Bill Text: NJ S135 | 2012-2013 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Codifies responsible contractor requirements for contractors bidding for work through the Weatherization Assistance Program.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-01-10 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee [S135 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2012-S135-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
215th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2012 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Senator RONALD L. RICE
District 28 (Essex)
Senator SANDRA B. CUNNINGHAM
District 31 (Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
Codifies responsible contractor requirements for contractors bidding for work through the Weatherization Assistance Program.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel
An Act concerning responsible contractor bidding requirements for certain weatherization contracts and supplementing chapter 27D of Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. As used in this section:
"Bidder" means a weatherization contractor that submits a bid to perform work funded under the Weatherization Training Program.
"Division" means the Division of Housing and Community Resources in the Department of Community Affairs.
"New hires" means persons hired by a contractor as workers or supervisors subsequent to the opening of bids to perform work funded under the Weatherization Assistance Program.
"Responsible contractor" means a contractor who completes and signs a Responsible Contractor Certification promulgated by the division.
"Responsible Contractor Certification" means a form promulgated by the division pursuant to this section or the division's Weatherization Bulletin #501A.
"Weatherization agency" means a community organization or other subgrantee of funding to the State from the United States Department of Energy's Weatherization Assistance Program through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
"Weatherization Assistance Program" means the U.S. Department of Energy's Weatherization Assistance Program, created in 1976 to assist low-income families who lacked resources to invest in energy efficiency.
"Weatherization contract" means an agreement to perform work funded through the United States Department of Energy's Weatherization Assistance Program.
"Weatherization contractor" means a person or entity that possesses appropriate business and contracting licensing, insurance, and bonding, to perform weatherization contracts.
"Weatherization Training Program" means the program funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act through a grant from the United States Department of Energy to the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs.
b. (1) Each bidder for a contract to perform weatherization work shall state in its bid whether or not it is a "Responsible Contractor."
(2) As a condition to the award of a weatherization contract to a bidder, the bidder shall certify on a Responsible Contractor Certification form that it meets the conditions to be considered a responsible contractor for the purpose of doing business with the United States Department of Energy's Weatherization Assistance Program through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
c. The Responsible Contractor Certification shall include, but not be limited to, provisions requiring the bidder to agree to recruit new hires from the Weatherization Training Program, unless it obtains a waiver from the weatherization agency. A waiver shall be granted only if the responsible contractor demonstrates:
(1) it took diligent efforts to hire graduates of the Weatherization Training Program and no trainees were available. The responsible contractor shall include dates and names of persons contacted in these hiring efforts; or
(2) the existence of other extraordinary circumstances, provided that written approval is granted by the Department of Community Affairs or the weatherization agency prior to the labor being performed by the intended new hire.
d. A weatherization agency shall be responsible for determining and ensuring that each bidder that is awarded a weatherization contract is a responsible contractor.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill codifies the requirements of the Division of Housing and Community Resources in the Department of Community Affairs Weatherization Bulletin #501A, concerning the requirement that bidders on contracts to perform weatherization work comply with the responsible contractor requirements. A responsible contractor must agree to the provisions on the Responsible Contractor Certification promulgated by the division.
Chief among the requirements of the Responsible Contractor Certification is an agreement that workers and supervisors hired subsequent to the opening of bids be graduates of the Weatherization Training Program. This provision is important because the 2009-2012 New Jersey State Plan and Grant Application for U.S. Department of Energy's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) Grant contained a requirement that all contractors bidding on jobs funded in whole or in part by the ARRA WAP funds state in their bids whether or not they are a responsible contractor. The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development administers the federal grant for the Weatherization Training Program. The ARRA grant includes $118.82 million for weatherization program distribution and administration, of which approximately $22.8 million is for training and technical assistance. It does not make economic or employment sense to use federal ARRA funding to train weatherization workers unless those trainees are then hired by contractors being paid, in whole or part, from the ARRA grant funds.
