On the front lines in D.C.

By Tile Roofing Industry Alliance (TRIA). 

From stalled nominations to deregulatory moves, the Tile Roofing Industry Alliance is keeping close watch on the latest updates and speaking up on Capitol Hill. 

As the political landscape in Washington heats up ahead of the 2026 election cycle, the Tile Roofing Industry Alliance (TRIA) is staying firmly in the mix. With seasoned lobbyist Craig Brightup leading its government affairs push, TRIA is tracking major developments that could reshape federal labor policy, environmental regulation and small business classifications. From key Trump-era nominees stuck in a Senate gridlock to proposed rollbacks at the EPA and SBA, TRIA’s latest advocacy update signals a critical moment for contractors and the roofing industry at large. 

DOL regulatory agenda

In mid-August, the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs briefly posted a regulatory agenda for the Dept. of Labor on its website before taking it down.  Agenda items included DOL’s Wage and Hour Division revising Biden-era regulations on what constitutes joint-employers for minimum wage and overtime violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and what determines whether a worker is an independent contractor or employee under the FLSA. The independent contractor test is especially important for construction and in May the Trump DOL directed staff not to enforce the Biden-era regulations.  Regarding OSHA, the agenda indicated the heat rulemaking will continue, and an “OSHA Standards Improvement Project 2025” was listed with no details.             

NLRB preemptive authority and constitutionality

An August memo from the National Labor Relations Board’s Acting General Counsel warned that state laws to adjudicate disputes between workers and businesses are preempted by federal law.  This was done in response to Democrat-run states introducing bills to police labor disputes while the NLRB operates without a quorum.  Also, on August 18, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with SpaceX by upholding judicial orders blocking the NLRB from taking actions against it.   SpaceX is challenging the Constitutionality of the NLRB’s structure.        

EPA to rescind GHG endangerment finding

On July 29, EPA proposed to rescind its 2009 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Endangerment Finding.  Per EPA’s website, the agency never had authority under the Clean Air Act to prescribe standards for GHG emissions.  The attached one-pager explains this important deregulatory action.  

SBA proposes increasing small business size standards

On August 22, the Small Business Administration issued the attached proposal to increase monetary-based small business size standards for 263 industries, but the threshold for roofing contractors (NAICS code 238160) appears to have been kept at $19 million (page 41238). 

Original article source: Tile Roofing Industry Alliance (TRIA)