Clean Contracting Standards (SB 1485) died moments before the midnight end of the General Assembly Wednesday. The last-minute compromise legislation had passed the Senate and was being amended in the House when additional questions were raised on language in the bill. With less than half an hour till the deadline for the end of the legislative session, the bill was put aside to take up more pressing issues. The compromise on contracting out would have exempted contracts which are currently being performed by outside firms or a mix of outside firms and state workers. This would include most design contracts at DOT and DPW. The bill would, however, require an analysis of “core governmental functions” such as inspection for safety, establishment of contractual standards and enforcement of statutory, regulatory or contractual requirements governing public health or safety. It’s uncertain if construction inspection or administration would fall into this category and if the exemption mention above for contracts already being done by outside contractors would apply in this case.
A last minute amendment to the school grant bill (SB 1406) will require that all architectural contracts for local school building projects funded with state money be bid unless the contract forms are provided by DAS or DPW. Neither department has such forms at the present time and we will work with AIA-CT to assist them in developing a contract form so that school building committees can use QBS to select their design teams.
The MDC bill which would authorize the MDC to raise rates to pay for their massive clean water project didn’t pass because of a dispute over minority hiring requirements for MDC contracts. The MDC will have to seek a bill in the special session.
Numerous bills failed because the Governor and legislative leaders could not reach a compromise on the biennial state budget. These included funding for transportation projects and bonds for clean water projects.
Other bills that passed:
- Municipal water pollution control authorities (HB 5728)
- Municipal stormwater authority pilot program (HB 6856)
- Enforcement of Licensing Laws (HB 6983)
- Civil Preparedness (HB 7025)
- Responsible Growth (HB 7090)
- Geothermal Heat Systems (HB 7311)
- Brownfields (HB 7369)
- Task force to study municipal ethics (SB 145)
- Air quality in state owned/leased buildings (SB 1051)
- Dam Safety (SB 1091)
State Building Code (SB 1093)
Political contributions (SB 1112)
- DPW (SB 1182)
- Licensed Environmental Professionals (SB 1224)
Some bills which failed:
- Traffic on residential and collector roads (HB 5714)
- Municipal ethics and lobbying (HB 7000)
- Safety in construction projects (HB 7128)
- Riparian protection areas (HB 7343)
- Innovative stormwater solutions (HB 7370)
- Green school buildings (HB 7377)
- Campaign contributions to municipal officials (SB 533)
- Interior decorators (SB 1300)
- Congestion pricing study (SB 1357)
- Regional WPCAs (SB 1357)
- Stormwater technology (SB 1424)
- LEED in StateBuildingCode (SB 1429)
- Global warming (SB 1432)
Bills passed by the legislature must be signed by the Governor before becoming law. You can read copies of the bills at www.cga.ct.gov .
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