Significant Laws Lobbied

State Law or Regulation

Establishment of the Boiler and Pressure Vessel Board

Prior to this law passed in 2004, MCAI members encountered disparity in the enforcement of boiler installation, repair and inspection regulations with little recourse for appeal. The MCAI and other interested parties drafted legislation creating a civilian board responsible for overseeing the consistent application of regulations by the State Boiler Inspector and the fair review of appeals. Visit the Iowa Boiler and Pressure Vessel Board website for additional information.

Statewide Licensing

In 2007 the MCAI and others successfully passed a statewide licensing law for the plumbing and mechanical industry. Prior to this law, workers possessed numerous licenses for each community in which they worked rather than have one license recognized by all communities.  For example, in the Des Moines area a person could have at least 12 different licenses in order to work in surrounding communities. The overall goal of the law is to enable a tradesperson to have portability throughout the entire state, as well as any states that offer licensing reciprocity. The law is also designed to provide a measure of safety to Iowa’s citizens by establishing basic minimum standards for competency, as well as continuing education. Visit the Iowa Plumbing and Mechanical Systems Licensing Board’s website to learn more.

Indemnification Reform

The practice of requiring parties in a construction contract to indemnify others for actions that are beyond their reasonable control is called “broad form” indemnification. To prevent this, MCAI and other organizations successfully lobbied in 2011 to have this form of indemnification prohibited in private and public construction contracts in Iowa. View a copy of the signed law.

Drug Testing Reform

In 2007 MCAI drafted and passed legislation amending Iowa’s drug testing statute. Prior to this change, if an employer wanted to conduct random drug testing, all employees must be entered into the testing pool. Therefore, contractors signatory to collective bargaining agreements with multiple crafts were often prevented from conducting random testing because one craft may not allow random testing. The new law passed by MCAI makes an exception for employers with collective bargaining agreements that prohibit random testing by allowing them to still randomly test their remaining workforce.

3% Withholding Law Repealed

Ending a 5-year effort by the MCAA, MCAI and other organizations, Congress repealed the 3% withholding tax on November 16, 2011. If the tax had taken effect, it would have required all federal, state and many local governments to withhold 3% from every payment to prime contractors (and perhaps their subcontractors) as a way to ensure "tax compliance." From the beginning, MCAA and MCAI argued that there are ways for the government to ensure tax compliance without penalizing the very businesses who are already tax compliant. MCAA, with the help of several contractor and local association members, worked tirelessly to first delay the tax's implementation and then to convince legislative leaders in both Congressional chambers that the tax was punitive, unfair and would cost far more to administer than it would earn in revenues. The MCAI received special recognition from the MCAA for meeting with Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) on several occasions and convincing him to reexamine the issue that he first introduced.