LADOTD Reform Update

The LADOTD reform bills (HB 528, HB 556, HB 640) were not heard on the House Floor this past Wednesday as expected. HB 528 was heard in House Appropriations on Monday and was passed out of the committee without opposition and with very little discussion.

The plan is for all three of the bills will be heard on the House Floor this Tuesday. Chairman Bourriaque is expected to offer up a number of floor amendments, specifically for HB 556 that can be found here.

Earlier this week, ACECL sent redlined documents of both HB 528 and HB 556 to the Chairman. It appears most of our concerns and/or recommended amendments outlined in the documents are included in the sets of amendments. Big thanks to Chairman Bourriaque for considering our recommendations and incorporating them into his planned amendments. We will be keeping a close eye on these bills next week and will continue to work with Chairman Bourriaque and other stakeholders as the bills move over to the Senate.

Update on ACECL Sponsored Bill

HB 312,by Rep. Gadberry, passed off the House Floor this week and is scheduled to go before the Senate Transportation Committee next. The bill was amended on the House Floor to add language to the bill that provided "private persons contracted through" the same compensation negotiation rights provide to the public entity.

HB 312 will close a loophole in the Hammett Act by requiring QBS procurement when any public dollars (state or local) are being used for engineering, architecture or surveying. Currently, the law only states that a 'public entity' cannot consider price or price related information when selecting A/E services. Recognizing the limiting language, some public entities have required their prime designers (private entities) to solicit bids from their A/E subs after the public entity selected the prime using QBS. This is a clear circumvention of the law that will no longer be allowed when the bill passed. The legislation also adds that any private entity contracted by a public entity to deliver a project or program of project must also adhere to the Hammett Act.

Other Bills of Interest

ACECL had the pleasure of serving on the Public Project Payment Task Force which was created by Senator Womack to look into the payment processing policies and procedures of both state and local agencies and determine their effectiveness. The two bills listed below are a product of the task force and are both authored by Senator Womack.

SB 164 will require all elected officials or employees of a municipality, parish or political subdivision responsible for managing, tracking or approving payments to undergo a private public contract payment training for public contracts. The purpose of the law is to bring visibility, awareness and understanding of state laws that pertain to payment applications and timely payments to the designers, subconsultants, contractors and subcontractors who performed the work.

SB 166 will require that a preconstruction meeting occur between the local governmental entity, the contractor, the appropriate state entity, and the design professional of record for the purpose of establishing clear expectations of the contract deliverables, project deadlines, accountability standards, payment schedules, and an expedited grievance procedure for complaints. The bill will further require DOA and DOTD to develop and maintain software that will track pay applications submitted and where the app is at in the payment process. Local governments who receive state funding will be required to utilize this software. The software will also be made available to the designer, contractor, sub consultants and subcontractors for increased visibility and transparency.,

If you have any questions, concerns, or information regarding any legislative matters, please email me at bdirmann@acecl.org

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