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Senate Finance Opens Hearings on Construction Reform Proposals

Dec 10, 2009

 

Senate Finance Opens Hearings on Construction Reform Proposals
Two members of the Strickland administration found themselves in the awkward position Monday of strongly advocating for passage of construction reform recommendations developed by a panel called for by the governor and put together by his Department of Administrative Services (DAS) – only not in the vehicle Senate Republicans want to insert it into, and counter to the desires of both the Senate and House Democratic caucuses. 

DAS Director Hugh Quill led off the afternoon’s testimony before the Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee by saying, “From the outset, the work of the Ohio Construction Reform Panel (see The Hannah Report, 12/3/09) was meant to bring subject matter experts together in dialogue which would lead to recommended changes to bring greater efficiency and value for taxpayers’ capital spending dollars. Those of us in the administration never meant for the panel’s report to supplant a traditional legislative process. We did hope that our recommendations could be used by Gov. Strickland to start this legislative process in both chambers of the General Assembly with the confidence that constructive dialogue was already under way among the competing interests inOhio’s construction reform debate.”
 
He went on to say, “While the administration fully supports construction reform, we also believe that injecting this issue into the current debate over how to fix the state’s immediate general revenue shortfall is counterproductive to both the budget effort and ultimately to the construction reform effort.”
 
Board of Regents Chancellor Eric Fingerhut was almost giddy later when he told the committee that he was glad to be able to address the issue in a public forum and answer members’ questions from both sides of the aisle.
 
“Since the day the report was adopted in April of this year, my team and I, together with representatives from across the University System, have stood ready to explain the report’s provisions, answer questions and to analyze any additional suggestions that may come from the General Assembly,” Fingerhut told the committee.
 
“We have provided answers and explanations when asked to do so in private, and have met with many members to advocate for the adoption of the report. But we have also consistently and repeatedly urged the General Assembly to begin the public consideration of this report so we can confront the issues of concern in an open forum.”
 
Pressed by Sen. Gary Cates (R-West Chester) about whether he supports inclusion of the provisions in HB318, Fingerhut answered, “Frankly, it is enormously frustrating to see an issue that is so important to higher education get caught up in the legislative debate that it is. Obviously, I am not unaware of the governor’s opposition to including it in HB318 and that the speaker has announced the same. I am here today to get construction reform passed. I implore you to get it passed, and hopefully we find a vehicle to do that.”
 
Senate Republicans on the committee continued to ply questions supporting their quest to add the provisions to HB318 that expand “the construction delivery menu,” as Quill described it, to, as panel facilitator Jeffrey Appelbaum of the law firm Thompson Hine LLP said, move beyond Ohio’s current multiple prime system to also include alternate project delivery methods “such as construction manager at risk, design-build and general contracting….”
 
Doing so, said all who testified Monday, would save the state – and particularly its universities – tens of millions of dollars on capital projects.
 
Ohio State University President Gordon Gee attempted to put it into perspective for the panel by telling them OSU is seeking to build a $1 billion medical center that has no state funds. However, he said, the state’s “construction regulations written more than 130 years ago – before the development and production of electric lighting, even,” and intended to be used to build canals, mean that when he seeks private contributions he has to admit that at least 10 percent – “and possibly as much as 20 to 30 percent” – of the donations “go to administrative costs” because of the process the university must follow in constructing a new facility.
 
He said that in his earlier tenure at Ohio State in the 1990s, “hardly any of the projects I worked on then were completed.” Gee said the renovation of the library that was just completed was begun back in his first administration. In contrast, during his much briefer tenures at Brown and Vanderbilt universities, he oversaw the construction of a number of buildings, with those at Vanderbilt costing $1.5 billion.
 
Challenged by Sen. Shirley Smith (D-Cleveland) about OSU’s failure to meet its goals under both the Minority Business Enterprises (MBE) and Encouraging Diversity, Growth and Equity (EDGE) programs, Gee pledged to exceed the EDGE goal, explaining that he believes the reforms contained in the construction rewrite will make it easier for minority firms to participate.
 
Smith, Finance Ranking Minority Member Sen. Dale Miller (D-Cleveland) and the other Democrats on the panel continued to press their contention that not all stakeholders – particularly African Americans – participated in the DAS deliberations, and that the issue is complex enough to warrant extensive hearings and should not be rushed into enactment.
 
Also testifying Monday was former Lt. Gov. Bruce Johnson, now the president of the Inter-University Council of Ohio. He told committee members the issue is a tough one for both parties – that both have constituents on all sides of the issue.

Senate Finance Opens Hearings on Construction Reform Proposals

Dec 8, 2009

Senate Finance Opens Hearings on Construction Reform Proposals
Two members of the Strickland administration found themselves in the awkward position Monday of strongly advocating for passage of construction reform recommendations developed by a panel called for by the governor and put together by his Department of Administrative Services (DAS) – only not in the vehicle Senate Republicans want to insert it into, and counter to the desires of both the Senate and House Democratic caucuses. 

DAS Director Hugh Quill led off the afternoon’s testimony before the Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee by saying, “From the outset, the work of the Ohio Construction Reform Panel was meant to bring subject matter experts together in dialogue which would lead to recommended changes to bring greater efficiency and value for taxpayers’ capital spending dollars. Those of us in the administration never meant for the panel’s report to supplant a traditional legislative process. We did hope that our recommendations could be used by Gov. Strickland to start this legislative process in both chambers of the General Assembly with the confidence that constructive dialogue was already under way among the competing interests inOhio’s construction reform debate.”

