Public Inspectors for Safe Infrastructure Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3785 To amend title 23, United States Code, to require that public employees perform construction inspection work for federally funded highway projects, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 1, 2023 Mr. GARAMENDI (for himself, Ms. BROWNLEY, and Ms. JACKSON LEE) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Trans- portation and Infrastructure A BILL To amend title 23, United States Code, to require that public employees perform construction inspection work for federally funded highway projects, and for other pur- poses. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Public Inspectors for 4 Safe Infrastructure Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3785.IH H3785 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3785 IH SEC. 2. REQUIRING CONSTRUCTION INSPECTION SERVICES 1 FOR CERTAIN HIGHWAY CONTRACTS TO BE 2 PERFORMED BY PUBLIC EMPLOYEES. 3 Section 112(b) of title 23, United States Code, is 4 amended by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘(5) CONSTRUCTION INSPECTION SERVICES.— 6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In entering into a 7 contract under this section for the construction 8 of a project subject to subsection (a), including 9 a design-build project under paragraph (3) and 10 a project using a 2-phase contract under para- 11 graph (4), a State transportation department or 12 local transportation agency shall ensure that a 13 public employee performs construction inspec- 14 tion functions for such project. 15 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—If a State transpor- 16 tation department or local transportation agen- 17 cy does not have adequate existing or obtainable 18 staff to perform construction inspection func- 19 tions as required under subparagraph (A), the 20 department or agency may obtain such services 21 pursuant to temporary consultant contracts 22 until the department or agency has adequate or 23 existing staff to perform such functions. 24 ‘‘(C) TIME PERIOD.—Any temporary con- 25 tracts to provide construction inspection serv- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3785.IH H3785 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3785 IH ices under this subsection shall not exceed the 1 period that ends on the date that is 12 months 2 after the date on which the contract is awarded. 3 ‘‘(D) REPORTING AND TRANSPARENCY.— 4 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—At least once each 5 fiscal year, a State transportation depart- 6 ment or local transportation agency uti- 7 lizing the exception authority provided in 8 subparagraph (B) shall submit to the Sec- 9 retary a report containing— 10 ‘‘(I) a description of all construc- 11 tion inspection functions provided 12 through temporary consultant con- 13 tracts under such clause; and 14 ‘‘(II) a detailed justification of 15 the need for each exception to the re- 16 quirement of such clause. 17 ‘‘(ii) TRANSPARENCY.—The Secretary 18 shall make the report submitted under 19 clause (i) available to the public through 20 the website of the Department. 21 ‘‘(E) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 22 ‘‘(i) CONSTRUCTION INSPECTION 23 FUNCTION.—The term ‘construction in- 24 spection function’ includes construction en- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3785.IH H3785 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3785 IH gineering, contract administration, on-site 1 quality control inspection, materials test- 2 ing, and the functions of a resident engi- 3 neer or assistant resident engineer respon- 4 sible for the acceptance or rejection of a 5 project subject to the provisions of sub- 6 section (a) of this section. 7 ‘‘(ii) PUBLIC EMPLOYEE.—The term 8 ‘public employee’ means an employee of 9 the Federal Government, a State govern- 10 ment, or a local government.’’. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3785.IH H3785 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS