HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2925        FILED ON: 2/18/2021

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 3237

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Chynah Tyler

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act relative to equity in public workforce.

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PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2925        FILED ON: 2/18/2021

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 3237

[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE HOUSE, NO. 2792 OF 2019-2020.]

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Second General Court
(2021-2022)

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An Act relative to equity in public workforce.

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 149 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2012 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", shall be defined as a person who is Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian or Native American.

“Women”, shall defined as a female eighteen or over.

SECTION 2. The definition of "Responsible" in section 44A of chapter 149 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by adding the following words:- provided, however, that in deliberating upon the responsibility of a bidder, a contracting public agency shall consider a bidder’s compliance with commitments made in previous bids or contract documents with the Commonwealth, if any, including, but not limited to, the failure of a bidder, contractor, or proposed subcontractor to comply with workforce requirements.

SECTION 3. Section 44A½ of said chapter 149, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the last paragraph the following paragraph:-

(a) It shall be a requirement of the Commonwealth that the workforce on that project reflect 51% residents, 40% minority and 12% women of the host community, when construction projects are located in low income communities.

SECTION 4. Said chapter 149, as so appearing, 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 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 minority workers, respectively. The reporting entity 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.