Bill Text: CA SJR5 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Chaptered

California Senate Joint Resolution 5

Bill Title: Office of Management and Budget: Uniform Guidance.

Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 59-6)

Status: (Enrolled) 2024-02-15 - Enrolled and filed with the Secretary of State at 2 p.m. [SJR5 Detail]

Download: California-2023-SJR5-Chaptered.html

Senate Joint Resolution No. 5

CHAPTER 5

Relative to the Office of Management and Budget.

[ Filed with Secretary of State February 15, 2024. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SJR 5, Durazo. Office of Management and Budget: Uniform Guidance.

This measure would urge the federal Office of Management and Budget to update its Uniform Guidance in order to improve job creation, quality, and equity.

Fiscal Committee: NO

WHEREAS, Since 1988, the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) established federal grant rules, now known as the Uniform Guidance (2 C.F.R. Part 200), that have severely limited state and local governments from implementing substantive procurement standards that promote good jobs and equity; and

WHEREAS, State and local governments are prohibited from using local hire (hiring people from a specific geographic region) in federally funded procurements; and

WHEREAS, The Uniform Guidance has impeded the implementation of policies, including targeted hire provisions and project labor agreements; and

WHEREAS, This language has hindered state and local governments efforts to put local or disadvantaged residents to work rebuilding infrastructure in their own communities; and

WHEREAS, No empirical evidence has been cited that shows local hire has an adverse impact on bid competition or cost; and

WHEREAS, The United States Congress itself has never prohibited local hire or targeted hire; and

WHEREAS, The 2015 Obama-Biden Administration’s Local Labor Hiring Pilot Program allowed grant recipients to use local hire programs to successfully increase social, economic, and racial equity in their communities; and

WHEREAS, The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act allowed for local hire to be used in transportation construction projects; and

WHEREAS, Local hire programs address the fundamental goal of having residents participate in infrastructure investments in their own towns and cities; and

WHEREAS, Targeted hire programs can also increase opportunities for workers of color, women, veterans, returning community members, and others historically excluded from meaningful employment; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature urges the Office of Management and Budget to update its Uniform Guidance to explicitly allow states and localities to implement strong procurement standards that advance high-quality jobs and equitable hiring, including lifting the local hire prohibition on federally funded projects, and in so doing empower California lawmakers and agencies to create equitable infrastructure jobs that can strengthen our cities, counties, and state; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the President and the Vice President of the United States, the federal Office of Management and Budget, and to the author for appropriate distribution.