H.R. 3963

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3963 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3963

To amend title 23, United States Code, to require that public employees 
perform construction inspection work for federally funded highway 
projects, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

June 12, 2025

Mr. Garamendi (for himself, Ms. Brownley, Mr. Lynch, and Ms. Tlaib) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To amend title 23, United States Code, to require that public employees 
perform construction inspection work for federally funded highway 
projects, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Public Inspectors for Safe 
Infrastructure Act''.

SEC. 2. REQUIRING CONSTRUCTION INSPECTION SERVICES FOR CERTAIN HIGHWAY 
CONTRACTS TO BE PERFORMED BY PUBLIC EMPLOYEES.

Section 112(b) of title 23, United States Code, is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
``(5) Construction inspection services.--
``(A) In general.--In entering into a contract 
under this section for the construction of a project 
subject to subsection (a), including a design-build 
project under paragraph (3) and a project using a 2-
phase contract under paragraph (4), a State 
transportation department or local transportation 
agency shall ensure that a public employee performs 
construction inspection functions for such project.
``(B) Exception.--If a State transportation 
department or local transportation agency does not have 
adequate existing or obtainable staff to perform 
construction inspection functions as required under 
subparagraph (A), the department or agency may obtain 
such services pursuant to temporary consultant 
contracts until the department or agency has adequate 
or existing staff to perform such functions.
``(C) Time period.--Any temporary contracts to 
provide construction inspection services under this 
subsection shall not exceed the period that ends on the 
date that is 12 months after the date on which the 
contract is awarded.
``(D) Reporting and transparency.--
``(i) In general.--At least once each 
fiscal year, a State transportation department 
or local transportation agency utilizing the 
exception authority provided in subparagraph 
(B) shall submit to the Secretary a report 
containing--
``(I) a description of all 
construction inspection functions 
provided through temporary consultant 
contracts under such clause; and
``(II) a detailed justification of 
the need for each exception to the 
requirement of such clause.
``(ii) Transparency.--The Secretary shall 
make the report submitted under clause (i) 
available to the public through the website of 
the Department.
``(E) Definitions.--In this subsection:
``(i) Construction inspection function.--
The term `construction inspection function' 
includes construction engineering, contract 
administration, on-site quality control 
inspection, materials testing, and the 
functions of a resident engineer or assistant 
resident engineer responsible for the 
acceptance or rejection of a project subject to 
the provisions of subsection (a) of this 
section.
``(ii) Public employee.--The term `public 
employee' means an employee of the Federal 
Government, a State government, or a local 
government.''.
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