 
He went on to say, “While the administration fully supports construction reform, we also believe that injecting this issue into the current debate over how to fix the state’s immediate general revenue shortfall is counterproductive to both the budget effort and ultimately to the construction reform effort.”
 
Board of Regents Chancellor Eric Fingerhut was almost giddy later when he told the committee that he was glad to be able to address the issue in a public forum and answer members’ questions from both sides of the aisle.
 
“Since the day the report was adopted in April of this year, my team and I, together with representatives from across the University System, have stood ready to explain the report’s provisions, answer questions and to analyze any additional suggestions that may come from the General Assembly,” Fingerhut told the committee.
 
“We have provided answers and explanations when asked to do so in private, and have met with many members to advocate for the adoption of the report. But we have also consistently and repeatedly urged the General Assembly to begin the public consideration of this report so we can confront the issues of concern in an open forum.”
 
Pressed by Sen. Gary Cates (R-West Chester) about whether he supports inclusion of the provisions in HB318, Fingerhut answered, “Frankly, it is enormously frustrating to see an issue that is so important to higher education get caught up in the legislative debate that it is. Obviously, I am not unaware of the governor’s opposition to including it in HB318 and that the speaker has announced the same. I am here today to get construction reform passed. I implore you to get it passed, and hopefully we find a vehicle to do that.”
 
Senate Republicans on the committee continued to ply questions supporting their quest to add the provisions to HB318 that expand “the construction delivery menu,” as Quill described it, to, as panel facilitator Jeffrey Appelbaum of the law firm Thompson Hine LLP said, move beyond Ohio’s current multiple prime system to also include alternate project delivery methods “such as construction manager at risk, design-build and general contracting….”
 
Doing so, said all who testified Monday, would save the state – and particularly its universities – tens of millions of dollars on capital projects.
 
Ohio State University President Gordon Gee attempted to put it into perspective for the panel by telling them OSU is seeking to build a $1 billion medical center that has no state funds. However, he said, the state’s “construction regulations written more than 130 years ago – before the development and production of electric lighting, even,” and intended to be used to build canals, mean that when he seeks private contributions he has to admit that at least 10 percent – “and possibly as much as 20 to 30 percent” – of the donations “go to administrative costs” because of the process the university must follow in constructing a new facility.
 
He said that in his earlier tenure at Ohio State in the 1990s, “hardly any of the projects I worked on then were completed.” Gee said the renovation of the library that was just completed was begun back in his first administration. In contrast, during his much briefer tenures at Brown and Vanderbilt universities, he oversaw the construction of a number of buildings, with those at Vanderbilt costing $1.5 billion.
 
Challenged by Sen. Shirley Smith (D-Cleveland) about OSU’s failure to meet its goals under both the Minority Business Enterprises (MBE) and Encouraging Diversity, Growth and Equity (EDGE) programs, Gee pledged to exceed the EDGE goal, explaining that he believes the reforms contained in the construction rewrite will make it easier for minority firms to participate.
 
Smith, Finance Ranking Minority Member Sen. Dale Miller (D-Cleveland) and the other Democrats on the panel continued to press their contention that not all stakeholders – particularly African Americans – participated in the DAS deliberations, and that the issue is complex enough to warrant extensive hearings and should not be rushed into enactment.
 
Also testifying Monday was former Lt. Gov. Bruce Johnson, now the president of the Inter-University Council of Ohio. He told committee members the issue is a tough one for both parties – that both have constituents on all sides of the issue.

Black Caucus President Vows ‘No Compromise’ on Opposition to OCRP Inclusion in HB 318

Dec 4, 2009

Black Caucus President Vows ‘No Compromise’ on Opposition to OCRP Inclusion in HB 318

Earlier this week Senate Democrats Democrats announced their lack of support for including OCRP recommendations in the Senate’s version of HB 318.  Yesterday, Ohio Legislative Black Caucus President, Rep. Sandra Williams from Cleveland said the issue is a “poison pill” for the group’s 17 members.  They have let the leadership know that they are not interested in meeting until they remove construction reform from the proposed Budget bill. They believe there is no reason to meet unless there is an agreement to remove the language.  She said, “there is absolutely no compromise that we’re willing to even talk about.”

Williams said the Black Caucus members feel that minority contractors were largely left out of the Construction Reform Panel process. “There was only one black person who represented one trade out of the entire construction industry,” she said. “Nothing in the report reflects any of the problems or issues that African-American contractors or tradesmen have.”

Black Caucus members have been meeting with African-American contractors and tradesmen to develop their own construction recommendations, which will be released next Wednesday, she said. The group has been working with Rep. Matt Szollosi on separate legislation. “We want to vet it out in the committee process because we believe people really need to understand the barriers that these people face, as opposed to just rushing something through,” she said.

Although the Construction Reform Panel recommendations omitted minority concerns, OLBC members aren’t opposed to expanding allowable delivery methods to include construction manager at risk and design-build, she said.

House Speaker Pro Tem Szollosi said he has been working on a proposal that would implement many of the task force’s recommendations. “I’ve been working closely with a number of stakeholders to address as many concerns as possible. Public works construction is a complicated and complex matter and needs to be very carefully addressed,” he said.

