119-hr3963

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3963 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 3963

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 12, 2025

 Mr. Garamendi (for himself, Ms. Brownley, Mr. Lynch, and Ms. Tlaib) 
 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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