CEO’S COLUMN


Shaping ACCA’s Priorities–Tell Us What You Want Us to Focus On!


ONE OF THE BIGGEST ADVANTAGES of being an ACCA member is that the ACCA team is fighting for you and your business at all levels of the government. Whether on Capitol Hill or with federal agencies like the Department of Labor or Department of Energy, we’re fighting for you! We are also partnering with your state and local HVACR associations to fight for you! ACCA’s voice is amplified when you get involved. There are many ways for you to help as an ACCA


Barton James is President and CEO of ACCA. He can be reached at barton. james@acca.org.


member. First, when ACCA sends out an ACTion Alert (accanow.net/actionalert), take a few minutes to enter your information and use our fancy advocacy center to send a letter to your elected officials. I promise that we have made this pretty painless, and the good news is you don’t have to be an issue expert. Currently, ACCA has four active ACTion Alerts. Three of the alerts are nationwide issues that all contrac- tors should send to their elected Senators and Repre- sentative, and one is specific to the state of Virginia. The second way you can be a more engaged


Watch the Replay! ACCA members have the opportunity to watch the learning sessions for ACCA 2023 on demand! Visit accanow.net/acca23- ondemand and log in to your ACCA account. Be sure to share these sessions with your team members to help them learn and grow.


member of the ACCA army is for you to sign your ACCA-PAC prior approval (accanow.net/priorap- proval). ACCA-PAC allows ACCA Members to join together and voluntarily pool our resources to assist candidates and elected officials who support ACCA’s priorities. Decisions by elected officials impact your bottom line every day in multiple ways. Participating in the PAC gives ACCA the voice and political clout it needs to fight for the issues you’ve told us are most impor- tant. By signing your prior approval, you are not obligated to donate any money, you are simply giving us permission to share what we are doing and who we are doing it with the ACCA-PAC, ensuring the associa- tion is compliant with all Federal Election Commission laws. The third way to help ACCA fight for


you is to tell us what we should be fight- ing for on your behalf. ACCA wants to fight for common-sense legislation and regula- tions that do not burden your business


with unnecessary hoops for you to jump through. That is why at ACCA 2023 we held the Issues Smack- down! This Contractor Town Hall event (watch at accanow.net/townhall23) was live-streamed, and I was thrilled that we had over 200 contractors debat- ing in-person and online about what ACCA should be working on. We even had special video messages from U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, Congressman Randy Weber (TX-14), and Congress- man Roger Williams (TX-25). The major topics discussed during the Issues


Smackdown! were: The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Workforce Issues Refrigerant Transition and Electrification


All of these issues are high priorities for ACCA, as


our members told us that there are a lot of concerns about the unknowns, especially in terms of how the IRA will roll out in each state, product availability and the supply chain, and the possibility of natural gas bans. And we also heard concerns about the IRS overreaching in terms of paying workers correctly. While all these issues are burdensome, and quite


honestly scary if you are the one in the thick of it, you are not alone. Contractors all over the country are facing these issues and ACCA is fighting with you. There has never been a better time to tell ACCA your thoughts about where you need us most. Here are


three easy ways to share your priorities: Submit a Video: Use your phone to submit one or more 45-second videos of your opinions by visiting


accanow.net/video23. Vote on Mentimeter: Visit accanow.net/poll23 to weigh in using the interactive slides from our live


event. Comment Online: Simply reply to the Contractor


Forum here: accanow.net/accapriorities23 or, if you prefer, send private feedback to govt@acca.org. Remember, ACCA is your association, and we need


you to play an active role in shaping what priorities we work on. I hope you all have a hot, busy summer season! Onward and upward!


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MAY/JUNE 2023


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