Minority Leader, Sen. Cafaro, and Sen. Fred Strahorn from Dayton expressed frustration Wednesday with the GOP’s insistence on including OCRP language in the budget bill, saying it is too complex an issue for a budget-related amendment and should be vetted thoroughly in a separate bill. 

While DAS has been championing the construction law changes since biennium budget deliberations, the lawmakers said their caucus has not come under pressure by the administration to go along with the Senate GOP plan.

“The administration understands that while they wanted to do construction reform, it was never their intent that we wouldn’t do our jobs and work through some of the real concerns of different groups and interested parties,” Sen. Strahorn said. “I kind of resent the notion that because the governor commissioned a panel and they offered a report that we still shouldn’t do our job.”

Sen. Cafaro said, “Study commissions are meant to yield reports that ultimately are vetted though the legislative process. The commitment the governor has and we all have to construction reform remains.”

Meanwhile, House Speaker, Armond Budish, sent a letter to Sen. Harris offering to focus House attention on construction contracting and criminal sentencing revisions in separate legislation.

“Given the very short timeline that is now before us, and in the interest of compromise, I pledge to you my willingness to work together on initiatives such as construction reform and sentencing reform during the coming months. I would be happy to meet with you at your convenience to discuss an expedited but thorough legislative process for considering these major initiatives,” he said.

Construction Reform Holds Up Budget

Dec 4, 2009

The Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee has set a hearing for 1:30 p.m. Monday on the construction reform plan, which Senate Republicans want to include in HB318 (Sykes) as a way to curb future budgetary costs.
 
Senate President Bill Harris (R-Ashland) is promising five votes from his caucus for Gov. Strickland’s proposed delay of the final year of a planned income tax cut in exchange for proposals such as sentencing and construction reform being added to HB318.
 
Witnesses who have been invited to speak at Monday’s hearing include: E. Gordon Gee, president of the Ohio State University; Bruce Johnson, president of the Inter-University Council of Ohio; Eric Fingerhut, chancellor of the Board of Regents; Hugh Quill, the director of the Ohio Department of Administrative Services, and Jeffrey Appelbaum, the facilitator of the Ohio Construction Reform Panel.
 
Opposition groups are already urging separate hearings on the construction reform proposal. Ohioans for Fair and Open Bidding, which includes groups such as the National Electrical Contractors Association, Ohio Conference (NECA-Ohio), the Mechanical Contractors Association of Ohio and the Ohio State Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters, issued a statement saying the issue does not need to be rushed.
 
“We believe in reform, but let’s do it sensibly and in the open,” said Ronald Becker, president of NECA-Ohio.
 
The Mechanical Contractors Association of Ohio also shot a letter to Senate Finance Chairman John Carey asking for the chance to testify on the reform proposals as well. “While the individuals scheduled to appear certainly have experience overseeing state construction projects, we believe that it would be vitally important to the committee to also hear testimony from individuals who actually have the hands-on experience of constructing a building,” Valerie Dahlberg, the group’s executive director said in the letter.

Construction Reform Recommendations Still in Play; Negotiations Continue

Nov 19, 2009

Late Wednesday, at the end of a contentious day of negotiations among Senate and House Leadership and Governor Strickland, Senate Democrats rejected the latest Republican amendments to HB 318, the bill that aims to fill the $851 million gap in the FY10-11 budget.  One of the Republican amendments would enact the recommendations of the Ohio Construction Reform Panel.  The plan had been for the Senate Finance Committee to approve the amendments Wednesday morning and send them to the full Senate for approval later in day.  But that plan fell apart when Senate and House Democrats along with Governor Strickland signaled they wouldn’t go along.

 

 

Unable to proceed further, the Senate Finance Committee convened Wednesday evening for the purpose of unveiling their amendments (which included the OCRP recommendations), then adjourned indefinitely– to allow all the interested parties time to mull things over and to enjoy a Thanksgiving Holiday.

 

 

The Ohio Construction Reform Panel’s recommendations may determine how architects will do business with the State for the next decade. Among the recommendations (designed to lower the cost and speed construction of public projects) are amendments that would allow public owners to use alternative delivery methods including a hybrid design-build concept and construction manager at risk. AIA-Ohio supports the recommendations so long as they safeguard the Qualifications Based System (QBS) for selecting architects for state work.

 

 

AIA-Ohio will analyze this latest proposed legislation to assure it is consistent with AIA-Ohio policy.

 

 

Future?

 

There’s no way to tell what is likely to happen when the Senate, House and Governor return to the budget bargaining table.  Along with the OCRP recommendations Senators added a large number of other issues to HB 318 which both the House and Governor Strickland find anathema.

 

 

