Bill > S2596

Introduced Session

This bill would revise the threshold amounts under the pay-to-play and prevailing wage laws for local contracting units and county colleges to make them the same as the threshold amount under the applicable local public contracting laws. The bill would also revise the threshold amount under the prevailing wage law for boards of education to make it the same as the threshold amount under the public school contracting law. Under current law, the governing bodies of counties, municipalities, and other contracting units subject to the "Local Public Contracts Law," P.L.1971, c.198 (C.40A:11-1 et seq.) may award contracts below a certain dollar amount without public advertising for bids. The statutory bid threshold is $17,500, however, a contracting unit that has appointed a "qualified purchasing agent" (QPA), can set the bid threshold at up to $25,000, or the adjusted amount set by the Governor every five years to account for inflation. The Governor's adjusted threshold amount currently allows contracting units that have appointed a QPA to set the bid threshold at up to $40,000. Current law with regard to county colleges provides that such colleges may award contracts without public advertising for bids if the contract amount is below $25,000 or, if the contract is made, negotiated, and awarded by a contracting agent, at the adjusted amount set by the Governor every five years to account for inflation. The Governor's adjusted threshold amount currently allows county colleges to set the bid threshold at up to $35,000 for these contracts. Current law with regard to boards of education provides that such boards may award contracts without public advertising for bids if the contract amount is below $17,500, however, a board of education that has appointed a QPA, can set the bid threshold at up to $25,000. A board of education may adopt higher threshold amounts set by the Governor every five years to account for inflation. The Governor's adjusted threshold amount currently allows boards of education to set the bid threshold at up to $29,000, and boards of education with a QPA at up to $40,000. The pay-to-play laws require contracts above $17,500 to be awarded pursuant to a fair and open process. The "New Jersey Prevailing Wage Act" stipulates the payment of prevailing wage rates for workers on construction projects that are subsidized by public funds of over $2,000, in the case of counties, county colleges, and boards of education, and an amount over $15,444, in the case of municipalities. The bill revises these pay-to-play and prevailing wage threshold amounts for contracting units and county colleges to be consistent with the applicable local public contract threshold amounts, and revises the prevailing wage threshold amount for boards of education to be consistent with the applicable local public contract threshold amounts.

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Nilsa Cruz-Perez (D)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee (on 05/12/2022)

Official Document