Florida Senate - 2024                                     SB 674
       
       
        
       By Senator Boyd
       
       
       
       
       
       20-00757-24                                            2024674__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to United States-produced iron and
    3         steel in public works projects; creating s. 255.0993,
    4         F.S.; defining terms; requiring governmental entities
    5         to include a requirement in certain contracts that
    6         certain iron or steel products be produced in the
    7         United States; providing exceptions; authorizing the
    8         minimal use of foreign steel and iron materials in
    9         certain circumstances; exempting specified products
   10         from the requirement; providing construction;
   11         requiring the Department of Management Services to
   12         adopt rules for specified purposes; providing
   13         applicability; providing a declaration of important
   14         state interest; providing an effective date.
   15          
   16  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   17  
   18         Section 1. Section 255.0993, Florida Statutes, is created
   19  to read:
   20         255.0993Public works projects; United States-produced iron
   21  and steel products.—
   22         (1)DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section, the term:
   23         (a)“Governmental entity” means the state, or any office,
   24  board, bureau, commission, department, branch, division, or
   25  institution thereof, or a separate agency or unit of local
   26  government created or established by law or ordinance and the
   27  officers thereof. The term includes, but is not limited to, a
   28  county; a city, a town, or other municipality; or a department,
   29  a commission, an authority, a school district, a taxing
   30  district, a water management district, a board, a public
   31  corporation, an institution of higher education, or other public
   32  agency or body thereof authorized to expend public funds for the
   33  construction, maintenance, repair, renovation, remodeling, or
   34  improvement of public works.
   35         (b)“Iron or steel product” means any product made
   36  primarily of iron or steel, including, but not limited to, lined
   37  or unlined pipes and fittings; bars and rods; wire, wire ropes,
   38  and link chains; forgings; grating and drainage products; access
   39  covers, hatches, manhole covers, and other castings; hydrants;
   40  electric transmission and distribution poles; tanks; flanges;
   41  pipe clamps and restraints; valves; structural steel and other
   42  steel mill products; materials made primarily of iron and steel
   43  within precast concrete; and other construction materials made
   44  primarily of iron or steel.
   45         (c)“Manufacturing process” means the application of a
   46  process to alter the form or function of materials or elements
   47  of a product in a manner that adds value and transforms the
   48  materials or elements into a new finished product functionally
   49  different from a finished product produced merely from
   50  assembling materials or elements into a product without applying
   51  such a process.
   52         (d)“Produced in the United States” means that, with
   53  respect to iron and steel, all manufacturing processes, from
   54  initial melting through application of coatings, occur in the
   55  United States, other than metallurgical processes to refine
   56  steel additives.
   57         (e)“Public works project” means an activity paid for with
   58  any state-appropriated funds or state funds administered by a
   59  governmental entity which consists of the construction,
   60  maintenance, repair, renovation, remodeling, or improvement of a
   61  building, road, street, sewer, storm drain, water system, site
   62  development, irrigation system, reclamation project, gas or
   63  electrical distribution system, gas or electrical substation, or
   64  other facility, project, or portion thereof owned in whole or in
   65  part by any governmental entity.
   66         (2)UNITED STATES-PRODUCED IRON AND STEEL REQUIREMENT.—
   67         (a)Notwithstanding any other law, a governmental entity
   68  entering into a contract for a public works project or for the
   69  purchase of materials for a public works project must include in
   70  the contract a requirement that any iron or steel product
   71  permanently incorporated in the project be produced in the
   72  United States.
   73         (b)Paragraph (a) does not apply if the governmental entity
   74  administering the funds for a public works project or the
   75  purchase of materials for a public works project solely
   76  determines that any of the following applies:
   77         1.Iron or steel products produced in the United States are
   78  not produced in sufficient quantities, reasonably available, or
   79  of satisfactory quality.
   80         2.The use of iron or steel products produced in the United
   81  States will increase the total cost of the project by more than
   82  20 percent.
   83         3.Complying with paragraph (a) is inconsistent with the
   84  public interest.
   85         (c)When steel and iron materials are used in a public
   86  works project, paragraph (a) does not prevent a minimal use of
   87  foreign steel and iron materials if:
   88         1.Such materials are incidental or ancillary to the
   89  primary product and are not separately identified in the project
   90  specifications; and
   91         2.The cost of such materials does not exceed one-tenth of
   92  1 percent of the total contract cost or $2,500, whichever is
   93  greater. For purposes of this subparagraph, the cost of such
   94  materials is that shown to be the value of the iron or steel
   95  products as they are delivered to the project.
   96         (d)Electrical components, equipment, systems, and
   97  appurtenances, including supports, covers, shielding, and other
   98  appurtenances related to an electrical system, necessary for
   99  operation or concealment, except transmission and distribution
  100  poles, are not considered iron or steel products and are exempt
  101  from the requirements of paragraph (a).
  102         (3)INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS.—This section shall be applied
  103  in a manner consistent with, and may not be construed to impair,
  104  the state’s obligations under any international agreement.
  105         (4) RULEMAKING.—The Department of Management Services shall
  106  develop guidelines and procedures by rule to implement this
  107  section.
  108         (5) APPLICABILITY.—This section does not apply to contracts
  109  procured by the Department of Transportation subject to the Buy
  110  America requirements of 23 C.F.R. s. 635.410.
  111         Section 2. The Legislature determines and declares that
  112  this act fulfills an important state interest.
  113         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024.