Proposed Public Works Related Legislation

The Washington State Legislature convened on Monday, January 14, 2013 for this year's legislative session which is scheduled to end on April 28, 2013.  Already, there have been a number of bills introduced affecting public works contracting.  

Search for bills introduced:  Click here for the Legislature's website on how to search for bills introduced and to track their history.

Here's a brief summary of just some of the public works related bills:

Applying prevailing wages to public-private partnerships:  House Bill 1025 would extend the application of prevailing wages to "all publicly subsidized work, construction, alterations, repairs, or improvements other than ordinary maintenance."  The bill goes on to specify that work is considered subsidized by the public if any of the following applies:

• One or more parties to the contract received or will receive a qualifying tax preference
• One or more parties to the contract received or will receive a loan from the state or any county, municipality, or political subdivision
• The work occurs on land that a party to the contract leases from the state or or any county, municipality, or political subdivision
• The work occurs on land that a party to the contract purchased from the state or any county, municipality, or political subdivision for less than fair market value as determined by the state, county, municipality, or political subdivision at the time of the sale.

HB 1025 is very similar to HB 1992 that was considered, but not approved by the Legislature in 2009

Requiring use of 75% Washington residents on public works projects:  House Bill 1026 would require all public agencies to include a specification provision in their public works contracts requiring that 75% of the labor hours performed on the project be done with Washington residents.  There are provisions that residents in bordering states may be considered Washington residents in certain cases and a provision for seeking a waiver of the requirement from the Department of Labor and Industries.  In 1992, the Washington State Supreme Court declared that chapter 39.16 RCW, which was a Washington resident hiring law, was unconstitutional and violated the phe privileges and immunities clause of the U.S. Constitution, Article IV, Section 2.  Click here to read a previous blog entry of mine on the subject.  HB 1026 would also apply prevailing wages to work subsidized by the public, very similar to HB 1025 above, but with slightly different provisions.

Requiring use of apprentices on publicly subsidized projects:  Similar to how HB 1025 and HB 1026 would require prevailing wages on publicly subsidized projects that do not currently meet the definition of public works, House Bill 1023 would apply the requirement to use a certain percentage of state registered apprentices on publicly subsidized projects.

Extending and modifying alternative public works contracting procedures:  The Capital Projects Advisory Review Board (CPARB) has been studying the three alternative public works contracting procedures of Design-Build, GC/CM (General Contractor/Construction Manager), and Job Order Contracting to make recommendations to the Legislature to reauthorize chapter 39.10 RCW before it sunsets in June of this year.  A bill will be introduced on this subject that does not yet appear to be included in the state's search database of new legislation.

Mike Purdy's Public Contracting Blog 
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