Architypes Spring 2025 – Government Affairs Update

With the Ohio General Assembly in full swing, legislators are focused primarily on the State Operating Budget, House Bill 96. As of April, the House has introduced 221 bills, and the Senate 168 bills. 

House Bill 54, the Transportation Budget, passed the General Assembly almost unanimously, appropriating $11.5 billion for the next two years beginning July 1, 2025. 

House Bill 96 for all other agencies is in its ninth hearing on a Substitute Bill amended on April 1st, with hearings beginning in the Senate.  The new language still contains the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission proposals for several concepts, discussed by AIA Ohio in interested party meetings.  However, only one proposal received consensus support: Retainage reform. 

OFCC nevertheless included all concepts in HB 96, which will change the way all public authorities’ public works projects:

Retainage Reform is supported by interested parties with no opposition, to simplify contractor retainage by 1) holding 4% of labor through substantial completion of the project, 2) prohibit the prime contractor from holding a higher rate of retainage on subcontractors, and 3) eliminate requirement of escrowing funds.

Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) would require the public authority, design professional, and contractor to share a joint agreement, incorporating risk sharing and incentives across all parties.  This has drawn opposition due to risk aversion, as the State cannot indemnify any party, as violating the Constitutional prohibition of incurring debt.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a digital representation of a building that allows these models to supplement the “plans and specifications”, permitting the owner to add them to contract documents. This has drawn opposition as the software is not generally used by all construction parties, and would complicate bidding.

Best Value Selection (BVS) would allow public authorities to combine the current 2-steps (RFQ, RFP) for Construction Manager at Risk and Design Build into 1-step for projects of less than $4 million.  This would allow public authorities to ask for price, currently prohibited by R.C. 153.691.

Self-Performance would be allowed with a competitive Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP), removing the requirements to bid the self-performed package to other subcontractors and submitting their self-performed bid prior to submission of GMP.

Other legislative topics tend to cover four topics:

1. Particular Constituency Interest, such as local project funding;
2. Ideological belief such as Sunset Review (“we have too many agencies!”);
3. Anecdotal, such as a building code variance based on a single example; and
4. Complimentary resolutions such as “state snake” or honoring a leader.

That is not to say that these bills are superfluous.  However, significant legislation requires significant consensus-building.  Therefore, substantive law tends to be wrapped into the budgets, as long as there is no controversy.

Board of Building Appeals Expedited Hearings.   Last session, Senate Bill 41 passed the Senate unanimously to provide for expedited appeals to the Ohio Board of Building Appeals.  Reintroduced as Senate Bill 6, it passed the Senate unanimously already, and is pending in the House Development Committee.

Residential Contractors License.  Senate Bill 54 would create an optional Residential-Only Contractors License through the Ohio Construction Industry Licensure Board.

Roofing Contractors License.  Senate Bill 125 would create a Residential-Only contractors license.

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