Power & Communication Contractors Association

typically has about five in-person meetings in Washington, D.C., each year. Members meet with congressional offices and agencies that affect the industry, including the Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service. One time a year, general members are invited to join the committee on a congressional fly-in that usually takes place in January. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced those in-person meetings online, but that hasn’t slowed PCCA’s activism. “We’ve done a couple of virtual fly-ins this year and had fairly successful Zoom meetings with congressional staff, the FCC, and the USDA, but we obviously prefer to do that in person,” Wagner reports. “And our government affairs committee is extremely engaged in the entire process.” One of the causes the group lobbies for is excavation safety. A study called “What Gets Measured Gets Done” has been commissioned to make the installation of underground utilities safer. “We’re trying to overhaul the existing utility locating process because it’s very flawed,” Wagner explains. “A lot of locates aren’t being done in a timely manner or at all because there are no consequences to an owner not going out and locating their utilities before we dig. And there have been several catastrophic accidents caused because of bad locates or no locates.” Finding ways to safely provide service to the nation is what the PCCA has done for more than 75 years. In that time, members have installed an estimated 90 percent of the power and telecommunications infrastructure in the U.S. “Our group was heavily, heavily involved in electrifying rural America,” Wagner says. “It’s something that has ensured the prosperity of the United States in a lot of ways.” Now the Power & Communication Contractors Association is focused on ensuring that prosperity continues well into the 21st Century.