Following are the provisions rolled into the substitute bill that were highlighted by Senate Finance Chairman Sen. John Carey (R-Wellston) during Wednesday evening’s hearing:
–  Includes Ohio Construction Reform Panel recommendations as drafted by the Department of Administrative Services (DAS).
– Allows one-third of the scheduled income tax reduction to go into effect rather than freezing the full reduction. This nets the state $278.7 million in FY10 and $284.0 million in FY11.
– Creates a trigger mechanism by which an increased portion of or the full scheduled income tax rate reduction would occur if the governor moves forward on VLTs, or if excess casino revenues are generated within the biennium and could be used to offset GRF.
– Restores $25 million in FY10 and $35 million in FY11 for chartered, nonpublic schools that were disproportionately cut in the budget process.
– Transfers the casino licensure fees, approved by voters as ‘State Issue 3,’ into the GRF to offset current regional job program expenditures. This provides $200 million in FY11.
– Grants waivers for school districts regarding unfunded mandates for all-day kindergarten and class size reductions.
– Allows school districts to privatize transportation services if they choose to do so.
– Provides flexibility in state report cards for school districts that failed to meet adequate yearly progress (AYP) in certain sub groups.
– Allows broader use of joint purchasing by education service centers and school purchasing consortia.
– Includes SB190 ROTC high school credit provisions.
– Requires DAS implement paperwork reduction/cost savings strategies. This is estimated to save $10 million/year.
– Includes comprehensive sentencing reforms. This is estimated to save $20 million in FY10 and $30 million in FY11.
– Establishes an oil and gas drilling pilot program on state-owned land at Salt Fork. This is estimated to bring in $10 million in FY11.
– Removes pay cut language as it is now contained in SB209.
– Creates a privatization commission to study state functions that could be privatized.
– Specifies that future collective bargaining contracts let by the state will coincide with the state’s biennial budget time frame.
– Requires that three state agencies (natural resources, education, and transportation) undergo performance audits.
– Studies a state government restructuring plan similar to those proposed in SB52 and HB25.
– Studies potential cost savings and economic benefits to Ohio employers and injured workers by allowing private insurance companies to compete with the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC).
– Requires the auditor of state’s office to determine if BWC has adequate reserves compared to industry standards and to recommend rebates if an over-reserve is determined to exist.
– Studies cost savings that may be achieved if the state were to go to a four-day workweek.
– Transfers functions of the School Employee Health Care Board to DAS and deletes GRF appropriation in the Department of Education. This saves $800,000/year.
– Transfers $15 million per fiscal year from the liquor profits fund into the GRF.
– Transfers $15 million per fiscal year from the Housing Trust Fund into the GRF.
– Transfers $1 million per fiscal year in total from three public safety education funds (83G0, 83N0, and 8440).
– Specifies that the insurance settlement funds for the Lake Hope State Park lodge be used for the purpose of fixing that site.
– Uses half of the current scrap tire fee to provide funding to the state’s soil and water districts.
– Ensures correct appropriation authority for the Department of Mental Health’s 408 line item.
A PDF of the Senate proposed OCRP amendments to HB 318 is available upon request.
We’ll keep you posted on future developments….

 

 

David W. Field, CAE, Hon. AIA

 

Executive Vice President

 

AIA-Ohio

Bill to Remove Architects Grandfather Exemption Heard: SB 183

Nov 18, 2009

SB 183, which would eliminate a corporate grandfather exemption from the requirements of the Architects Licensing Law was heard Tuesday by the Senate Insurance Commerce and Labor Committee.

 

 

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Schaffer said the bill would close a loophole in state regulation of architects, and had been requested by the Ohio Architects Board. He said when the state first implemented specific requirements on who could own an architecture firm, it grandfathered some existing firms to allow them to avoid fees and paperwork. However, Schaffer said, that opened a loophole that came to light recently when the Architecture Board investigated and tried to take action against someone who was practicing architecture without a license. They found out that the person had purchased a pre-existing architecture firm that had been grandfathered and thus did not have to comply with licensure requirements.

Bill to Revise Architects License Law (HB127) Gets Hearing

Oct 22, 2009

The House State Government Committee will take testimony Wednesday from those seeking passage of HB 127 which would permit the Architect’s Licensing Board as well as other individual boards, commissions, and agencies to adopt rules to determine what criminal offenses are “substantially related” to an applicable profession, the committing of which offenses causes certain licenses, permits, registrations, and certificates to be denied, revoked, suspended, or not renewed.

Under current law, certain boards, commissions, and agencies have the authority to deny, revoke, suspend, refuse to renew, or impose conditions on a license, permit, registration, or certificate if the applicant or holder has committed certain crimes. The bill changes the varying types of those crimes to a “criminal offense that is substantially related” to the applicable profession. The bill defines “criminal offense that is substantially related” to mean that “the nature of the felony or misdemeanor offense for which the person was convicted or to which the person pleaded guilty has a direct bearing on the fitness or ability of the person to perform one or more of the duties or responsibilities necessarily related to a particular occupation, profession, or trade regulated by Title [47] of the Revised Code.”

Today the State Board of Examiners of Architects may deny renewal of, revoke, or suspend a certificate of qualification or a certificate of authorization if the certificate holder has been found guilty by the Board or a court of justice of any fraud or deceit in the holder’s professional practice or has been convicted of a felony by a court of justice. (R.C. 4703.15.) HB 127 would add. . . or pleaded guilty to a criminal offense that is substantially related to the practice of architecture by a court of justice.

Bill to Permit Park Districts to create Building Departments Gets Hearing

Oct 21, 2009

The Senate State and Local Government and Veteran Affairs Committee took testimony Tuesday on SB 151 which would authorize a park district’s board of park commissioners to create a building department for building code enforcement purposes.

Interim Executive Director Steve Madewell of Lake Metroparks appeared as a proponent, noting he had originally broached the idea for SB151 to Sen. Grendell. He emphasized that legislative changes would be permissive only.

“This simply includes 1545 park districts on the list of political subdivisions authorized to administer a building department,” he said. “Currently, this list includes municipalities, counties and townships.”

Madewell explained that the bill would not change current requirements of the Ohio Basic Building Code, nor bidding or contracting requirements.

