BAM Letter to Jobs, Economic Development, Labor & Industry Conference Committee

Re: BAM Written Testimony; SF3035

On behalf of the Builders Association of Minnesota (BAM), I would like to thank you for the opportunity to share written testimony. Our membership of nearly 1600 residential builders, remodelers, subcontractors, and industry partners are joined together through eleven local associations across Minnesota, and we are proud to be the statewide voice of the Minnesota Home-Building Industry since 1974.

BAM Strongly Opposes

• Onerous Wage Theft Language In The House Bill: While BAM supports efforts to mitigate wage theft, BAM opposes this massive new liability mandate from HF1859 (Feist) that unfairly and impractically holds contractors and project owners of construction sites liable when a subcontractor(s) is alleged to have committed wage theft. This provision will increase the cost of housing as the language attempts to turn contractors and project owners into state regulators. Instead, BAM supports aggressive enforcement of the robust wage theft law passed in 2019.

BAM Supports

• No Changes To Residential Energy Codes: BAM supports the Senate language, which does not make changes to the residential energy code.
• Contractor Recovery Fund (CRF) Re Solar: BAM supports the House and Senate language as it relates to solar installers and the Contractor Recovery Fund. The CRF is funded by Minnesota’s licensed residential contractors, and we are proud of the role the CRF plays as a consumer protection tool. We also appreciate the Department of Labor’s ongoing stewardship of the fund.