The Pesticide Policy Coalition, of which GCSAA is a member, released a press release March 30 in support of the decision by the EPA to deny the petition from environmental groups to ban agricultural use of chlorpyrifos. The agency says it will address the questions raised in the petition during a broader review of the pesticide that it expects to finish in 2022, which was what the PPC and others requested in public comments.
Robert Helland, GCSAA director of congressional and federal affairs, joined landscape professionals, the hospitality industry and other users of the H-2B visa program on March 21 to lobby Congress on issues facing the H-2B visa program.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order Feb. 28 directing the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps): to "review" the Clean Water Rule, and "publish for notice and comment" a rule that either revises the pending Clean Water Rule (WOTUS) or replaces it entirely.
On Jan. 25, 2017, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order titled “Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States." This order lays out the president’s plan for enforcing immigration laws, including, among other initiatives, increasing and expediting the deportation of removable aliens from the United States.
One of the first things the Trump Administration did on Jan. 20 was to issue a freeze on new and pending federal regulations in order to allow for their additional review. This is not unheard of – the Obama Administration issued a similar freeze in January 2008. However, President Trump has followed that up both with a promise to cut regulations by 75 percent and an executive order that states for every new federal regulation, two must be rescinded. All of this indicates a greater scrutiny of regulations that will likely have an impact on golf course management.
The election of Donald Trump as our nation’s 45th President has broad implications for the final disposition of the Clean Water Rule, also known as “WOTUS”. The Clean Water Rule has been on hold nationwide since October 2015 and its fate has long appeared to rest on whether courts would uphold it.
USCIS has received a sufficient number of petitions to reach the congressionally mandated H‑2B cap for the first half of fiscal year (FY) 2017. Jan. 10, 2017, was the final receipt date for new H-2B worker petitions requesting an employment start date before April 1, 2017.
Nineteen new members were welcomed to the GCSAA Grassroots Ambassador program for the Winter 2017 class. Their terms started on Jan., 1, 2017, and will extend for two years. These new members bring the total number of GCSAA Grassroots Ambassadors to 258.
With the start of a new Congress and a new Administration taking power comes the formation of an entirely new Presidential Cabinet. The cabinet is made up of the heads of 15 executive departments in addition to the vice president. President-elect Donald Trump has submitted his nominations. Now it’s time for the confirmation process in the Senate to begin and hearings are slated to kick off this Jan. 10.
It's election time. Not only has GCSAA launched a new Elections portal in the Government Affairs section of the website, but the Government Affairs department would like to invite you to participate in the #golfvotes social media campaign starting now.
