121st Maine Legislature
		Office of Fiscal and Program Review
		LD 608
		An Act to Support Domestic Businesses in Publicly Funded Construction Projects
		LR 1599(02)
		Fiscal Note for Bill as amended by Committee Amendment " "
		Committee: State and Local Government
		Fiscal Note Required: Yes
				Minority Report
Fiscal Note
					Projections	Projections
			2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Net Cost (Savings):
	General Fund		$0	$625,231	$640,862	$656,883
Appropriations/Allocations
	General Fund		$0	$625,231	$640,862	$656,883
Fiscal Detail and Notes
	To give preferential treatment to certain domestic steel fabricators whose bids are within 15% of a bid of a foreign supplier will result in increased costs to the Department of Administrative and Financial Service's public improvement construction projects of $625,231 in fiscal year 2004-05, $640,862 in fiscal year 2005-06 and $656,883 in fiscal year 2006-07.  This estimate is based on the proposed preferential treatment providing at least a 2% increase to total construction project expenditures ($28 million in fiscal year 2001-02).  In addition, it is anticipated that this bill will also require an Engineer position at a total cost of $65,231 in fiscal year 2004-05 to handle the additional responsibilities resulting from this legislation.
	This legislation may also increase the construction and planning costs of a State Board of Education funded Major Capital Improvement project such as the construction of a new school or renovations to an existing school.  Although the impact for fiscal years 2003-04 and 2004-05 can not be determined at this time, the Department estimates that, had this requirement been in place for the $155,000,000 in school construction projects administered in the 2001-2002 rating cycle, it would have resulted in additional costs of approximately $523,125, or approximately $261,563 in each fiscal year.  The actual cost to the Department will depend on the amount of school construction funds made available in each 2 year cycle.   However, because debt service costs associated with funding school construction projects can not exceed the annual levels established in 20-A MRSA § 15905, a decrease in the total number of projects may be required in order to stay within the spending limits.  If all planned projects are to be undertaken the debt service limit may need to be raised.
	School administrative units who have major construction or renovation projects will also incur additional costs associated with this requirement.  The impact to the individual school administrative units can not be determined at this time