NASBP Focal Point - April 15, 2022

Legislative News at a Glance

Twenty-nine state legislatures, DC, and U.S. Congress are currently in session: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Federal, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

Territories: Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands.

*Click here for a complete 2022 calendar of the states’ legislative session dates.

In This Issue

Federal Report
Register! NASBP, SFAA Virtual Fly-In: May 25
Reinstated Federal Vaccine Mandate
State Report
Bond Assistance
Bond Waiver
Other Resources
Contractor Bonding Education and Mentoring Program

Federal Report

Virtual Fly-in

Registration now open!! NASBP & SFAA Virtual Legislative Fly-In on Wednesday, May 25

Join us for the second Joint NASBP and SFAA Virtual Legislative Fly-in on Wednesday, May 25. If you have not participated in a Fly-in, please take this opportunity to make May 25 your first Fly-in! No travel will be required to participate. NASBP’s consultant will begin to schedule participants congressional appointments later this month. Registration for this event is complimentary but required.

Your participation as a surety advocate is critical to ensure federal policymakers on Capitol Hill understand the significant role bonds play to protect taxpayer funds and advance public works infrastructure projects. While protocol for entering House Office Buildings has become somewhat less restrictive, visitors will still be required to meet Hill staff outside, be escorted to their appointment, and are to remain with Hill staff at all times. Given this complexity and logistical challenge, a virtual fly-in continues to be the soundest approach to meeting with your member of Congress.

Vaccine Mandate Reinstated for Federal Workforce

Last September, President Biden issued Executive Order 1403 mandating Covid-19 vaccines for millions of federal workers and government contractors without qualifying medical or religious exemptions. EO 1403 states that “[e]ach agency shall implement, to the extent consistent with applicable law, a program to require COVID-19 vaccination for all of its Federal employees, with exceptions only as required by law.” President Biden issued the Order “[b]y the authority vested in him as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America.”

Federal government workers who fail to comply with the vaccine mandate are subject to an “enforcement process” that includes counseling, suspension, and ultimately dismissal. On January 21, however, Judge Jeffrey Brown of the Southern District of Texas issued a nation-wide injunction, blocking enforcement of Executive Order 14043. Last week, in a 2-1 ruling, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the district court’s ruling because it lacked jurisdiction to hear the case, saying it was precluded by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978.

State Report

Bond Assistance

Colorado Senate Bill 163

CO S.163 (Coleman) “The State Procurement Disparities Act” amends Article 103, Title 24 of the State Procurement Code to create a bond assistance program to help historically underutilized businesses to offset all (or a portion) of its bond premiums for state procurement contracts. The bill calls for the Program to receive $2 million in funding from the state’s general fund, which is continuously appropriated. A hearing has been scheduled for April 20 in the Senate Committee on Business, Labor & Technology.

Bond Waiver

Illinois House Bill 5035

UPDATED (in bold) IL H.5035 (Davis) Amends IL LMA, 30 ILCS 550/1, to permit the IL DOT to implement a 5-year pilot program to allow a contractor to provide a non-diminishing irrevocable bank letter of credit in lieu of specified bond requirements on contracts under 500,000 dollars; provides that projects selected by the Department of Transportation for the pilot program must be classified by the Department as low-risk scope of work contracts. The Department shall adopt rules to define the criteria for pilot project selection and implementation of the pilot program. H. 5035 passed both chambers unanimously, 106-0 in the House and 54-0 in the Senate.

Proponents of the bill include the following organizations: IL Bankers Assn, IL Community Bankers, IL DOT, Black Contractors Owners and Executives, Federation of Women Contractors, and the Hispanic American Construction Industry Assn.

Other Resources

Now available: Contractor Bonding Education and Mentoring Program

If haven’t already done so, please take time to visit the recently launched Contractor Bonding Education & Mentoring Program. This free program, developed jointly by NASBP and SFAA members and staff, is intended to help small, new, emerging, minority-owned, and other disadvantaged contractors learn how to qualify for construction surety bonds, thereby expanding their business opportunities and providing the services and benefits of these bonds.

The Program has two major components: 1) a set of eLearning pathway modules available online 24/7, which can be taken on demand at the learner’s pace, and 2) an optional mentor program with industry volunteer professionals who would offer practical advice and recommendations for the mentee to follow to achieve surety credit. Prerequisites for mentoring is the completion of one of the three learning paths, no existing surety credit relationship, and must elect to proceed with a mentoring relationship. To learn more about serving as a mentor, please visit https://learn.nasbp.org/ContractorBondingMentoring.

If you are aware of any bills impacting the industry, please reach out to Larry LeClair, NASBP’s Director of Government Relations, and let us know.

Have you provided your written authorization for 2022 for SuretyPAC? If not, click below!

Surety PAC

Have you been asked to conduct a bonding awareness seminar? If so, download the Bonding Awareness Toolkit!

Toolkit

The National Association of Surety Bond Producers

www.nasbp.org

Focal Point is an e-bulletin sent to members and friends of the National Association of Surety Bond Producers when most state legislatures are in session and as needed thereafter. To obtain copies of Bills or other materials discussed above, contact advocacy@nasbp.org. Copyright © 2021. NASBP. All rights reserved.