The recent legislation passed by the State Legislature related to TOSHA regulations is beyond vague and does not preempt the Get It Right Bill.  Rather it creates legal uncertainty for every county and local government that procures work for basic infrastructure upgrades.  Metro Council should pass an amended Get It Right that clearly sets standards for who we give our tax dollars to as the largest participant in the local construction market. 

In a hasty and shortsighted attempt to respond to the local legislative conversations about the crisis in worker deaths in the construction industry, state legislators have passed a bill that broadly prohibits any “personnel information” from being disclosed by contractors to local governments.  The potential for unforeseen consequences is obvious since the qualifications of construction companies are frequently rooted in experience and training of their employees.  This could not come at a worse time for small municipal governments who will likely be making major, federally-funded infrastructure upgrades for the first time in a generation.  Their exposure to challenges on each and every awarded contract just increased dramatically.  Protections against workplace fatalities, however, remain slim. 

By attempting to throw a wrench into municipal action over safety standards, the State Legislature has instead cast a shadow of doubt over municipalities’ ability to establish basic contractor qualifications, engage in veteran hiring preferences, and other elements of the procurement process that has been a standard part of local contracting for decades.  This discretion is something the State itself exercises, but somehow expects local governments to blindly contract with the worst of the worst, under a very unclear law.  For these reasons the State’s attempted interference is ineffective and vulnerable to a court challenge much like last session’s deeply flawed voucher law.   

Local governments have the right to make reasonable standards for who they do business with; it’s that simple. 

The reality is that Metro Nashville must pass and enforce the Get It Right Bill because it is the clearest, deliberate way to ensure that taxpayer-funded construction sites do not continue the pattern of fraud, abuse, and poor workmanship that is all too common in Nashville’s construction industry. Metro Nashville must also defend its decades-long right to set its own standards for procurement in court if necessary. 

In Solidarity with the working people across Tennessee, 

Stand Up Nashville