Melissa Barbour, Chapter Executive with SMACNA Long Island, and John Contrubis of NYC SMACNA engaged with Capitol Hill lawmakers during a recent visit to the Washington DC area. Both are Congressional Insiders Club members active on local, state, and national legislative issues.
Barbour discussed with long-time SMACNA and industry champion Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) that centered around several core issues that are important to members, including improving substance abuse care for the construction industry workforce. In addition, the LI and NY State Chapter Executive discussed contract change order reforms and overall infrastructure registered apprenticeship expansion and related workforce and registered apprenticeship expansion challenges.
In addition, Barbour and Contrubis attended political events in DC that SMAC PAC co-hosted at Nats Park for the Nationals/Yankees major league game. Several members of the New York Congressional Delegation participated in these events, including Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), Rep. Nick LaLota (R-NY), and Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-NY).
Meanwhile, in New York City, SMAC PAC supported a major event honoring Rep. Nadia Velazquez (D-NY). The event was attended by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), along with several SMACNA and SMAC PAC representatives, including Jack Bertini from Accurate Specialty Metal Fabricators, John Contrubis, Frank Narciso from Contractor's Sheet Metal, SMAC PAC Chairman Ronald Palmerick (Political Pacesetter) of Accurate Specialty Metal Fabricators, and Chris Weickert of Weickert Industries. These leaders updated the congressional leaders on HVAC and construction industry concerns and information on pending projects in the New York metropolitan area. Topics discussed included school construction and public building retrofit incentives, small business development, infrastructure improvement, and expanding the union apprenticeship programs and skilled workforce.
