February 2021 Vol. 76 No. 2
Features
Convention Preview: PCCA Maintains Essential Work During 2020
By Mike Ancell, Contributing Editor
In the strange year that was 2020, PCCA and its members continued their essential work of delivering broadband and power to American homes and businesses throughout the country.
The association held a very successful annual convention in the Bahamas prior to the pandemic and a safe, socially distanced Mid-Year Meeting in Nashville, in September.
PCCA’s government relations efforts were at full throttle all year, as COVID underscored the need for high-speed broadband service to keep Americans connected, and created a variety of new and important challenges for businesses in our industry.
The association’s ongoing workforce development efforts received a big boost in 2020 from a Department of Labor grant
to provide funding to design curricula and deliver training to develop qualified applicants for jobs nationwide.
At the 2020 PCCA Convention, some 370 association members and families celebrated 75 years of serving the power and communications construction industry, worked on government relations and workforce issues, and raised more than $180,000 for Bahamian communities ravaged by Hurricane Dorian in 2019 and $30,000 for the family of a member employee’s family who was struck and killed by a motorist in a work zone last year.
They also attended the PCCA Leadership Development Program and other topical educational sessions, welcomed Ron Tagliapietra into the PCCA Hall of Fame, honored the 2020 PCCA scholarship recipients, welcomed incoming Chairman John Fluharty, Mears Group, and
honored outgoing Chairman David Aubrey, Okay Construction, with the PCCA Distinguished Service Award.
In a strong show of support for American businesses during these difficult times, 120 PCCA members traveled to Nashville, Tenn., in late September for the association’s 2020 Mid-Year Meeting. Members conducted important association business, heard from informative speakers, participated in PCCA’s Construction Industry Roundtable, and enjoyed the great city of Nashville. They also joyfully visited with friends and colleagues and appreciated the satisfaction of working side-by-side toward common goals. And the whole time they supported businesses that have been hit especially hard by the pandemic.
On the decision to hold the Mid-Year, PCCA President & CEO Tim Wagner said, “Good people that I’ve worked with throughout my 30-year career in the meeting industry are just gone. These were folks that I counted on and leaned on to help produce top-notch PCCA Conventions and Mid-Year Meetings. That’s why holding this meeting live was so important to me – to show support not only for our association, but for the fine people in the hospitality industry in Nashville who desperately need our business and our support.”
Strong voice in Washington
As the coronavirus spread across the country, the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) provided guidance intended to help state and local officials decide which industry sectors should continue normal operations during this crisis. On March 20, PCCA sent a letter to CISA urging it to include those who work on broadband and power systems on any and all lists of “essential” workers maintained by CISA or any federal/state entity.
To ensure that PCCA associate members were included in this effort, the letter stated that “as the federal government continues to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, it’s important to recognize all facets of the construction industry, including contractors, manufacturers, and all service providers who collectively assure broadband and electric services are included on the list of essential services.” These efforts proved successful, as the vast majority of utility construction workers were included in the second version of the CISA guidance, and references to the importance of broadband work was rampant throughout the guidance.
In March, PCCA supported the establishment of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which allowed small businesses to pay their employees and cover many critical non-payroll expenses through federally guaranteed loans. In June, as economic conditions worsened, PCCA supported several effective changes to the PPP and in December, the association successfully fought for a congressional interpretation that clarified that business expenses paid for with the proceeds of PPP loans are, in fact, tax deductible.
As always, PCCA battled for increased funding for power and communications infrastructure. Top priority was ensuring that high-speed broadband service remained a national priority, as keeping America connected is now more important than ever before. Countless hospitals have been near or at full capacity, many schools and other critical buildings remain closed or have significantly reduced access, and remote-work directives all underscore the importance of reliable access to broadband.
In 2020, PCCA supported several funding vehicles for broadband deployment, but stressed that strong oversight should accompany the allocation of federal dollars to ensure that these resources are spent in the most effective way. PCCA has long supported policy that encourages the use of fiber-optic broadband infrastructure, which is clearly the only material proven to be able to provide broadband service to meet current and future demand. To that end, PCCA believes speed requirements of 100/100 Mpbs should be included in the eligibility criteria to access any federal support dollars used for broadband deployment.
