What Have We Done for You Lately 

Hot weather is here and things are heating up with all that’s going on at Carolinas AGC, including:

• Your CAGC Summer Lineup is here!
• We’re expecting 900 registrants for our 2025 Summer Summit & Expo with 5 receptions, 6 prestigious awards ceremonies, full exhibit hall with 50+ exhibitors and the annual Summit Golf Tourney.
• As CAGC membership and scope of work grow, we’ve created new positions for an additional South Carolina lobbyist (Whitney Williams) and a staff accountant (Nathan Barrier).
• Our CAGC Young Leader program, among the largest of the 87 AGC chapters in the nation, is now in a record-setting mode (details below).
• Our Pinnacle Awards, the most prestigious commercial construction recognition in the Carolinas, are open for applications with an August 5^th deadline. Pinnacle winners will be recognized at our 2026 Winter Convention in Aruba.

What’s Up Politically

• SC Gov. Henry McMaster signed the Tort Reform bill into law in SC in late May. As enacted, House Bill 3430:
• Removes gross negligence from the joint and several liability exceptions.
• Now only triggers full liability for conduct that is willful, wanton or intentional. (South Carolina courts recognize willful and wanton conduct as requiring a higher degree of culpability than gross negligence. This is a major shift and a huge step toward fairness.)
• All parties, including non-defendants, can now be added to the jury verdict form.
  
  
• Carolinas AGC and our members were instrumental in both NC and SC in passing legislation for Underground Damage Prevention revisions that are more favorable to utility contractors and everybody involved in underground construction work and 811 services.
• The hands-free, distracted driving bill was signed into law this session in SC.  As enacted, anyone holding a phone while driving will pay: a $100 penalty for first offenses and $200 for subsequent offenses and a two-point violation. This act takes effect September 1, 2025, and we hope it will be another way to deter distracted driving, especially in construction work zones.
• In NC, we continue working with the legislature on work zone safety, focusing on the use of speed cameras to enforce speed limits in work zones.
• CAGC also formed a workgroup with NCDOT to explore avenues to improve the relocation of utilities on projects.
• The SC approved appropriations include: for SCDOT, $200 million in non-recurring funds for the state's bridge program; $35 million for Hurricane Helene clean-up; $4 million for litter pick-up; and maintain the $120 million in recurring funding for federal match dollars. The budget also included over $90 million for SCWINS scholarships for the trades at the state’s 16 technical colleges, and $500,000 in recurring funding for SC Be Pro Be Proud.

Big Value for our Members

• The CAGC Foundation Scholarship Program assists people studying for careers in the construction industry as well as those wishing to advance their skills and knowledge to further their construction careers. This year, the Scholarship committee distributed $20,000 to 8 deserving students who will be great assets to our industry! View here.
• We recently unveiled a new, more streamlined and uniformed family of logos for CAGC, the CAGC Foundation, CAGC Young Leaders and our Awards programs.
• The Utility Division Leadership has developed an outstanding agenda for the Utility Division Breakout sessions at the 2025 CAGC Expo and Summer Summit.  Topics include a Washington update, presentation on delegated design, info on design-build and reports from both NC and SC 811 on revisions to both state damage prevention laws.
• Our Summit also features top NCDOT/SCDOT and Building Division presentations that will help your company’s bottom line.
• The CAGC NC/SC ACEC Joint Committee continued work on a joint committee recommendation on Delegated Design and how it should be used in Utility Construction. 
• CAGC continues to bring value to our membership by showcasing existing money saving programs as well as new programs such as our CAGC Association Health Plan.

Membership

• CAGC membership grew with 80 new members in the first 2 quarters of 2025.
• With 800+ CAGC member firms, our 30+ committees are experiencing an increase in new committee members, fresh perspectives, increased diversity and improved representation.

Donuts with Contractors / Young Leaders

• We continue to host sold-out Connect Events and Donuts with Contractors throughout the Carolinas.
• We have almost 390 young leaders participating in the Young Leader Program! Ty Edmondson, the 2025 CAGC Board of Directors Chair and CEO of T.A. Loving Co., recently sent a letter to all member companies that do not have a young leader participating in the CAGC Young Leader Program to please do so.
• If you haven’t yet, please get your employees who are 45 and under involved in this great program: www.cagc.org/cagcyoungleaders.

Education and Training

Joining Our CAGC Family:

• It is an honor to serve our members and your help in continuing to grow our membership is most appreciated – details here for how CAGC adds value to your business.
• Please invite a non-member with you to any CAGC events you’ll be attending. Contact Mike Austell, Jacob Garmon, Wendy White, or Lawson Pope, and they’ll be happy to assist in event registrations.
• Stay tuned, in addition to our social media, to what you need to know with our CAGC Weekly NewsBreak.

Dave Simpson, CAE, CAGC President & CEO, who has been with the association since 1989, can be reached at dsimpson@carolinasagc.org.