Proponent Testimony - House Bill 68, Construction Employers Association (March 3, 2021)

Summary

Written proponent testimony dated March 3, 2021, regarding House Bill 68 (Cross, Sweeney), addressed to Chairman Stein, Vice-Chair Johnson and Ranking Member Lepore-Hagan on behalf of the Construction Employers Association (CEA). The testimony describes CEA as a non-profit trade association with over 180 construction firms in Northeast Ohio. It says Ohio has a public construction prompt pay law but no statute stating when a private owner must pay the prime contractor, and that House Bill 68, if enacted, would mirror current public construction law on that point. The testimony ends with the name Tim Linville, Chief Executive Officer.

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Full text

March 3, 2021


Re: House Bill 68 (Cross, Sweeney) Proponent Testimony

Chairman Stein, Vice-Chair Johnson and Ranking Member Lepore-Hagan:

Thank you for the opportunity to submit written HB 68 proponent testimony on behalf of the
Construction Employers Association (CEA). CEA is a non-profit trade association with over 180
construction firms representing employers of approximately 8,000 skilled trades and
construction management personnel in Northeast Ohio. Our members range from large general
contractors to smaller subcontractors, corporations and small family-owned and operated
businesses.

CEA has consistently worked on a number of programs at the local, state, and federal level to
promote the construction industry. Some of these programs include:

   ●   Workforce programs for youth and adults (ACE Mentor and BuildOhio.org);
   ●   Small business education, capacity building, mentor-protege and marketing programs;
   ●   Contractor safety training;
   ●   Contractors Assistance Association: 45 mostly small contractor employers that need
       prompt payment to meet obligations for weekly payroll and operations.

As you may be aware, Ohio currently has a public construction prompt pay law that sets time
limits on when a public owner must pay the prime contractor and when prime contractors must
pay their subcontractors. However, this is not the case relative to private construction projects.
Although there are private construction statutory timelines for payments made from the prime
contractors to subcontractors, there is no statute stating when the owner must pay the prime
contractor. This omission can lead to significant delays in subcontractors getting paid, which can
result in delays in paying suppliers as well as the men and women actually doing the work in the
field. Contractors and their employees should not have to wait weeks or even months to be paid
for installed material and labor as this can impede pursuit of new business, decrease company
efficiency and place small businesses at risk of default with their suppliers and employees.

House Bill 68, if enacted, will address this important issue by simply mirroring current public
construction law that owners must pay prime contractors within a certain time period.

CEA would like to thank the sponsors for introducing this legislation. This change to the statute
is long overdue, and we urge the committee to pass HB 68.

Thank you.




Tim Linville
Chief Executive Officer


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