PCCA held two Washington “fly-ins” in 2020, one in early February when members traveled to our nation’s capital to deliver a powerful pro-business, pro-infrastructure message across Capitol Hill. For the second one, in July, members attended virtual meetings with representatives from the offices of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, FCC Commissioners Michael O’Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel, House Majority Whip James Clyburn, John Burchett of Google Fiber, and the Senate Commerce Committee.
At the end of the day, it was clear that even the COVID-19 pandemic could not stop PCCA from making the points on a variety of issues that the association wants to express.
Huge strides in workforce development
Funds from the U.S. Department of Labor are part of the agency’s grant program, Apprenticeship: Closing the Skills Gap, which is designed to support large-scale expansions of apprenticeship. PCCA partnered with the Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) on the grant, which will provide the necessary funding to design curricula and deliver training to develop qualified applicants for placement in middle- to high-skilled jobs nationwide.
The nearly $6-million grant is supplemented by more than $9 million in matching support from industry, including cash and in-kind contributions from WIA, PCCA, several PCCA associate members, and participating employers, for a total commitment to apprenticeship of $15 million in a public-private partnership.
Five institutions of higher education have been developing utility construction programs as part of PCCA’s “Who Will Do the Work?” program, and they are already committed as technical partner schools with PCCA and WIA: State Technical College of Missouri, Terra State Community College (Ohio), Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College, Monroe County Community College (Mich.), and Somerset Community College (Ky.).
“This grant will greatly accelerate the good work that PCCA’s Education Committee and Education & Research Foundation have undertaken to tackle the broadband industry’s critical workforce shortage,” Wagner said. “PCCA and its foundation are now poised to help train the workforce necessary to realize the promise of the nation’s 5G network.
“All of PCCA thanks Sellenriek Construction for having the vision to involve State Technical College of Missouri in its workforce solution and Mark Bridgers for conceiving the idea of a standardized curriculum and for moving the ball forward with the PCCA-affiliated schools.”
Broadband coalition
Continuing its 75-year effort to bring utility services to rural Americans, PCCA proudly joined the American Connection Project Broadband Coalition in July. Coalition members are working together to bring high-speed internet access to all households, with a focus on those in rural areas.
Representing hundreds of companies and business organizations from a cross-section of the U.S. economy, the coalition is spearheaded by farmer-owned cooperative Land O’Lakes Inc., which like PCCA, advocates for full internet accessibility, including for all rural Americans.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Land O’Lakes and other partners have established free, guest Wi-Fi access points outside Land O’Lakes’ business locations in hundreds of communities. For example, Microsoft donated hotspot boosters to further the reach of the guest Wi-Fi, so that area residents could safely conduct business, communicate with family and friends, and carry out other daily activities online, while staying socially distanced in their cars.
PCCA Earns CGA President’s Award
PCCA continued to expand its efforts to “fix the very-broken underground damage prevention system that historically and reflexively burdens and blames contractors,” according to Chairman John Fluharty, amplifying the PCCA three pillars of damage prevention:
- Membership of all owners/operators of underground facilities to the state one-call center
- Accurate locating
- Potholing of underground facilities.
The association urges its members to submit damage prevention data into the Common Ground Alliance’s (CGA) annual DIRT Report to help create a safer underground environment.
At the 2021 PCCA Convention in March, the first PCCA/CGA Excavation Safety Summit will be held, where participants will look more closely at what’s actually being done in damage prevention and listen to what PCCA members are experiencing in the field. Topics will include the CGA Next Practices initiative, DIRT Report results, the evolution of SiteRight
as a DIRT report input and damage mitigation tool, and a progress report on the What Gets Measured Gets Done study.
Recognizing the association’s work on damage prevention, CGA awarded PCCA with the 2019 CGA President’s Award.
“The members of PCCA have embraced the philosophy that damage prevention is a shared responsibility,” CGA President & CEO Sarah Magruder Lyle said. “This group has come to the table ready to work and find solutions to the damage prevention challenges that we face. PCCA’s leadership has been clear: they want to be part of the solution.”
To learn more about PCCA and the 76th Annual PCCA Convention at the Naples Grande Beach Resort, Naples, Fla., March 5–10, visit www.pccaweb.org.
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