Senate Finance Opens Hearings on Construction Reform Proposals

Dec 10, 2009

 

Senate Finance Opens Hearings on Construction Reform Proposals
Two members of the Strickland administration found themselves in the awkward position Monday of strongly advocating for passage of construction reform recommendations developed by a panel called for by the governor and put together by his Department of Administrative Services (DAS) – only not in the vehicle Senate Republicans want to insert it into, and counter to the desires of both the Senate and House Democratic caucuses. 

DAS Director Hugh Quill led off the afternoon’s testimony before the Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee by saying, “From the outset, the work of the Ohio Construction Reform Panel (see The Hannah Report, 12/3/09) was meant to bring subject matter experts together in dialogue which would lead to recommended changes to bring greater efficiency and value for taxpayers’ capital spending dollars. Those of us in the administration never meant for the panel’s report to supplant a traditional legislative process. We did hope that our recommendations could be used by Gov. Strickland to start this legislative process in both chambers of the General Assembly with the confidence that constructive dialogue was already under way among the competing interests inOhio’s construction reform debate.”
 
He went on to say, “While the administration fully supports construction reform, we also believe that injecting this issue into the current debate over how to fix the state’s immediate general revenue shortfall is counterproductive to both the budget effort and ultimately to the construction reform effort.”
 
Board of Regents Chancellor Eric Fingerhut was almost giddy later when he told the committee that he was glad to be able to address the issue in a public forum and answer members’ questions from both sides of the aisle.
 
“Since the day the report was adopted in April of this year, my team and I, together with representatives from across the University System, have stood ready to explain the report’s provisions, answer questions and to analyze any additional suggestions that may come from the General Assembly,” Fingerhut told the committee.
 
“We have provided answers and explanations when asked to do so in private, and have met with many members to advocate for the adoption of the report. But we have also consistently and repeatedly urged the General Assembly to begin the public consideration of this report so we can confront the issues of concern in an open forum.”
 
Pressed by Sen. Gary Cates (R-West Chester) about whether he supports inclusion of the provisions in HB318, Fingerhut answered, “Frankly, it is enormously frustrating to see an issue that is so important to higher education get caught up in the legislative debate that it is. Obviously, I am not unaware of the governor’s opposition to including it in HB318 and that the speaker has announced the same. I am here today to get construction reform passed. I implore you to get it passed, and hopefully we find a vehicle to do that.”
 
Senate Republicans on the committee continued to ply questions supporting their quest to add the provisions to HB318 that expand “the construction delivery menu,” as Quill described it, to, as panel facilitator Jeffrey Appelbaum of the law firm Thompson Hine LLP said, move beyond Ohio’s current multiple prime system to also include alternate project delivery methods “such as construction manager at risk, design-build and general contracting….”
 
Doing so, said all who testified Monday, would save the state – and particularly its universities – tens of millions of dollars on capital projects.
 
Ohio State University President Gordon Gee attempted to put it into perspective for the panel by telling them OSU is seeking to build a $1 billion medical center that has no state funds. However, he said, the state’s “construction regulations written more than 130 years ago – before the development and production of electric lighting, even,” and intended to be used to build canals, mean that when he seeks private contributions he has to admit that at least 10 percent – “and possibly as much as 20 to 30 percent” – of the donations “go to administrative costs” because of the process the university must follow in constructing a new facility.
 
He said that in his earlier tenure at Ohio State in the 1990s, “hardly any of the projects I worked on then were completed.” Gee said the renovation of the library that was just completed was begun back in his first administration. In contrast, during his much briefer tenures at Brown and Vanderbilt universities, he oversaw the construction of a number of buildings, with those at Vanderbilt costing $1.5 billion.
 
Challenged by Sen. Shirley Smith (D-Cleveland) about OSU’s failure to meet its goals under both the Minority Business Enterprises (MBE) and Encouraging Diversity, Growth and Equity (EDGE) programs, Gee pledged to exceed the EDGE goal, explaining that he believes the reforms contained in the construction rewrite will make it easier for minority firms to participate.
 
Smith, Finance Ranking Minority Member Sen. Dale Miller (D-Cleveland) and the other Democrats on the panel continued to press their contention that not all stakeholders – particularly African Americans – participated in the DAS deliberations, and that the issue is complex enough to warrant extensive hearings and should not be rushed into enactment.
 
Also testifying Monday was former Lt. Gov. Bruce Johnson, now the president of the Inter-University Council of Ohio. He told committee members the issue is a tough one for both parties – that both have constituents on all sides of the issue.

Senate Finance Opens Hearings on Construction Reform Proposals

Dec 8, 2009

Senate Finance Opens Hearings on Construction Reform Proposals
Two members of the Strickland administration found themselves in the awkward position Monday of strongly advocating for passage of construction reform recommendations developed by a panel called for by the governor and put together by his Department of Administrative Services (DAS) – only not in the vehicle Senate Republicans want to insert it into, and counter to the desires of both the Senate and House Democratic caucuses. 

DAS Director Hugh Quill led off the afternoon’s testimony before the Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee by saying, “From the outset, the work of the Ohio Construction Reform Panel was meant to bring subject matter experts together in dialogue which would lead to recommended changes to bring greater efficiency and value for taxpayers’ capital spending dollars. Those of us in the administration never meant for the panel’s report to supplant a traditional legislative process. We did hope that our recommendations could be used by Gov. Strickland to start this legislative process in both chambers of the General Assembly with the confidence that constructive dialogue was already under way among the competing interests inOhio’s construction reform debate.”

