Bill ~ Criminal sanctions unless 51% of workers hired from within city limits

[octoburn]

Any business that gets lucrative financial help from City Hall would be required to hire 51 percent of its workers from within the city limits or it could face a criminal sanction.

Those are the terms of a new bill proposed by City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young, who believes such legislation is needed to reduce what he calls Baltimore's "stubbornly high unemployment rate."

Young's "local hiring mandate" legislation will be introduced Monday before the City Council, he said.

“City government must ensure that our residents, labor leaders, and contractors join together to finally make local hiring a priority as we seek to grow our city and its economy," Young said in a statement.

Linky

I wonder how they came up with that 51 percent figure?

Compare that to an earlier article ~

The new tally lists 86 employees under “Mayor’s Office,” with 52 (or 60 percent) living in Baltimore, 20 in Baltimore County and two out of state. The December list showed 111 Mayor’s Office employees, with 65 (59 percent) in the city, 21 in Baltimore County and 16 outside Maryland.

Maryland law prohibits the city and counties from imposing residency requirements, although for some job openings Baltimore gives higher consideration to applicants who live in the city.

Linky

[demopublican]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/mar...,5001920.story

Here is the first linky

[demopublican]

Young’s legislation would require 51 percent of new jobs to go to residents of Baltimore City. The ordinance would apply to a business receiving any city contract of at least $300,000 or any project that benefits from at least $5 million in city assistance.

Businesses that do not comply could face debarment from receiving city contracts for one year and a $500 fine, the bill states.

Waivers may be issued, on a case-by-case basis, under certain special conditions, Young said. For instance, if the company can demonstrate it made a "good faith" effort to hire city residents, it could avoid penalty, the legislation states.

I think a lot of vendors would just walk away from City contracts. It would be very difficult to figure out how expensive this law would be for both the city and the vendors.

Since the bill says "new jobs" I guess the secret would be figuring out what new jobs the contract creates. Suppose I sold copiers to the city and won a contract for $500K of new copiers. Would this order create any new jobs? Or just allow me to keep my employees and deliver the copiers with existing employees?

[The Eternal White Belt]

What a great way to guarantee to NOT get the best value for your money.

The city's ridiculous MBE policies already create a ton of wasted money, now this.... Well, I hope for The city's sake that it doesn't pass.

[ivanbalt]

Those are the terms of a new bill proposed by City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young, who believes such legislation is needed to reduce what he calls Baltimore's "stubbornly high unemployment rate."

If this is the city's answer to high unemployment, it should be no surprise that there is high unemployment in the first place.

[sigmalady]

What is the definition of 'new job'. I don't think this is the answer to the high unemployment rate.

[MDvet]

my theory, if the proposed law passes and upheld (more than likely, not because it's legal rather Baltimore politicians can do whatever they want to do), the city will spend more money as businesses without 51% will not bother and less competition means bids can be higher.

Wonders if there will no sub contract provision (i.e. Baltimore 51% LLC with 1 employee that lives in the city, gets the business and subcontracts to an outer state company)

[The Eternal White Belt]

my theory, if the proposed law passes and upheld (more than likely, not because it's legal rather Baltimore politicians can do whatever they want to do), the city will spend more money as businesses without 51% will not bother and less competition means bids can be higher.

I agree.

Wonders if there will no sub contract provision (i.e. Baltimore 51% LLC with 1 employee that lives in the city, gets the business and subcontracts to an outer state company)

That wouldn't really be beneficial to the prime contractor though. No one wants to deal with the risk if all of the profits are going to a sub. The city also has (depending on the contract) something like a 25% MBE requirement - these will likely be local firms, so that part will likely be some-what easy.

Many contractors hate doing work for the city, due to their procurement processes and their sub-par contract/project management. This will only make things worse. It's sad...

[Lawman 27]

my theory, if the proposed law passes and upheld (more than likely, not because it's legal rather Baltimore politicians can do whatever they want to do), the city will spend more money as businesses without 51% will not bother and less competition means bids can be higher.

Wonders if there will no sub contract provision (i.e. Baltimore 51% LLC with 1 employee that lives in the city, gets the business and subcontracts to an outer state company)

Actually, this will be very easy to do.

A business wanting to do a job in the City will simply pay certain City agencies to show that the business is using their employees. (They won't have to use the City's employees, just show 'on paper' that they are).

Anywhere else this would be extortion, but this is the City that we are talking about, so it is okay.

[demopublican]

I think many companies would just open up an LLC for their City Govt business.
If they did it correctly they could qualify for MBE, WBE, and/or small business set asides as well.
There are almost certainly people supporting Jack Young that have these plans already on paper.

[The Eternal White Belt]

I've often thought of starting an MBE in my wife's name, but have never pulled the trigger. I too scuuurrred to not have the guaranteed income. Most of the MBEs that I encounter are Asian-owned - which is funny, because that's not "minority" the state was intending to receive the contracts (wild guess).