BILL NUMBER: AB 1543 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Alejo
JANUARY 25, 2012
An act to amend Sections 4300, 4301, 4303, 4304, and 4305 of, and
to repeal Sections 4302, 4302.5, 4302.6, and 4303.5 of, the
Government Code, relating to public contracts.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1543, as introduced, Alejo. Public contracts: Buy American.
The California Buy American Act requires that a governing body of
any political subdivision, municipal corporation, or district, and
any public officer or person charged with the letting of contracts
for the construction, alteration, or repair of public works or for
purchasing materials for public use to only let those contracts to a
person who agrees to use or supply materials produced or manufactured
in the United States, as prescribed. Existing law does not apply
this requirement to specified medical and scientific equipment and
instruments, sewing machines, printing presses, or office machines or
supplies, as specified.
This bill would, on and after January 1, 2014, also apply a
similar requirement to public contracts let for the purchase or lease
of any manufactured tangible personal property or for any materials
or structural components to be incorporated into real property, and
would provide for specified exceptions, as provided. This bill would
repeal those provisions that prohibit the application of the existing
United States-made preference to specified medical and scientific
equipment and instruments, sewing machines, printing presses, or
office machines or supplies. By imposing new duties upon local
governments with respect to public contracts, this bill would impose
a state-mandated local program. This bill would also make related
changes.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. This measure shall be known as the Bring Manufacturing
Jobs Back to California Act.
SEC. 2. The Legislature hereby finds and declares the following:
(a) In the years 2001 to 2011, inclusive, California lost 612,000
manufacturing jobs, equal to over 32 percent of our state's
industrial base.
(b) The outsourcing of jobs, particularly for manufacturing
products that once had the "Made in America" label, contributes to
these losses.
(c) The most recent example of how this outsourcing hurts
Californians is the new $6.3 billion San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge
East Span, which is being built in China by workers reportedly being
paid $12 per day. The work on this one project alone reportedly
represents over 3 million hours of high-wage manufacturing jobs in
California lost to non-Californians.
(d) The decline of our industrial base, and the loss of high-wage
manufacturing jobs, has led to suffering for unemployed workers and
frustration for consumers who cannot find high-quality "Made in
America" products in stores.
(e) A key to reducing our state's double-digit unemployment rate
is to bring back manufacturing jobs to California.
(f) For every manufacturing job created, an additional 2.5 jobs
are created in the broader economy.
(g) The State of California, counties, cities, districts, and
local government agencies should curtail spending billions of tax
dollars to purchase products for use by state and local government
that are manufactured overseas.
(h) With the enactment of a 33-percent renewables portfolio
standard for all California electric utilities by 2020, the
development of clean and safe renewable energy sources will require
extensive manufacturing of new solar, wind, geothermal equipment, and
other materials and equipment to be used in the construction and
operation of publicly owned renewable energy facilities.
SEC. 3. It is the purpose and intent of the Legislature to do the
following:
(a) Bring manufacturing jobs back to California.
(b) Create a market for new manufacturing contracts based upon the
unified purchasing power of the State of California and our state's
counties, cities, districts, and local government agencies.
(c) Unleash the entrepreneurial skills of California manufacturers
that have been forced to close their factories due to
anticompetitive outsourcing policies that ignore the human and
material costs of shipping manufacturing jobs overseas.
(d) Prevent the continuous outsourcing of California's industrial
base.
(e) Leverage a newly created demand for manufactured products made
in America to create real choices for California consumers who want
to purchase products made in America.
(f) Ensure that the expansion of California's publicly owned
renewable energy industry facilities creates "Made in America"
manufacturing jobs.
SEC. 4. Section 4300 of the Government Code is amended to read:
4300. As used in this article:
(a) "United States" means the United States of America, and
includes any Territory or insular possession of the United States.
(b) "Produced" includes mined and manufactured.
(c) "Materials" includes articles and supplies.
(d) "Equipment" includes, but is not limited to, devices, tools,
machines, and vehicles.
SEC. 5. Section 4301 of the Government Code is amended to read:
4301. This article does not apply to materials which are
of a class or kind which are not, or which are manufactured from
materials which are not, produced in the United States, nor to
key-driven calculators manufactured in branch plants located outside
continental United States, but which plants are wholly owned and
operated by a corporation the majority of whose stock is owned or
controlled by an American manufacturer whose principal manufacturing
centers and home offices are located in the United States.
