaza in Chicago to show your support.

March 4-10, members will promote women in the industry by working with school children through Block Kids, hold construction career days, hands-on workshops, and more. To get involved, visit the Lake/McHenry County Chapter website at www.nawic368.org.