Bill S.1568

SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1480 FILED ON: 1/21/2011

SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1568

By Ms. Chang-Diaz, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 1568) of Sonia Chang-Diaz, Antonio F. D. Cabral, James B. Eldridge, Linda Dorcena Forry and other members of the General Court for legislation to create equitable job access. State Administration and Regulatory Oversight.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Eleven

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An Act to create equitable job access.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 1 of Chapter 7 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the last paragraph the following paragraphs:-

“Low income community”, a municipality where the median household income is 65 percent or less than the statewide household median income. In the case of a municipality with 50,000 residents or more, low income community shall mean a geographically contiguous, historically recognized neighborhood of 10,000-50,000 residents.

“Minority business enterprise”, as used in this chapter shall be defined as it is in Section 40 of Chapter 23A.

“Women business enterprise” as used in this chapter shall be defined as it is in Section 40 of Chapter 23A.

SECTION 2. Chapter 7 of the Generals Laws, as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after Section 23B the following section:-

Section 23B ½ Contracting diversity goals

For the purposes of this chapter, it shall be the official goal of the Commonwealth to achieve minority business enterprise and women business enterprise contracting goals within state procurement that are reflective of the diverse racial, ethnic, and gender make-up of the Commonwealth’s population.

SECTION 3. Section 14C of Chapter 7 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the last paragraph the following paragraphs:-

Within 150 calendar days of the effective date of this section, any entity awarded a contract under the provisions of Chapter 7, shall provide written verification with every invoice submitted to the awarding authority detailing the portion of the payment that will be allocated to minority business enterprises and women business enterprises, and reporting the racial, ethnic and gender make-up of the awardees’ workforce in Massachusetts. The awardee shall take necessary steps to prevent the disclosure of individually-identifying information about employees on this report.

The executive office of administration and finance shall, within 90 calendar days of the effective date of this section, promulgate a template reporting form, for optional use by the awarding authority, to assist contractors in meeting the requirements of this section.

The awarding authority shall submit the report to the Massachusetts Management and Reporting System (MMARS) within 30 calendar days of receiving it. The Comptroller of the Commonwealth shall, within 120 of the effective date of this section, develop appropriate fields within the MMARS for receiving this data.

The Comptroller shall, within 180 days of the effective date of this section, develop a public reporting website, or area within an existing website administered by the Office of the Comptroller, for the purposes of timely public disclosure of the data collected under this section. Such website shall provide the data collected under this section in machine-readable format and be searchable by the public to the project and vendor level. The Comptroller may use, but not be limited to, the website of the Massachusetts Recovery and Reinvestment Office as a guide in creating a user interface that is searchable to the project and vendor level. The Comptroller shall transfer data received from awarding authorities through the MMARS into the public website on at least a quarterly basis.

SECTION 4. Section 38F of Chapter 7 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “project”, in line 9, the following text:-

, including evidence of the applicant’s ability to advance the Commonwealth’s contracting and workforce inclusion goals as stated in Section 23B ½ of Chapter 7.

SECTION 5. Section 1 of Chapter 149 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the last paragraph, the following paragraphs:-

“Minority business enterprise”, as used in this chapter shall be defined as it is in Section 40 of Chapter 23A.

“Women business enterprise” as used in this chapter shall be defined as it is in Section 40 of Chapter 23A.

SECTION 6. Section 44A of Chapter 149 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out lines 12-16, and inserting in its place thereof the following text:-

“Responsible” means demonstrably possessing the skill, ability and the integrity necessary to faithfully perform the work called for by a particular contract, based upon a determination of competent workmanship and financial soundness in accordance with the provisions of section forty-four D of this chapter. In deliberating upon the responsibility of a bidder, all contracting agencies shall give strong consideration to the bidder, contractor, or proposed contractor’s ability to advance the Commonwealth’s contracting and workforce inclusion goals as stated in Section 44A ½ of Chapter 149, and to any credible evidence or reliable information about the bidder, contractor, or proposed contractor’s past or current work performance, including, but not limited to, the failure of a bidder, contractor, or proposed subcontractor to comply with the commitments made in their bidding or contract documents regarding the employment of minority business enterprises and women business enterprises and regarding workforce inclusion goals.

SECTION 7. Section 44A ½ in Chapter 149 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the last paragraph the following paragraphs:-

(d) It shall be the goal of the Commonwealth to achieve minority business enterprise and women business enterprise contracting goals and workforce participation goals on state-funded design and construction contracts that are reflective of the diverse racial, ethnic, and gender make-up of the Commonwealth’s population.

(e) It shall be the goal of the Commonwealth that job creation on state-funded construction contracts be targeted to members of the community in which a project is physically located and that the workforce on that project reflect the demographic diversity of the host community, when construction projects are located in low income communities.

SECTION 8. Section 44D.5 of chapter 149 of the Generals Laws as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after line 92, the following text:-

(viii) Joint Ventures, documentation demonstrating that the interested general contractors have formed an association of two or more businesses in which one of the businesses is a minority business enterprise or a women business enterprise as defined section 40 of chapter 23A of the General Laws.

SECTION 9. Section 44D.5 of chapter 149 of the Generals Laws as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after line 110, the following text:-

(iii) Evidence of the bidder, contractor, or proposed contractor’s ability to advance the Commonwealth’s contracting and workforce inclusion goals as stated in Section 44A ½ of Chapter 149.

SECTION 10. Chapter 149 of the Generals Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 44M the following section:-

Section 44N. Data collection and disclosure

Within 150 calendar days of the effective date of this section, any entity awarded a contract for construction by a state agency shall provide written verification with every progress payment request (PPR) submitted to the awarding authority detailing the portion of the payment that will be allocated to minority business enterprises and women business enterprises respectively, as defined in Section 40 of Chapter 23A, and detailing the total number of hours worked by all employees on that contract during the period covered by the PPR; and including a breakdown of hours worked by workers’ ZIP codes of residence, as well as a breakdown of the number of hours worked by women and workers of color, respectively. The reporting entity shall take necessary steps to prevent the disclosure of individually-identifying information about employees on this report.

Name:	District/Address:
Sonia Chang-Diaz
Antonio F. D. Cabral	13th Bristol
James B. Eldridge
Linda Dorcena Forry	12th Suffolk
Russell E. Holmes	6th Suffolk
Benjamin Swan	11th Hampden