 
He went on to say, “While the administration fully supports construction reform, we also believe that injecting this issue into the current debate over how to fix the state’s immediate general revenue shortfall is counterproductive to both the budget effort and ultimately to the construction reform effort.”
 
Board of Regents Chancellor Eric Fingerhut was almost giddy later when he told the committee that he was glad to be able to address the issue in a public forum and answer members’ questions from both sides of the aisle.
 
“Since the day the report was adopted in April of this year, my team and I, together with representatives from across the University System, have stood ready to explain the report’s provisions, answer questions and to analyze any additional suggestions that may come from the General Assembly,” Fingerhut told the committee.
 
“We have provided answers and explanations when asked to do so in private, and have met with many members to advocate for the adoption of the report. But we have also consistently and repeatedly urged the General Assembly to begin the public consideration of this report so we can confront the issues of concern in an open forum.”
 
Pressed by Sen. Gary Cates (R-West Chester) about whether he supports inclusion of the provisions in HB318, Fingerhut answered, “Frankly, it is enormously frustrating to see an issue that is so important to higher education get caught up in the legislative debate that it is. Obviously, I am not unaware of the governor’s opposition to including it in HB318 and that the speaker has announced the same. I am here today to get construction reform passed. I implore you to get it passed, and hopefully we find a vehicle to do that.”
 
Senate Republicans on the committee continued to ply questions supporting their quest to add the provisions to HB318 that expand “the construction delivery menu,” as Quill described it, to, as panel facilitator Jeffrey Appelbaum of the law firm Thompson Hine LLP said, move beyond Ohio’s current multiple prime system to also include alternate project delivery methods “such as construction manager at risk, design-build and general contracting….”
 
Doing so, said all who testified Monday, would save the state – and particularly its universities – tens of millions of dollars on capital projects.
 
Ohio State University President Gordon Gee attempted to put it into perspective for the panel by telling them OSU is seeking to build a $1 billion medical center that has no state funds. However, he said, the state’s “construction regulations written more than 130 years ago – before the development and production of electric lighting, even,” and intended to be used to build canals, mean that when he seeks private contributions he has to admit that at least 10 percent – “and possibly as much as 20 to 30 percent” – of the donations “go to administrative costs” because of the process the university must follow in constructing a new facility.
 
He said that in his earlier tenure at Ohio State in the 1990s, “hardly any of the projects I worked on then were completed.” Gee said the renovation of the library that was just completed was begun back in his first administration. In contrast, during his much briefer tenures at Brown and Vanderbilt universities, he oversaw the construction of a number of buildings, with those at Vanderbilt costing $1.5 billion.
 
Challenged by Sen. Shirley Smith (D-Cleveland) about OSU’s failure to meet its goals under both the Minority Business Enterprises (MBE) and Encouraging Diversity, Growth and Equity (EDGE) programs, Gee pledged to exceed the EDGE goal, explaining that he believes the reforms contained in the construction rewrite will make it easier for minority firms to participate.
 
Smith, Finance Ranking Minority Member Sen. Dale Miller (D-Cleveland) and the other Democrats on the panel continued to press their contention that not all stakeholders – particularly African Americans – participated in the DAS deliberations, and that the issue is complex enough to warrant extensive hearings and should not be rushed into enactment.
 
Also testifying Monday was former Lt. Gov. Bruce Johnson, now the president of the Inter-University Council of Ohio. He told committee members the issue is a tough one for both parties – that both have constituents on all sides of the issue.

Black Caucus President Vows ‘No Compromise’ on Opposition to OCRP Inclusion in HB 318

Dec 4, 2009

Black Caucus President Vows ‘No Compromise’ on Opposition to OCRP Inclusion in HB 318

Earlier this week Senate Democrats Democrats announced their lack of support for including OCRP recommendations in the Senate’s version of HB 318.  Yesterday, Ohio Legislative Black Caucus President, Rep. Sandra Williams from Cleveland said the issue is a “poison pill” for the group’s 17 members.  They have let the leadership know that they are not interested in meeting until they remove construction reform from the proposed Budget bill. They believe there is no reason to meet unless there is an agreement to remove the language.  She said, “there is absolutely no compromise that we’re willing to even talk about.”

Williams said the Black Caucus members feel that minority contractors were largely left out of the Construction Reform Panel process. “There was only one black person who represented one trade out of the entire construction industry,” she said. “Nothing in the report reflects any of the problems or issues that African-American contractors or tradesmen have.”

Black Caucus members have been meeting with African-American contractors and tradesmen to develop their own construction recommendations, which will be released next Wednesday, she said. The group has been working with Rep. Matt Szollosi on separate legislation. “We want to vet it out in the committee process because we believe people really need to understand the barriers that these people face, as opposed to just rushing something through,” she said.

Although the Construction Reform Panel recommendations omitted minority concerns, OLBC members aren’t opposed to expanding allowable delivery methods to include construction manager at risk and design-build, she said.

House Speaker Pro Tem Szollosi said he has been working on a proposal that would implement many of the task force’s recommendations. “I’ve been working closely with a number of stakeholders to address as many concerns as possible. Public works construction is a complicated and complex matter and needs to be very carefully addressed,” he said.