Notwithstanding any other law and except as prohibited by
federal law, on and after January 1, 2014, the governing body of any
state or local political subdivision, municipal
corporation, or district, or any state or local public officer or
person charged with the letting of contracts for the purchase or
lease of any manufactured tangible personal property or for any
materials or structural components to be incorporated into real
property, shall let those contracts only for manufactured tangible
personal property or for any materials or structural components to be
incorporated into real property that is manufactured in the United
States, substantially all from materials produced in the United
States. The only waivers, exceptions, or exemptions to these
requirements are:
(a) For purchase or lease of spare parts for any existing
equipment owned by or under lease to any state or local political
subdivision, municipal corporation, or district on or before December
31, 2013.
(b) For purchase or lease of manufactured tangible personal
property or for any materials or structural components to be
incorporated into real property the age of which exceeds 60 months.
(c) For purchase or lease of any books, newspapers, magazines,
journals, or other media, not produced in the United States, for use
by libraries, museums, research facilities, or government
repositories.
(d) For purchase or lease of any artwork, or any historical,
cultural, literary, or scientific artifacts intended for display or
for research in libraries, museums, research facilities, or
government repositories.
(e) For purchase or lease by any state or local political
subdivision, municipal corporation, or district of specifically
identified and particularly described manufactured tangible personal
property or any materials or structural components to be incorporated
into real property excepted by statutes that are passed in each
house of the Legislature by rollcall vote entered in the journal, a
majority of the membership concurring, and signed by the Governor.
(f) For waivers, exceptions, or exemptions in response to an
emergency or to protect public health or safety enacted in statutes
approved by a simple majority vote of each house of the Legislature
and signed by the Governor.
(g) Any waiver, exception, or exemption approved by statutes
enacted shall be in effect for a period no longer than three years
from the effective date of the statute.
SEC. 6. Section 4302 of the Government Code is repealed.
4302. This article does not apply to medical and surgical
instruments, scientific equipment, microscopes, lenses, or
instruments used for scientific or medical purposes, including
research.
SEC. 7. Section 4302.5 of the Government Code is repealed.
4302.5. The provisions of this article do not apply to the
purchase of sewing machines, regardless of the place of their
manufacture or the source of the materials from which such machines
were manufactured.
SEC. 8. Section 4302.6 of the Government Code is repealed.
4302.6. The provisions of this article do not apply to the
purchase of printing presses of rotary gripper system or single
revolution design, which are purchased exclusively for use in schools
and colleges for educational purposes; provided, however, that if
printing presses of rotary gripper system or single revolution design
are manufactured within the United States that only such presses as
are manufactured in the United States shall be purchased.
SEC. 9. Section 4303 of the Government Code is amended to read:
4303. The governing body of any state or local
political subdivision, municipal corporation, or district, and
any public officer or person charged with the letting of contracts
for (1) the construction, alteration, or repair of public works or
(2) for the purchasing of materials for public use, shall let such
contracts only to persons who agree to use or supply only
such unmanufactured materials as
that have been produced or manufactured in the
United States, and only such manufactured materials as have
been manufactured in the United States, substantially all
from materials produced in the United States.
SEC. 10. Section 4303.5 of the Government Code is repealed.
4303.5. Any provision of this article to the contrary
notwithstanding, any such body or person may let a contract for the
purchase of office machines or supplies therefor without regard to
the place of their manufacture or the source of the materials from
which such machines or supplies are manufactured, except that such
contracts or purchases shall be subject to the provisions of Section
4334.
SEC. 11. Section 4304 of the Government Code is amended to read:
4304. Every contract for the construction, alteration ,
or repair of public works or for the purchase of materials for
public use shall contain a provision that only unmanufactured
materials produced in the United States, and only manufactured
materials manufactured in the United States, substantially all from
materials produced in the United States shall be used in the
performance of the contract.
Any person who fails to comply with such provision shall not be
awarded any contract to which this article applies for a period of
three years from the date of the violation.
SEC. 12. Section 4305 of the Government Code is amended to read:
4305. The name of the person failing to comply, together with a
report of the facts constituting the violation, shall be posted by
the governing board or person who let the contract in at least three
public places in the county in which the contract was made.
SEC. 13. The provisions of this act are severable, if any
provision of this act, or part thereof, is for any reason held to be
invalid under state or federal law, the remaining provisions shall
not be affected but shall remain in full force and effect.
SEC. 14. If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this
act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local
agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant
to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of
the Government Code.
SEC. 15. This act shall become effective January 1, 2014.