Sponsors (5)
The bill shifts highway inspection toward public employees and requires transparency to boost oversight and accountability, but it raises local payroll costs and risks staffing shortfalls or project disruption on complex jobs.
State and local transportation agencies will rely more on public employees to perform construction inspection instead of long-term private consultants, increasing direct government oversight of highway projects.
State and local agencies are limited to using temporary consultant inspection contracts for no more than 12 months, reducing prolonged private outsourcing and promoting continuity in public oversight.
Annual reporting and public posting about consultant inspector use will increase transparency and accountability for when and why agencies hire outside inspectors.
State and local agencies may face staffing burdens and short-term capacity gaps that could delay construction projects if they must hire or redeploy public employees to perform inspections.
Local and state governments will likely incur higher payroll costs to hire or rehire public inspectors, putting pressure on budgets and potentially forcing reallocation of funds from other local services.
The 12-month cap on consultant contracts may be too short for complex projects, causing repeated contract churn or emergency extensions that disrupt project continuity and workflows.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires state and local transportation agencies to use public employees for construction inspection on covered projects, allows temporary consultants up to 12 months, and mandates annual reporting and publication.
Introduced June 12, 2025 by John Garamendi · Last progress June 12, 2025
Requires state and local transportation agencies to have public employees perform construction inspection work on federally related highway projects (including design‑build and 2‑phase contracts). Agencies may use private consultants only temporarily (up to 12 months) when they do not have enough staff, and must file annual reports justifying each temporary consultant use; those reports will be published by the Secretary of Transportation. The change also defines which tasks count as "construction inspection functions" and defines "public employee."