Inaugural 'ASA Report' Slams States for Policies That Fail Construction Subcontractors and Suppliers
ASAtoday, Sept. 30, 2004 (Vol. 6, No. 40)

On Sept. 30, ASA delivered a dose of reality to media, industry leaders, and public policy makers in a new report that reveals that state public policies uniformly fail to address the concerns and needs of construction subcontractors and suppliers. ASA released "The ASA Report: The Policy Environment in the States," which evaluated and graded public policies in all 50 states and the District of Columbia that affect construction subcontractors and suppliers, at a news conference at the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver. In 2004, every state received an overall grade of "F," except New Mexico, which received a "D" - still in the unacceptable range.

"State laws simply do not 'make the grade' for subcontractors," said 2004-05 ASA President Mat Glover, president of Glover Masonry Associates, Arvada, Colo., who presented the findings of the report. "'The ASA Report' demonstrates that no state's public policies adequately address the needs of the construction industry. The issues that matter to construction subcontractors and suppliers remain distant from the minds of many legislators and other public officials, and 'The ASA Report' serves as a call to arms to the construction industry to change that fact."
Glover also described how ASA plans to use the report to urge reforms of payment assurance and other laws affecting subcontractors and suppliers. ASA is contacting media, legislators and other public officials across the country to share the results of "The ASA Report." ASA's campaign also will warn subcontractors about the deficiencies of their state laws, provide advocacy information to help them change laws, and educate them about the need to remain vigilant when negotiating contracts in harsh public policy environments.

ASA calculated the overall grade for each state by scoring seven key public policy areas, and then combining the points for a final score and a final grade for each state. ASA scored: (1) Prompt payment protections; (2) Treatment of pay-if-paid clauses; (3) Mechanic's lien protections; (4) Payment bond protections; (5) Retainage limitations; (6) Anti-indemnity protections, including limits on "additional insured" endorsements; and (7) Anti-"bid shopping" measures. The scoring in each policy area took into account both statutory and case law. While some states had excellent public policies in a few areas, no state had adequate public policies across-the-board. For example, Montana and New Mexico each received an "A" for their anti-indemnity policies, but neither received above a "D" for mechanic's lien protections. ASA plans to publish "The ASA Report: The Policy Environment in the States" annually, and to examine additional policy areas in future reports. View "The ASA Report" on the ASA Web site at

www.asaonline.com.

ASA of Colorado Will Use Report Results To Push for Reforms

During ASA's news conference on "The ASA Report: The Policy Environment in the States" in Denver, ASA released a report card on policies affecting subcontractors and suppliers in Colorado, detailing the reasons behind the state's overall failing grade. Colorado received an "F" grade in all seven major policy areas, making it a state where subcontractors begin contract negotiations from an extremely weak position. This grade will change in months and years to come, however, if ASA of Colorado (ASAC) has its way.

ASAC plans to use the results of "The ASA Report" to make headway on legislative initiatives. At the Denver news conference, ASAC President David Barber, River's Edge Woodworking/RWI Contractors Inc., Littleton, Colo., said: "Legislators need to hear our voices louder when they write and vote on laws that are critical for our industry. It is alarming that construction contracts can still be considered valid in Colorado when they are written specifically to undermine subcontractors' right to be assured that they will be paid for their work. ASA of Colorado will lead an effort to make legislators and political leaders aware of the problems that make Colorado a failing state for subcontractors and suppliers, and we will ask for much-needed reforms." For more information about Colorado's report card, contact ASAC Executive Director Debra Miller at dmiller@asacolorado.com or (303) 759-8260.

'ASA Report' Grades Reveal Partial Progress in the States

As the top state in the country for subcontractor-friendly public policies, New Mexico is an example of both the progress and the obstacles subcontractors and suppliers across the country encounter when seeking legislative reforms. ASA of New Mexico has aggressively pursued reforms, lifting the state's overall grade above others' - but still not enough to merit above a "D" grade for the state overall. ASA's report card for New Mexico, like for many other states, reflects high grades in policy areas where reforms have been enacted, along with failing grades in other areas. New Mexico received an "A" (100 points) for anti-"bid shopping" policies; an "A" (100 points) for anti-indemnity policies; a "B" (90 points) for payment bond protections; a "B" (82 points) for retainage limitation policies; a "D" (67 points) for mechanic's lien protections; an "F" (46 points) for prompt pay policies; and an "F" (0 points) for anti-'pay-if-paid' policies. To reach an overall grade for the state, ASA used a formula to combine the numerical scores for each policy area. Most other states reflect the same pattern of mixed achievement, even though they received overall "F" grades. "The ASA Report: The Policy Environment in the States" shows that states where ASA chapters have pursued policy changes, such as California, New Mexico, New York and Missouri, achieved much better numerical scores, if not grades, than states lacking ASA advocacy efforts. ASA chapters are active in nine out of the 10 overall top-scoring states in "The ASA Report."

Copyright 2004 American Subcontractors Association, Inc., 1004 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA 22314-3588; Telephone: 703-684-3450; Fax: 703-836-3482; www.asaonline.com