EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced on October 16, 2017 that EPA would end the practice of regulation through litigation to resolve legal challenges to Agency actions and inactions known as “Sue and Settle.” Administrator Pruitt indicated that the “Sue and Settle” process “undermines the fundamental principles of government,” including: “(1) the importance of process, (2) adherence to the rule of law, and (3) the applicability of cooperative federalism.”

On October 10, 2017, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed to repeal the Clean Power Plan for Existing Power Plants. EPA presented the rule to the public as designed to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions from existing utilities. AFS has argued that the rule would hurt U.S. metalcasters with dramatically increased energy costs.

Testifying at the 2017 National Regulatory Fairness Hearing at the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of the National Ombudsman on Aug. 28, Brad Muller, AFS’ Government Affairs Chairman and Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Charlotte Pipe & Foundry Co., urged action on OSHA’s silica rule, and other onerous rulemakings and policies.

Bustos serves on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, as well as the Agriculture Committee.

Call your respective lawmakers offices to obtain email addresses or contact the AFS Washington Office. Please send a copy of your correspondence to ssalmon@afsinc.org

The new overtime rule more than doubled the Fair Labor Standards Act's (FLSA) annual wage threshold for who can qualify for overtime, from $23,660 to $47,476. It was blocked from taking effect last December by a Texas district court order.

The American Foundry Society (AFS) on July 17 submitted comments to Senate Finance Committee Chair Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Committee members concerning federal tax reform.

If implemented in its current form, the new rule would have required employers to submit their OSHA 300 Logs, 301 Incident Reports, and 300A Annual Summaries to OSHA through an online portal that would allow for public access to that information.

On May 15, 2017, AFS submitted comprehensive and detailed recommendations regarding the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) regulations to be considered for “repeal, replacement or modification” in accordance with President Trump’s Executive Order (EO) 13777.

OSHA announced that it will extend the July 1, 2017 filing date for the electronic submission of the OSHA 300A Recordkeeping Form. OSHA’s announcement did not state the expected extent of the delay.