Minority Leader, Sen. Cafaro, and Sen. Fred Strahorn from Dayton expressed frustration Wednesday with the GOP’s insistence on including OCRP language in the budget bill, saying it is too complex an issue for a budget-related amendment and should be vetted thoroughly in a separate bill. 

While DAS has been championing the construction law changes since biennium budget deliberations, the lawmakers said their caucus has not come under pressure by the administration to go along with the Senate GOP plan.

“The administration understands that while they wanted to do construction reform, it was never their intent that we wouldn’t do our jobs and work through some of the real concerns of different groups and interested parties,” Sen. Strahorn said. “I kind of resent the notion that because the governor commissioned a panel and they offered a report that we still shouldn’t do our job.”

Sen. Cafaro said, “Study commissions are meant to yield reports that ultimately are vetted though the legislative process. The commitment the governor has and we all have to construction reform remains.”

Meanwhile, House Speaker, Armond Budish, sent a letter to Sen. Harris offering to focus House attention on construction contracting and criminal sentencing revisions in separate legislation.

“Given the very short timeline that is now before us, and in the interest of compromise, I pledge to you my willingness to work together on initiatives such as construction reform and sentencing reform during the coming months. I would be happy to meet with you at your convenience to discuss an expedited but thorough legislative process for considering these major initiatives,” he said.

Construction Reform Holds Up Budget

Dec 4, 2009

The Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee has set a hearing for 1:30 p.m. Monday on the construction reform plan, which Senate Republicans want to include in HB318 (Sykes) as a way to curb future budgetary costs.
 
Senate President Bill Harris (R-Ashland) is promising five votes from his caucus for Gov. Strickland’s proposed delay of the final year of a planned income tax cut in exchange for proposals such as sentencing and construction reform being added to HB318.
 
Witnesses who have been invited to speak at Monday’s hearing include: E. Gordon Gee, president of the Ohio State University; Bruce Johnson, president of the Inter-University Council of Ohio; Eric Fingerhut, chancellor of the Board of Regents; Hugh Quill, the director of the Ohio Department of Administrative Services, and Jeffrey Appelbaum, the facilitator of the Ohio Construction Reform Panel.
 
Opposition groups are already urging separate hearings on the construction reform proposal. Ohioans for Fair and Open Bidding, which includes groups such as the National Electrical Contractors Association, Ohio Conference (NECA-Ohio), the Mechanical Contractors Association of Ohio and the Ohio State Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters, issued a statement saying the issue does not need to be rushed.
 
“We believe in reform, but let’s do it sensibly and in the open,” said Ronald Becker, president of NECA-Ohio.
 
The Mechanical Contractors Association of Ohio also shot a letter to Senate Finance Chairman John Carey asking for the chance to testify on the reform proposals as well. “While the individuals scheduled to appear certainly have experience overseeing state construction projects, we believe that it would be vitally important to the committee to also hear testimony from individuals who actually have the hands-on experience of constructing a building,” Valerie Dahlberg, the group’s executive director said in the letter.

Construction Reform Recommendations Still in Play; Negotiations Continue

Nov 19, 2009

Late Wednesday, at the end of a contentious day of negotiations among Senate and House Leadership and Governor Strickland, Senate Democrats rejected the latest Republican amendments to HB 318, the bill that aims to fill the $851 million gap in the FY10-11 budget.  One of the Republican amendments would enact the recommendations of the Ohio Construction Reform Panel.  The plan had been for the Senate Finance Committee to approve the amendments Wednesday morning and send them to the full Senate for approval later in day.  But that plan fell apart when Senate and House Democrats along with Governor Strickland signaled they wouldn’t go along.

 

 

Unable to proceed further, the Senate Finance Committee convened Wednesday evening for the purpose of unveiling their amendments (which included the OCRP recommendations), then adjourned indefinitely– to allow all the interested parties time to mull things over and to enjoy a Thanksgiving Holiday.

 

 

The Ohio Construction Reform Panel’s recommendations may determine how architects will do business with the State for the next decade. Among the recommendations (designed to lower the cost and speed construction of public projects) are amendments that would allow public owners to use alternative delivery methods including a hybrid design-build concept and construction manager at risk. AIA-Ohio supports the recommendations so long as they safeguard the Qualifications Based System (QBS) for selecting architects for state work.

 

 

AIA-Ohio will analyze this latest proposed legislation to assure it is consistent with AIA-Ohio policy.

 

 

Future?

 

There’s no way to tell what is likely to happen when the Senate, House and Governor return to the budget bargaining table.  Along with the OCRP recommendations Senators added a large number of other issues to HB 318 which both the House and Governor Strickland find anathema.

 

 

