[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3785 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3785

To amend title 23, United States Code, to require that public employees 
   perform construction inspection work for federally funded highway 
                   projects, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 1, 2023

    Mr. Garamendi (for himself, Ms. Brownley, and Ms. Jackson Lee) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                   Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 23, United States Code, to require that public employees 
   perform construction inspection work for federally funded highway 
                   projects, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Public Inspectors for Safe 
Infrastructure Act''.

SEC. 2. REQUIRING CONSTRUCTION INSPECTION SERVICES FOR CERTAIN HIGHWAY 
              CONTRACTS TO BE PERFORMED BY PUBLIC EMPLOYEES.

    Section 112(b) of title 23, United States Code, is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
            ``(5) Construction inspection services.--
                    ``(A) In general.--In entering into a contract 
                under this section for the construction of a project 
                subject to subsection (a), including a design-build 
                project under paragraph (3) and a project using a 2-
                phase contract under paragraph (4), a State 
                transportation department or local transportation 
                agency shall ensure that a public employee performs 
                construction inspection functions for such project.
                    ``(B) Exception.--If a State transportation 
                department or local transportation agency does not have 
                adequate existing or obtainable staff to perform 
                construction inspection functions as required under 
                subparagraph (A), the department or agency may obtain 
                such services pursuant to temporary consultant 
                contracts until the department or agency has adequate 
                or existing staff to perform such functions.
                    ``(C) Time period.--Any temporary contracts to 
                provide construction inspection services under this 
                subsection shall not exceed the period that ends on the 
                date that is 12 months after the date on which the 
                contract is awarded.
                    ``(D) Reporting and transparency.--
                            ``(i) In general.--At least once each 
                        fiscal year, a State transportation department 
                        or local transportation agency utilizing the 
                        exception authority provided in subparagraph 
                        (B) shall submit to the Secretary a report 
                        containing--
                                    ``(I) a description of all 
                                construction inspection functions 
                                provided through temporary consultant 
                                contracts under such clause; and
                                    ``(II) a detailed justification of 
                                the need for each exception to the 
                                requirement of such clause.
                            ``(ii) Transparency.--The Secretary shall 
                        make the report submitted under clause (i) 
                        available to the public through the website of 
                        the Department.
                    ``(E) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                            ``(i) Construction inspection function.--
                        The term `construction inspection function' 
                        includes construction engineering, contract 
                        administration, on-site quality control 
                        inspection, materials testing, and the 
                        functions of a resident engineer or assistant 
                        resident engineer responsible for the 
                        acceptance or rejection of a project subject to 
                        the provisions of subsection (a) of this 
                        section.
                            ``(ii) Public employee.--The term `public 
                        employee' means an employee of the Federal 
                        Government, a State government, or a local 
                        government.''.
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