Governor Signs Amendment to Preference Statute
On March 17, 2010, the Governor signed into law Senate Bill No. 2370 which amends what is know as the "preference statute". Miss. Code Ann. § 31-3-21(3). The statute requires that "[w]hen a nonresident contractor submits a bid for a public project, he shall attach thereto a copy of his resident state’s current law pertaining to such state’s treatment of nonresident contractors." (Emphasis added.) The Mississippi Attorney General has opined that the failure of a nonresident contractor to include "his resident state’s current law" was not sufficient to justify rejecting the nonresident contractor’s bid as nonresponsive. This has resulted in numerous public projects being awarded to nonresident contractors that did not comply with the statute’s mandatory requirement.
Senate Bill No. 2370 clarifies the ambiguity created by the Mississippi Attorney General’s office as to the mandatory requirement of the "preference statute" and which now unequivocally states:
Any bid submitted by a nonresident contractor which does not include the nonresident contractor’s current state law shall be rejected and not considered for award.
The AGC of Mississippi was instrumental in promoting this language for the benefit of the construction industry. The amendment will be effective on public projects bid from and after July 1, 2010.
