Construction Bills: Recent Changes to Construction Laws

• Pages: 52-54
• Date: 01 July 2025
• Published date: 01 July 2025
• Author: Daniel D. Rounds,Olivia Polston
• Subject Matter: Derecho Público y Administrativo

Published in The Construction Lawyer Volume 44, Number 3, ©2025 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with

permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any

means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.

Forum on Construction Law The Construction Lawyer Summer 2025

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By Daniel D. Rounds and Olivia Polston

Daniel D. Rounds is counsel in the Tysons Corner, Virginia, office of Haynes and Boone, LLP, and Olivia

Polston is an associate in the Louisville, Kentucky, office of Manion Stigger LLP.

Federal Developments Affecting the Construction Industry

In recent months, the federal government has taken a number of legislative actions that will impact the

construction industry; this column examines some of the most notable.

Executive Orders

The Trump administration continues to issue Executive Orders of signicance to the construction industry,

particularly contractors involved in construction of federal projects.

Executive Order 14,269: Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance1

Beginning with the declaration “[t]he commercial shipbuilding capacity and maritime workforce of the

United States has been weakened by decades of Government neglect, leading to the decline of a once

strong industrial base while simultaneously empowering our adversaries and eroding United States

national security,” Executive Order 14,269 (EO 14,269) establishes that “[i]t is the policy of the United

States to revitalize and rebuild domestic maritime industries and workforce to promote national security

and economic prosperity.” Among other things, EO 14,269 requires that the Assistant to the President

for National Security Affairs and various executive agency heads submit a Maritime Action Plan (MAP).

As part of the MAP, the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Commerce, and others are to provide an

assessment of options for the use of available authorities and resources, including “to the maximum

extent possible” private capital to “invest in and expand the Maritime Industrial Base including, but not

limited to, investment and expansion of commercial and defense shipbuilding capabilities, component

supply chains, ship repair and marine transportation capabilities, port infrastructure, and the adjacent

workforce.” This effort is to include use of the Ofce of Strategic Capital loan program to improve

the shipbuilding industrial base and requires various executive agency heads to “identify key maritime

components in the supply chain that are essential for rebuilding and expanding the Maritime Industrial

Base and that should be prioritized for investment.” EO 14,269 further calls for the establishment

of “Maritime Prosperity Zones” and directs that the MAP “identif[y] opportunities to incentivize

and facilitate domestic and allied investment in United States maritime industries and waterfront

communities.” Notably, the Maritime Prosperity Zones are to include areas “outside of traditional coastal

shipbuilding and ship repair centers and are geographically diverse, including river regions as well as the

Great Lakes.”

In addition to the goals of developing maritime infrastructure, EO 14,269 directs a review of domestic

cargo preference laws, including the Military Cargo Preference Act and the Cargo Preference Act, to

determine “whether and how they can be used to ensure that United States cargo is transported on United

States-built and flagged vessels, including a review of the existing waiver process and all current waivers

to ensure they are consistent with the promotion of American domestic shipping.” EO 14,269 also calls

for the imposition of a 10 percent service fee to be added to applicable customs, duties, taxes, and other

customs charges for cargo that arrived by vessel to Canada or Mexico and was then imported by land to

the United States in order to counter circumvention of the Harbor Maintenance Fee.

CONSTRUCTION BILLS: RECENT

CHANGES TO CONSTRUCTION LAWS