Researcher: LRH Page 1 4/3/25
OLR Bill Analysis
sSB 525
AN ACT CONCERNING THE SELECTION OF CONTRACTORS FOR
PUBLIC WORKS PROJECTS.
SUMMARY
This bill requires state contracting agencies to give a preference to
manufacturers, fabricators, and erectors located in the state when
awarding contracts to build, renovate, or demolish a public building or
public works project administered by the state or its agents. If these in-
state contractors are not available, the agencies must give preference to
those contractors located in the U.S. The bill’s requirement applies
regardless of state contracting laws that generally require the state to
use competitive bidding to award contracts to the lowest responsible
qualified bidder.
Under the bill, state contracting agencies include any executive
branch agency, board, commission, department, office, institution, or
council. They do not include the judicial branch, the legislative branch,
or the offices of the constitutional officers.
Existing law, unchanged by the bill, generally requires state
contracting agencies to give a preference to in-state contractors when all
other factors are equal (CGS § 4a-59(c)). It also requires the
administrative services commissioner to develop and implement a
program to increase the number of state contracts awarded to resident
bidders through an in-state contract preference or other method that
does not violate the U.S. Constitution’s Commerce Clause (CGS § 4a-
57d(b)).
(The bill does not specify how or the extent to which contracting
agencies must give a preference to in-state contractors, or how to
determine whether they are located in the state. Depending on how the
bill’s preference is implemented, it could implicate the U.S. 2025SB-00525-R000479-BA.DOCX
Researcher: LRH Page 2 4/3/25
Constitution’s Commerce Clause (U.S. Const. Art. I, § 8).
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2025
BACKGROUND
Dormant Commerce Clause
The Commerce Clause gives Congress the power to regulate
commerce among the states. It has also been held to mean that states
cannot pass laws that improperly burden or discriminate against
interstate commerce. Under the so-called “dormant” Commerce Clause
doctrine, it is generally held that a law that does not discriminate on its
face, supports a legitimate state interest, and only incidentally burdens
interstate commerce is constitutional unless the burden is excessive in
relation to local benefits.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Labor and Public Employees Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 9 Nay 4 (03/18/2025)