CHICAGO — This year has been a busy one for the Exhibitions and Conferences Alliance (ECA), with a record-breaking Legislative Action Day and policy wins for the industry under its belt in 2024.
The FTC finalized a new rule on impersonation fraud that targets scammers who prey on the industry. Instead of cease-and-desist letters, people can now report this fraud directly to the FTC for follow up and enforcement.
And in March, ECA helped to secure $50 million for the State Department to address long visa wait times, and since then, interview wait times are down 60% in Mexico, reinforcing the connection between advocacy and what happens on a show floor.
On the future workforce front, both of ECA’s bills were successfully passed out of their House of Representatives committees this year.
As the U.S. gears up for Election Day on Nov. 5, Trade Show Executive caught up with Tommy Goodwin, Vice President at ECA, to find out what policies and regulations the industry should keep an eye on in the coming months and the potential impacts of the election on the live events industry.
Know Before You Vote
On November 5, voters in the U.S. will head to the ballot box to cast their vote in the 2024 presidential election. Regardless of what side of the aisle you’re on, there are four key areas that will be impacted by what happens on Election Day: tax reform, international travel, workforce and sustainability.
“Last month, ECA introduced ECA Votes, a registration and information platform to help get the industry ready for election day,” Goodwin said. “Each of those issues directly impacts stakeholders across the industry, and ECA expects action on them in Washington, D.C. and beyond in the new year. To learn more, ECA is hosting a free two-part webinar series on October 29 and November 12 that will go deeper on these issues and how industry leaders and advocates can get involved. All Trade Show Executive readers are invited to be part of it.”
Related. In-Depth Insights from the 2024 Special IMEX Industry Trends Report from Maritz
Policies and Regulations to Watch
“Tax reform will be the issue on Capitol Hill next year,” Goodwin said. “Several tax breaks from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will expire at the end of 2025 unless Congress acts. Experts say that keeping these popular tax breaks will cost the country $4.6 trillion, and political pressure inside the Beltway is building to offset at least part of that amount. That means that members of Congress will be looking for ways to raise tax revenue, and ECA will be working overtime to ensure that none of those proposals will have a detrimental impact on the business events industry.”
Goodwin says the industry should expect to hear a lot more from ECA on this important issue in the weeks and months ahead.
Recently, ECA hosted a webinar about the California Air Resources Board’s new regulation that will begin phasing out the sale and use of large spark ignite engine forklifts starting in 2026.
“The key takeaway from that session is that folks need to start having conversations now, both internally and with their rental fleet suppliers, about how this transition will impact operations in the years ahead,” Goodwin said. “Given the long current lead times for ordering zero-emission forklifts, and increased demand for often limited supply that this regulation will spur, this is the time for organizations to consider and plan for the capital budgeting and operational impacts, not January 1, 2026.”
Other Industry-Adjacent Policy and Advocacy Updates
On August 20, 2024, Judge Brown of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a permanent injunction, which is nationwide in scope, blocking the FTC’s rule banning most noncompete agreements from taking effect.
According to a poll published by ISSA, The Worldwide Cleaning Industry Association, prior to the rule being struck down, 53% of respondents said they were pleased with the FTC ruling because it would have opened up the labor pool, while 24% said they didn’t anticipate it impacts to them and 15% being concerned with their staff retention.
On Sept. 22, 2024, the Govenor of California, Gavin Newsom, signed janitorial-work loading legislation AB 2364 into law as a study bill. The status as a study bill is a shift from the legislative proposal, which would have established a 2,000 square-feet per hour production-rate limit for cleaning workers, but it does increase the cost of harassment-prevention training required in California for cleaning-service workers according to ISSA.
Reach Tommy Goodwin at tommy.goodwin@exhibitionsconferencesalliance.org
