PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Dear readers,

I would like to wish all STA members and friends a Happy New Year and best wishes for 2019.

It is my unfortunate duty to report, however, that the association received some discouraging news as 2018 drew to a close. On December 29, Governor Cuomo vetoed our Delay Damages Bill S6686, a law that would have provided equitable compensation to contractors and subcontractors on public projects where a delay was the fault or responsibility of the public owner. Rest assured, the STA will be thoroughly analyzing the Governor’s veto message and will be crafting an appropriate response and legislative strategy moving forward. While the veto was a disappointment, the fact that our bill was approved by both houses of the New York legislature in June of 2018 is something to be proud of and gives us hope for this legislation in the future. I would like to thank all of those who wrote letters of support and contacted the Governor’s office, as well as STA legislative chair Arthur Rubinstein for his hard work on Delay Damages.

In other news, please do not forget to take a look at our upcoming events in the calendar section below. On February 6, we will be holding our first General Membership Meeting of 2019. An impressive slate of experts will be speaking on the economic forecast for the construction industry in the coming year and how it will affect your business.

We also have numerous seminars scheduled for the first half of 2019, all of which are free to STA members. Please take advantage of these seminars to learn more about the topics that impact all of our firms: succession planning, insurance, and the new tax law.

I look forward to another great year at the Subcontractors Trade Association. I hope to see many familiar as well as new faces at our events in 2019.

Very best,

Robert Weiss

STA President