Members of the Alabama Senate passed legislation by State Sen. Larry Stutts (R-Tuscumbia) that exempts some K-12 construction projects from certain Division of Construction Management (DCM) inspections and requirements.
Under existing law, certain capital improvement projects valued at less than $750,000 and conducted at K-12 schools and institutions of higher education are exempt from approval by the Division of Construction Management within the Department of Finance; however, the division continues to inspect and issue recommendations regarding exempted improvements involving compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and compliance with fire and life safety issues.
The bill would exempt covered K-12 from division inspection and recommendation requirements for all capital improvement projects valued at less than $750,000.
Stutts said projects under the $750,000 cap typically involve repairs and relatively minor alterations to existing campus infrastructure.
"It's something they can handle without DCM inspection," Stutts said. "If you talk to people in K-12 Departments of Education, they all talk about the delays they have in construction, waiting on inspections, and minor things having to be changed and coming back and making the changes, and waiting a long period of time to get the next inspections so they can go ahead. Most of the superintendents I've talked to say that this level of inspection usually doubles or triples their cost of a relatively minor project."
State Sen. Lance Bell (R-Pell City) said he was planning on bringing a bill this session to "gut" DCM.
"You can get a lot more done with honey, as we've been told growing up. What we get over there, what I've heard from other Senators, other people in this body, is the same name keeps coming up," Bell said. "The same name over and over and over at DCM. They're very arrogant, especially this one person. All I hear in my district is when you deal with him, it's the arrogance at DCM that, you know what, 'nobody can touch us, nobody can do anything. You've got to do what we say, no ifs, ands, or buts.' Sometimes that arrogance carries over, and as you know, I've been working on a bill, and it's not ready yet, but I want to gut them. I'm ready to gut DCM. I'm ready to just gut them, and it's the attitude."
The bill now heads to the House for its consideration.
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