News of the Day

More than $1 Billion Awarded to Minnesota, Wisconsin Bridge

Officials announced Monday that the U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded nearly $1.06 billion in federal funding to replace the aging John A. Blatnik Bridge between Duluth, Minnesota, and Superior, Wisconsin.

The bridge is an important freight and commercial connection between the Duluth-Superior Twin Ports and serves more than 33,000 vehicles per day, according to the statement. It is jointly owned and managed by the Minnesota Department of Transportation and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

For more than 60 years, the bridge has linked Duluth and Superior via Interstate 535 and US 53.

The total cost for rebuilding the bridge is estimated to be $1.8 billion, according to the statement. Each state committed $400 million toward the project last year. Design work for the project, which will determine specifications and the shape the final project, is expected to begin this year. Once a final design is selected, construction could begin as early as next year.

Consumer Sentiment Hits Highest Level Since 2021

Consumer sentiment rose in January to its highest level since July 2021, according to the University of Michigan Survey of Consumers released Friday. Preliminary readings showed sentiment jumped to 78.8 from 69.7 percent last month, marking the second straight month of strong increases.

The index has now rebounded nearly 60% after plumbing record lows in June 2022. It is now just 7% shy of the historical average since 1978.

The survey’s reading of one-year inflation expectations fell to 2.9% this month, the lowest level since December 2020. That was down from 3.1% in December and put these inflation expectations within the 2.3%-3.0% range observed in the two years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Though there is no strong correlation between sentiment and consumer spending, the main engine of the economy, the surge could help to allay fears of a recession. Americans have maintained spending despite higher prices and borrowing costs as labor market tightness keeps wage growth elevated.

 

House Committee Warns DOL New Independent Contractor Rule Threatens Small Businesses

The House Committee on Small Business is urging the Department of Labor to reconsider the agency’s new rules for determining whether a worker is an independent contractor, saying the regulations will disproportionately impact smaller entities.

In a letter sent to Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su on Tuesday, Committee Chair Roger Williams (R, Texas), expressed concern over the changes, saying “[i]t seems that the DOL failed to properly consider small entities in this rule.” He said businesses in the construction, trucking and health care industries will be affected most.

The new rule, titled “Employee or Independent Contractor Classification Under the Fair Labor Standard Act,” was finalized last week. It repeals a Trump-era contractor test implemented in 2021 and returns to a six-factor “economic realities” test, which makes it more difficult for businesses to classify workers as independent contractors.

Williams noted in his letter that the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy said the rule threatens the livelihoods of many entrepreneurs by re-implementing a confusing method for determining whether a worker is an independent contractor or an employee. The result, he said, is that businesses will be less likely to hire gig workers due to fears of being sued for misclassifying them.

What’s more, he argues, the change impacts over 22 million independent contractors and their status, many of whom will be forced to re-classify as employees and no longer be able to operate as their own small business.

Several trade groups and business organizations have also sounded alarms over the DOL’s new rule, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

U.S. Supreme Court Signals It Will Claw Back Federal Agency Power

The Supreme Court’s conservatives appeared inclined to cut back the regulatory power of federal agencies, with several justices during a pair of arguments Wednesday seeming ready to overrule a legal doctrine that has bolstered agencies’ authority for decades.

Over more than three hours of argument, the justices put the Biden administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer on defense as she sought to preserve Chevron deference, which instructs courts to defer to agencies’ interpretation of federal law if it could have multiple meanings.

The practice has strengthened presidential administrations’ ability to regulate wide aspects of daily life. The range of examples referenced at the arguments revealed the breadth of Chevron’s impact: artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, environmental protections and more.

Although several conservative justices railed against the precedent during Wednesday’s arguments, it remains unclear whether a majority is willing to outright overrule Chevron, which would mark a major legal victory for business and anti-regulatory interests. The court could instead narrow the doctrine’s scope without explicitly disavowing it.

In particular, three members of the high court’s conservative wing — Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh — reiterated their long-publicized concerns about the precedent’s viability.

The court’s three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, meanwhile, expressed opposition to overturning Chevron. They emphasized a desire to defer to subject-matter experts at agencies when ambiguous, complicated policy issues arise, rather than having a judge attempt to draw the line.

Decisions in the cases, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce, are expected by the end of June

Retail Sales Grew 0.6% in December

Retail sales grew 0.6% in December, according to Census Bureau data.

Nine of the 13 categories highlighted in the release saw increases from a month ago.

Sales for clothing and clothing accessories, as well as non-store retailers, increased 1.5%. Meanwhile, sales at health and personal stores care dipped 1.4%, while sales at gasoline stations fell 1.3%.

For the full year, retail sales excluding auto and gas increased 4.9%. Sales at food services and drinking places rose 11.3% for the year, pacing the gains, while spending at gasoline stations declined 11.5% as gasoline prices dipped lower throughout 2023.

“Retail sales beat expectations yet again in December,” Nationwide Financial Markets economist Oren Klachkin wrote in a research note on Wednesday. “Consumers were willing to spend during the holidays and will remain inclined to do so as long as real income gains more than offset the drag from elevated interest rates and tight lending standards.

 

 

OSHA Civil Penalty Amounts Adjusted for 2024

The U.S. Department of Labor announced changes to Occupational Safety and Health Administration civil penalty amounts based on cost-of-living adjustments for 2024.

