News

ISSA LARU—Share Your Input With ISSA Advocacy

Welcome to the ISSA Legislative & Regulatory Update, our biweekly roundup of the latest public policy issues impacting the full spectrum of the cleaning industry. This update touches on a new ISSA Advocacy Survey to help guide our positions on important public policy issues that impact your business, opportunities for advocacy engagement at the upcoming ISSA Show North America 2021, a matching opportunity for a limited time with the ISSA Advocacy Fund, and more.

Want to stay informed about critical government affairs impacting the industry? Sign up here to have the ISSA Legislative & Regulatory Update emailed to you every other week!

And be sure to check out the latest installment of our new video series, ISSA Advocacy Cleaning Industry Alert with ISSA Director of Government Affairs John Nothdurft, to learn about the top three advocacy issues impacting the cleaning industry right now, including federal vaccine mandates, PPE fraud, and the 2022 ISSA Clean Advocacy Summit.

ISSA Advocacy

Share Your Supply Chain Input with ISSA
Your responses to the ISSA Advocacy Survey 2021 will help guide our positions on important public policy issues that impact your business and help us advocate on behalf of the full cleaning supply chain, as well as gauge overall member interest in ISSA Government Affairs. The short survey will only take a few minutes to complete. As a thank you for your participation, all survey respondents will be entered to win a free 2022 ISSA Clean Advocacy Summit registration.

Advocacy Opportunities at ISSA Show
ISSA Show North America 2021 offers a myriad of opportunities for you to engage with our Government Affairs Team and learn about the hot-button public policy issues facing your business and the cleaning industry. Advocacy opportunities include: Cleaning Products: A Regulatory Update; What is Going on in Washington? A Legislative and Regulatory Update; an Advocacy Happy Hour with a chance to win a trip to Washington, D.C. for the 2022 ISSA Clean Advocacy Summit; and Industry Leaders Roundtable.

Double Your Impact 
It’s not too late to double your impact and help ISSA strengthen the full cleaning supply chain by contributing to the ISSA Advocacy Fund (IAF). IAF founding supporter, Products Chemical Company LLC, generously agreed to match contributions to the IAF up to US$5,000 now through November 30, 2021. Double your impact—contribute to the IAF today!

ISSA Media Investigates: Global Fraud and Non-Delivery of PPE
The COVID-19 pandemic caused new and unique circumstances that led to demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) outpacing supply very rapidly. The pandemic’s massive and urgent needs caused chaos in supply that forced U.S. importers to quickly identify new sources for PPE. That urgency, combined with restricted travel, necessitated that some companies modify or abandon their normal due diligence processes for vetting new suppliers. And that led to some serious fraudulent activities, as discussed in this latest ISSA Straight Talk with Jeff Cross.

Three ISSA Members Receive EPA SmartWay Award
Georgia-Pacific LLC, parent company of GP PRO; Home Depot Inc., parent company of Home Depot Pro; and Kimberly-Clark Corp., parent company of Kimberly-Clark Professional, are recipients of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2021 SmartWay® Excellence Award. The EPA launched its SmartWay program in 2004 to reduce transportation-related emissions by incentivizing supply-chain fuel efficiency. Twelve shipper and logistics companies received the EPA’s Excellence Award, which honors the best environmental performers of SmartWay’s nearly 4,000 partners.

ISSA Announces 2022 Clean Advocacy Summit
For the second year in a row, ISSA will host its signature advocacy event for industry leaders, the Clean Advocacy Summit, March 30-31, 2022. This annual “fly-in” will play an integral part in National Cleaning Week. Save the dates to “Hike the Hill” with your cleaning industry colleagues!

Legislative

Biden’s Social-Climate Framework Fails to Ease Passage of Infrastructure Bill
The White House released a US$1.75 trillion social- and climate-spending framework, but the plan fell short of convincing some lawmakers to quickly approve a parallel infrastructure bill, CNBC reports. The plan also includes a 15% minimum tax on profitable corporations, higher taxes on U.S. companies’ foreign income, and money to increase the U.S. Internal Revenue Service enforcement staff. A 1% excise tax on corporate stock buybacks is part of the plan as well.

Surface Transportation Bill Heads to President’s Desk
A bill to extend federal highway and transit programs through December 3 of this year was headed to U.S. President Joe Biden’s desk as a long-term reauthorization remains tied up in negotiations over Democrats’ broader agenda, according to Bloomberg Government.

Appropriations Bills Would Increase Environmental Funding by $6 Billion
An appropriations bill unveiled by U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) would increase funding for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by US$1.3 billion compared to fiscal 2021, for a total of $10.54 billion, The Hill reports.

Senate Confirms Biden’s OSHA Nominee
The U.S. Senate voted 50-41 to confirm U.S. President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Douglas Parker, most recently chief of California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, was confirmed to be the Assistant Secretary of Labor at the U.S. Department of Labor, which makes him the leader of the workplace safety agency that has about 1,800 employees, according to Government Executive.

Regulatory

OSHA to States: Protect Workers from COVID-19 or Forfeit Authority
In a rare move, U.S. Department of Labor officials threatened to take over the workplace safety programs in three states—Arizona, South Carolina, and Utah—because officials in those states failed to adopt emergency COVID-19 rules to protect health care workers, The Pew Charitable Trusts reports.

Nineteen States File Lawsuits against Vaccine Mandates for Federal Contractors
Cleaning crews working federally contracted jobs are among the workers that will be affected by the outcome of lawsuits against the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Nineteen states filed lawsuits in four federal courts challenging the mandate for federal contractors, according to Cleaning & Maintenance Management. Attorneys general from Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming signed on to one lawsuit. Another group of states, including Georgia, Alabama, Idaho, Kansas, South Carolina, Utah, and West Virginia, filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Georgia. Texas and Florida also filed two separate lawsuits.

EEOC Issues Vaccine Religious Exemption Guidance
There are no “magic words” employees have to say when requesting a religious accommodation with respect to COVID-19 vaccine mandates and employers should assume these requests are based on sincerely held religious beliefs, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) says in recent guidance and Business Insurance reports. But workers “do need to notify the employer that there is a conflict between their sincerely held religious belief and the employer’s COVID-19 vaccination requirement,” the guidance says.

What to Do If Denied PPP Loan Forgiveness
If you were denied all or part of the money on your Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness application, your appeal must be timely. You have 30 days to appeal, according to Small Business Trends. The clock starts when you receive a relevant written notification from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

DOL Recovers More than $700,000 in Wages for BSC Workers
After reviewing a contract with a building services contractor (BSC) maintaining a federal building, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) discovered that this BSC failed to fully pay and provide benefits to 14 workers. The DOL’s Wage and Hours Division recovered US$783,616 in wages and benefits for the workers and their union following litigation, Cleaning & Maintenance Management reports.

State News

DeSantis to Convene Legislature to Fight COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that he will call state lawmakers back to work early to pass legislation to combat coronavirus vaccine mandates enacted by businesses, AP reports.

To Battle Congestion, California Seeks Private, Public Land for Container Storage
California Governor Gavin Newsom is directing state agencies to work on both short- and long-term ideas that could ease supply chain congestion, according to a nine-point executive order and Supply Chain Dive.