Applicability of State and Local Licensing Regulations to Military Installations

On December 16, 2009, Congressman James R. Langevin (D-RI) proposed a bill, H.R. 4379, that would require contractors and subcontractors working on military construction projects to comply with state and local licensing requirements for employees working at the project location. Currently, it is unclear whether state and local licensing regulations are applicable to a contractor bidding or hired to work on a military construction project because military construction projects usually take place on land ceded by the state to the federal government for military installations such as Ft. Meade. The cases deciding these issues are inconsistent, and whether state and local licensing requirements apply to work on a given installation may turn on the timing of the state’s cession of the land and on any conditions the state placed in consenting to federal jurisdiction over the land. States do not always use the full extent of any jurisdiction they retain as to federal installations, and so otherwise valid licensing requirements may go unenforced.

The one principle that is clear under current law is that state and local licensing laws that would interfere with express federal contracting policies cannot be applied to those working on federal contracts. Even so, military agencies have the discretion to mandate that their contractors obtain such licenses, but do not always place such a requirement in the contracts they let. H.R. 4379 would only permit one federal policy interest to trump state and local law – national security.

The impact of H.R. 4379 would be that an out-of-state contractor bidding or performing electrical work on a project at, for example, Ft. Meade, would have to conform with the state's licensing scheme and could only use electricians that comply with the licensing requirements for electricians set down by Maryland and by Anne Arundel County (in Maryland, the county governments issue electrician’s licenses). Those failing to obtain such licenses would be subject to termination by the government and citation by the licensing entity. Moreover, many states do not permit contractors that fail to comply with licensing requirement to file suit for non-payment, so subcontractors on federal projects who ignore the licensing requirements could go unpaid without recourse.

H.R. 4379 has been referred to the House Committee on Armed Services where it awaits further action.

- Will Pearce, LEED AP BD+C

Welcome to the BRAC Blog

Welcome to Whiteford, Taylor & Preston’s BRAC Blog, a blog dedicated to covering the challenges and opportunities of Base Realignment and Closure 2005 and its impact on the region’s business community from a legal perspective.

On May 13, 2005, the Department of Defense announced its recommendations for the latest round of Base Realignment and Closure, BRAC 2005. “BRAC” refers to the process of reorganizing our nation’s military infrastructure by closing some bases and expanding others, and numerous military activities in the area have been affected. BRAC is a very complicated process, and its significant impact on the Greater Washington, D.C./Baltimore area raises a broad range of current and potential conflicts as well as legal and political issues, which we aim to identify and analyze in our Blog. If you are a small business, a large corporation, an independent entrepreneur or a resident in the area, you will likely be impacted in some way by BRAC.

This Blog is comprised of commentary and thoughts from Whiteford’s legal professionals, representing a diverse group of practice areas – everything from government contracts and regulatory law to intellectual property, real estate, employment and labor, environmental law and construction. We endeavor to keep you informed on a variety of timely topics and legal issues connected to BRAC and we welcome your participation in that process.

Please let us know what you think by posting comments to the Blog entries or emailing Brad Aaron at jaaron@wtplaw.com or Heather James at hjames@wtplaw.com. Of course, you can also contact any of the blog posters directly (each poster's contact information is available by clicking directly on the poster's name at the end of each post).

Thanks for checking in – we hope you find this Blog a valuable resource in understanding the benefits, problems and challenges of present (and future) BRAC rounds.