MMA urges Labor and Workforce Development Committee to support bill to adjust public construction threshold

The Honorable Paul Brodeur, House Chair
The Honorable Patricia D. Jehlen, Senate Chair
Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development
State House, Boston

Dear Chair Brodeur, Chair Jehlen, and Distinguished Members of the Committee,

On behalf of cities and towns across the Commonwealth, the Massachusetts Municipal Association is writing to offer our support for H. 1678, An Act Relative to Making a Technical Correction to Public Construction Threshold, before your committee for a public hearing today.

This bill would make one technical correction to section 29 of Chapter 149 of the Massachusetts General Laws, increasing the threshold from $25,000 to $50,000 that triggers the requirement for obtaining payment bonds for public construction projects. Changing the threshold to $50,000 would simply mirror the same dollar adjustment that was made to the public bidding laws applicable to public works and public building projects as part of the Municipal Modernization Act of 2016.

H. 1678 would align the payment bond requirements across Chapter 30 and Chapter 149 of the General Laws, and would thus ease any confusion that awarding authorities may have when dealing with differing public procurement projects.

Thank you for your interest in this very important local government matter. If you have any questions, please contact me or MMA Senior Legislative Analyst Brittney Franklin at 617-426-7272 or bfranklin@mma.org at any time.

Sincerely,

Geoffrey C. Beckwith
Executive Director & CEO