In 2015, Congress passed the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act to advance the effectiveness of civil monetary penalties and to maintain their deterrent effect. Under the Act, agencies are required to publish “catch-up” rules that adjust the level of civil monetary penalties and make subsequent annual adjustments for inflation no later than January 15 of each year. This year, January 15 falls on a federal holiday. Therefore, new OSHA penalty amounts will become effective January 16, 2024.

OSHA’s maximum penalties for serious and other-than-serious violations will increase from $15,625 per violation to $16,131 per violation. The maximum penalty for willful or repeated violations will increase from $156,259 per violation to $161,323 per violation.

Senate GOP Leader Calls for New State Individual Income Tax Cut

The Republican leader of the state Senate is taking another stab at a tax cut, this time focusing on families who earn up to $200,000.

At the same time, Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu cast doubt on whether the Legislature will pass a bill to legalize medical marijuana in Wisconsin, saying an Assembly GOP plan that would create state-run dispensaries won’t pass without changes.

The income tax cut is at least the fourth endorsed in the past year by LeMahieu, a Republican from Oostburg. The others have either failed to pass the Legislature or were vetoed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.

While LeMahieu said he was still working on the details of the plan, he told a Wispolitics forum in Madison Thursday that it would expand the income tax bracket that currently covers family income between about $18,000 and $37,000. Families in that bracket pay taxes at a rate of 4.4 percent, the state’s second lowest rate.

Under LeMahieu’s plan, that bracket would expand several fold to cover family income up to $200,000, meaning people who earn more could still pay the lower rate. LeMahieu said Senate Republicans decided on the new approach because Democrats, namely Evers, had criticized previous GOP tax cuts as being too focused on the upper class.

“So we’re working on a plan just to address that, and that’s something that we’re confident that the governor could sign,” LeMahieu said. “A family that makes $150,000 or $200,000 is not the upper class.”

A spokesperson for Evers did not promise the plan would be vetoed but also stopped short of endorsing it, pointing to recent comments by the governor endorsing a middle class tax cut.

“When we deliver tax relief, we should do so responsibly by ensuring we can keep taxes low now and into the future — much like the tax cuts I have been proud to sign into law — and without driving our state into debt,” read a statement from Evers provided by his office.

While state government is sitting on a multi-billion dollar surplus, LeMahieu said his plan would cost the state roughly $1 billion annually, costs that would carry on to future budgets.

Wisconsin PSC Chairperson Valcq Steps Down

Yesterday, Governor Tony Ever announced that Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) Chairperson Rebecca Cameron Valcq will be leaving the Evers Administration, effective February 2.

The governor also announced Commissioner Summer Strand will succeed Valcq as PSC chairperson. Strand was appointed by Evers to serve as a commissioner at the PSC on March 2, 2023, for a six-year term.

Strand is a member of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners and the Mid-America Regulatory Conference. Prior to joining the PSC, Strand was the director of government affairs for the Walbec Group, a Wisconsin-based construction and engineering firm. Previously, Strand oversaw the State of Wisconsin Building Program as administrator of the Division of Facilities Development at the Wisconsin Department of Administration. She has also served as an advisor to and citizen member of the State Building Commission.

Inflation Climbs Faster than Expected in December to 3.4%

The Labor Department said Thursday that the consumer price index, a broad measure of the price of everyday goods including gasoline, groceries and rent, rose 0.3% in December from the previous month, more than expected. Prices climbed 3.4% from the same time last year.

Other parts of the report indicated that inflation is continuing to retreat, albeit slowly. Core prices, which exclude the more volatile measurements of food and energy, climbed 0.3%, or 3.9% annually.

Housing costs were the biggest driver of inflation last month. Rent costs rose 0.4% for the month and are up 6.2% from the same time last year.

Other price gains also proved persistent in December. Food prices rose 0.2% over the course of the month. Grocery costs rose 0.1% last month and are up 1.3% compared with the same time last year.

Energy costs, meanwhile, climbed 0.4% in December, including a 0.2% increase in gasoline prices and a 1.3% spike in electricity.

The Federal Reserve has signaled it is closely watching the report for evidence inflation is finally subsiding as policymakers try to cool the economy with a series of interest rate hikes. Officials approved 11 rate increases in a span of just 16 months, lifting the benchmark federal funds rate from nearly zero to the highest level since 2001.

DOL Announces Final Rule on Classifying Workers as Employees or Independent Contractors under FLSA

The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a final rule to help employers and workers better understand when a worker qualifies as an employee and when they may be considered an independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The guidance provided by the final rule aligns with longstanding judicial precedent on which employers have previously relied to determine a worker’s status as either an employee or independent contractor. The new rule will preserve essential worker rights and provide consistency for entities covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The new “independent contractor” rule restores the multifactor analysis used by courts for decades, ensuring that all relevant factors are analyzed to determine whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor. The rule addresses six factors that guide the analysis of a worker’s relationship with an employer, including any opportunity for profit or loss a worker might have; the financial stake and nature of any resources a worker has invested in the work; the degree of permanence of the work relationship; the degree of control an employer has over the person’s work; whether the work the person does is essential to the employer’s business; and a factor regarding the worker’s skill and initiative.

The rule separately rescinds the 2021 Independent Contractor Rule that the department believes is not consistent with the law and longstanding judicial precedent.

In crafting the new rule, the department’s Wage and Hour Division considered feedback provided by stakeholders at forums in the summer of 2022 and during the comment period after the proposal’s announcement in October 2022. The final rule takes effect on March 11, 2024.