ROSSLYN, Va. — The Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA), Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors—National Association (PHCC), Heating, Airconditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI), and American Supply Association (ASA) are co-sponsoring a congressional fly-in for their members on April 29 and 30 in Rosslyn, Va., just outside Washington, D.C.

On the first day of the event, members will receive an orientation on lobbying Congress, briefings on key industry issues, and hear a special dinner presentation from Bill Kristol, Fox News Channel contributor and editor of the Weekly Standard. On the second day, following a breakfast briefing with congressional leaders, members will be transported to Capitol Hill for pre-arranged visits in the offices of their U.S. congressman and senators.

According to ACCA, the HVACR industry is facing an unprecedented slate of bills and regulatory actions from the new Congress and the Obama administration. Before August, Congress is expected to take up legislation on health care reform, a “Card Check” bill making it easier for unions to organize employees, a cap and trade plan that targets HFC refrigerants for phase out, changes to the nation’s energy policy, and a new budget that proposes to increase individual and corporate income taxes.

At the 2009 ACCA Conference, ACCA Chairman Stan Johnson stated, “Over the next few years legislation is going to be passed and regulations are going to be written that will profoundly impact your ability to operate profitably. I didn’t say may be passed; I said passed. And once legislation gets passed it’s hard to get it unpassed.

“Now we can throw in the towel and say we don’t care about Washington and let Congress do what it wants. Or we can fight every step of the way to represent contractor interests and try to shape the legislation so that it helps all of us, or at the very least, so that it doesn’t impact our industry and small businesses as much as it could.”

ACCA members can visit www.acca.org/govt to sign up and see the full schedule, or call HARDI at 888-253-2128.

Publication date: 04/27/2009