Tag: John Chwat
Security industry alarmed about overtime pay rule
August 16, 2016Paul Ragusa
WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) recently submitted revisions to the Fair Labor Standards Act that would more than double the salary threshold for earning overtime pay, starting Dec. 31, 2016.
Presently, only those employees making less than $455.00 per week are eligible for overtime compensation. The DoL's new rule increases this eligibility minimum to any employee making less than $913.00, an increase that many in the security industry and on Capitol Hill feel will put...
ESA's Chwat rates the regulation and legislation of interest in 2015
January 30, 2015Amy Canfield
ALEXANDRIA, Va.—From changes in the way broadband will be expanded to federal funding for school security technology to nursing home surveillance, there is plenty of legislation of interest to security installers on Capitol Hill, according to John Chwat, ESA's director of government relations.Broadband's use within the industry for monitoring and alarms is on a front burner. ESA was in the process of preparing comments for the FCC on impacts of a major regulatory initiative that includes changes...
ESA pushes forward during lame-duck session
November 4, 2014Amy Canfield
ALEXANDRIA, Va.—The Electronic Security Association doesn't expect much to happen to benefit the industry in the waning days of the lame-duck Congressional session, but that doesn't mean it's not pursuing its goals to the fullest.
Apprenticeship tax credits, access to federal background check databases, the impact on the security industry of telecommunications broadband expansion and funding for school security technology are among security issues on the table. ESA will be pushing...
'Net neutrality' necessary for alarm signals
September 10, 2014Leif Kothe
WASHINGTON—Concerned about fair, reliable and accurate transmission of alarm data, the ESA and the Alarm Industry Communications Committee are urging the FCC to support net neutrality.
“To ensure the continued effectiveness of the alarm systems protecting millions of Americans, alarm data must be transmitted accurately and promptly from the end user premise to the central station along the entire communications path,” Lou Fiore, AICC chairman, wrote in a letter to the FCC.
Net...
ESA says school security spending needs to be about equipment
July 16, 2014Leif Kothe
WASHINGTON—The U.S. government has devoted more than $300 million over the past two years to enhancing school security. While that money has gone toward the production of reports, research, assessments and position papers, among other things, it has not gone toward the actual installation of electronic security systems, John Chwat, director of government relations at the Electronic Security Association, told Security Systems News.
Through the past two fiscal cycles, $90 million and $75 million...
ESA supports 'balanced approach'
May 12, 2014Leif Kothe
ALEXANDRIA, Va.—The Electronic Security Association is ramping up efforts in support of the Fire Sprinkler Incentive Act, a bill that would give installers of fire detection systems the same access to federal tax incentives currently available only to fire suppression companies.The issue was among the core issues ESA brought to the attention of lawmakers during its annual Day on Capitol Hill, held May 6-7 in Washington D.C.The ESA, which has long advocated a “balanced approach,”...
State of the Industry: Looking ahead to 2014
December 18, 2013Leif Kothe
IRVING, Texas—The past year on Capitol Hill will be remembered for legislative inaction and partisan rifts so deep they culminated in a 16-day government shutdown. Time will tell if the inertia and division will persist in 2014, but the fact that it's an election year promises to make things a little hectic for the security industry, John Chwat, director of government relations for ESA, told Security Systems News.�
So what's on the agenda in the face of the midterm turbulence?...
ESA supports background check law
November 10, 2011Tess Nacelewicz
IRVING, Texas—The Electronic Security Association, based here, is asking members to help make the industry safer by supporting legislation that would allow electronic security companies to use the FBI's database to determine whether job applicants have a criminal record.“This is really to correct a loophole, to prevent criminals from accessing our industry,” ESA government relations director John Chwat told Security Systems News.According to ESA, the government allows various industries—including...
POTS sunset on the horizon?
January 7, 2010Daniel Gelinas
WASHINGTON--Plain-old telephone service--the mainspring of traditional burg and fire alarm signal transmission--could be coming to a mandatory end. The Federal Communications Commission on Dec. 1 issued a public notice seeking comment on a National Broadband Plan that could include a mandatory switch from a public switched telephone network to IP, similar to the FCC-enforced switch from analog to digital broadcast television that occurred in early 2009.
For an exclusive look at how IP technology...