By Steve Rizer
In the last couple of years, a clear trend has emerged regarding states’ efforts to create new laws addressing construction projects. It is a trend that an Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) spokesperson brought up several times during a recent interview about recent construction lawmaking at the state level, and it is a trend that ConstructionPro Week (CPW) noticed when compiling a list of 62 new construction laws that states have adopted so far this year.
The trend “is the expansion of public-private-partnership [P3] authority to combat tight state budgets to address infrastructure needs,” AGC spokesperson Brian Turmail told CPW.
Turmail reported that 39 jurisdictions now have at least some form of P3 authority. The number of jurisdictions with authority for transportation P3 projects has risen to 36. In addition, 28 jurisdictions have been given P3 authority for building projects. He singled out steps taken in Maryland and Florida, which have “significantly expanded their P3 authority.”
CPW’s analysis of construction laws that states have adopted so far this year suggests that the P3 trend is continuing. Among that states that have approved new policies addressing such partnerships are Hawaii (H.B. 2413) and Oregon (H.B. 4111).
As for future state construction lawmaking, “you are likely to see the continued expansion of more innovative financing models with P3 legislation, best value procurement, and, on the more protective side, in-state preference laws,” Turmail predicted. “You will also likely see continued legislation impacting private contracting relationships in areas like anti-indemnification and prompt-pay laws.”
The ConstructionPro Network (CPN) member version of this article includes a complete transcript of CPW’s interview with Turmail. Our list of construction laws that states have adopted in 2014 -- with links to the enrolled documents -- will appear in an article for CPN members next week.
