Posted: | July 17, 2023 10:47 AM |
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From: | Senator Doug Mastriano |
To: | All Senate members |
Subject: | Saving Taxpayer Dollars on Township Public Projects |
In the near future, I plan to introduce legislation that will allow township officials to use a single contractor for a public construction project in the areas of general construction, electrical, plumbing, and heating and air conditioning. Under current statute, townships are required to have at least four separate prime contractors for one construction project. This means that individual contractors are required for general construction, electrical, plumbing, and heating and air conditioning. Multiple prime construction imposes four separate projects occurring simultaneously without unifying collaboration. This results in slowdowns and project overruns as there is no single authority to properly manage the project and protect the taxpayer’s money from waste and abuse. Taxpayers are the ones on the hook when a public project in their township goes over budget because of an inefficient multi-prime contractor mandate. Pennsylvania is one of only three states that still requires a complicated separate contractor system for public projects. This archaic requirement was enacted by the General Assembly over 110 years ago. In recent years, the General Assembly acted to exempt borough governments from the multi-contractor mandate. My legislation will extend the exemption to our township governments. This legislation is supported by the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors. Please join me as a sponsor. If you have any questions regarding this bill, please contact Joshua Herman in my office at jherman@pasen.gov |
Introduced as SB927