Following are the provisions rolled into the substitute bill that were highlighted by Senate Finance Chairman Sen. John Carey (R-Wellston) during Wednesday evening’s hearing:
–  Includes Ohio Construction Reform Panel recommendations as drafted by the Department of Administrative Services (DAS).
– Allows one-third of the scheduled income tax reduction to go into effect rather than freezing the full reduction. This nets the state $278.7 million in FY10 and $284.0 million in FY11.
– Creates a trigger mechanism by which an increased portion of or the full scheduled income tax rate reduction would occur if the governor moves forward on VLTs, or if excess casino revenues are generated within the biennium and could be used to offset GRF.
– Restores $25 million in FY10 and $35 million in FY11 for chartered, nonpublic schools that were disproportionately cut in the budget process.
– Transfers the casino licensure fees, approved by voters as ‘State Issue 3,’ into the GRF to offset current regional job program expenditures. This provides $200 million in FY11.
– Grants waivers for school districts regarding unfunded mandates for all-day kindergarten and class size reductions.
– Allows school districts to privatize transportation services if they choose to do so.
– Provides flexibility in state report cards for school districts that failed to meet adequate yearly progress (AYP) in certain sub groups.
– Allows broader use of joint purchasing by education service centers and school purchasing consortia.
– Includes SB190 ROTC high school credit provisions.
– Requires DAS implement paperwork reduction/cost savings strategies. This is estimated to save $10 million/year.
– Includes comprehensive sentencing reforms. This is estimated to save $20 million in FY10 and $30 million in FY11.
– Establishes an oil and gas drilling pilot program on state-owned land at Salt Fork. This is estimated to bring in $10 million in FY11.
– Removes pay cut language as it is now contained in SB209.
– Creates a privatization commission to study state functions that could be privatized.
– Specifies that future collective bargaining contracts let by the state will coincide with the state’s biennial budget time frame.
– Requires that three state agencies (natural resources, education, and transportation) undergo performance audits.
– Studies a state government restructuring plan similar to those proposed in SB52 and HB25.
– Studies potential cost savings and economic benefits to Ohio employers and injured workers by allowing private insurance companies to compete with the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC).
– Requires the auditor of state’s office to determine if BWC has adequate reserves compared to industry standards and to recommend rebates if an over-reserve is determined to exist.
– Studies cost savings that may be achieved if the state were to go to a four-day workweek.
– Transfers functions of the School Employee Health Care Board to DAS and deletes GRF appropriation in the Department of Education. This saves $800,000/year.
– Transfers $15 million per fiscal year from the liquor profits fund into the GRF.
– Transfers $15 million per fiscal year from the Housing Trust Fund into the GRF.
– Transfers $1 million per fiscal year in total from three public safety education funds (83G0, 83N0, and 8440).
– Specifies that the insurance settlement funds for the Lake Hope State Park lodge be used for the purpose of fixing that site.
– Uses half of the current scrap tire fee to provide funding to the state’s soil and water districts.
– Ensures correct appropriation authority for the Department of Mental Health’s 408 line item.
A PDF of the Senate proposed OCRP amendments to HB 318 is available upon request.
We’ll keep you posted on future developments….

 

 

David W. Field, CAE, Hon. AIA

 

Executive Vice President

 

AIA-Ohio

Bill to Remove Architects Grandfather Exemption Heard: SB 183

Nov 18, 2009

SB 183, which would eliminate a corporate grandfather exemption from the requirements of the Architects Licensing Law was heard Tuesday by the Senate Insurance Commerce and Labor Committee.

 

 

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Schaffer said the bill would close a loophole in state regulation of architects, and had been requested by the Ohio Architects Board. He said when the state first implemented specific requirements on who could own an architecture firm, it grandfathered some existing firms to allow them to avoid fees and paperwork. However, Schaffer said, that opened a loophole that came to light recently when the Architecture Board investigated and tried to take action against someone who was practicing architecture without a license. They found out that the person had purchased a pre-existing architecture firm that had been grandfathered and thus did not have to comply with licensure requirements.

Bill to Revise Architects License Law (HB127) Gets Hearing

Oct 22, 2009

The House State Government Committee will take testimony Wednesday from those seeking passage of HB 127 which would permit the Architect’s Licensing Board as well as other individual boards, commissions, and agencies to adopt rules to determine what criminal offenses are “substantially related” to an applicable profession, the committing of which offenses causes certain licenses, permits, registrations, and certificates to be denied, revoked, suspended, or not renewed.

Under current law, certain boards, commissions, and agencies have the authority to deny, revoke, suspend, refuse to renew, or impose conditions on a license, permit, registration, or certificate if the applicant or holder has committed certain crimes. The bill changes the varying types of those crimes to a “criminal offense that is substantially related” to the applicable profession. The bill defines “criminal offense that is substantially related” to mean that “the nature of the felony or misdemeanor offense for which the person was convicted or to which the person pleaded guilty has a direct bearing on the fitness or ability of the person to perform one or more of the duties or responsibilities necessarily related to a particular occupation, profession, or trade regulated by Title [47] of the Revised Code.”

Today the State Board of Examiners of Architects may deny renewal of, revoke, or suspend a certificate of qualification or a certificate of authorization if the certificate holder has been found guilty by the Board or a court of justice of any fraud or deceit in the holder’s professional practice or has been convicted of a felony by a court of justice. (R.C. 4703.15.) HB 127 would add. . . or pleaded guilty to a criminal offense that is substantially related to the practice of architecture by a court of justice.

Bill to Permit Park Districts to create Building Departments Gets Hearing

Oct 21, 2009

The Senate State and Local Government and Veteran Affairs Committee took testimony Tuesday on SB 151 which would authorize a park district’s board of park commissioners to create a building department for building code enforcement purposes.

Interim Executive Director Steve Madewell of Lake Metroparks appeared as a proponent, noting he had originally broached the idea for SB151 to Sen. Grendell. He emphasized that legislative changes would be permissive only.

“This simply includes 1545 park districts on the list of political subdivisions authorized to administer a building department,” he said. “Currently, this list includes municipalities, counties and townships.”

Madewell explained that the bill would not change current requirements of the Ohio Basic Building Code, nor bidding or contracting requirements.