ARTICLE 1

Section 1.  [Recruitment] amends section 43A.09.  Current law provides that “special emphasis” be given to recruiting members of protected groups for jobs in state civil service.  This section adds “veterans” to the recruiting emphasis.

Section 2 [Nondisabled veteran’s credit] increases from five points to ten points the credit given to a nondisabled veteran who elects to receive a credit, in a competitive open examination rating, under civil services laws, charter provisions, ordinances, rules or regulations of a county, city, town, school district, or other municipality or political subdivision. 

Section 3 [Disabled veteran’s credit] increases from ten to 15 points the credit given to a disabled veteran who elects to receive a credit, in a competitive open examination rating under civil service laws, charter provisions, ordinances, rules or regulations of a county, city, town, school district, or other municipality. 

ARTICLE 2

Section 1 [Veteran-owned small businesses] amends section 16C.16.  Current law provides advantages to veteran-owned small businesses in bidding for state procurement contracts.  This bill raises the preference from “up to six percent” to “up to eight percent”.

ARTICLE 3

Section 1. [Small targeted group business set-asides] strikes references to veterans in current law that provides a preference for state construction contracts in contracts issued by the Department of Transportation.  The preference for veterans is replaced and revised in Section 4.

Section 2 [Veteran-owned small business set-asides] creates a preference for veteran-owned small businesses in transportation contracts.

Section 3 [Recourse to other businesses] amends section 161.321 to allow the commissioner of transportation to award a transportation construction contract without regard to the veteran-owned small business preference in section 161.321, subdivision 2a, when the commissioner is unable to apply the preference.  Under current law, the commission may disregard the preference for small targeted group businesses and veteran-owned small businesses, when unable to apply the preference.

Section 4 [Purpose] states the purpose of granting preferences to veterans for state transportation construction contracts.

Section 5 [Rulemaking] temporarily exempts the commissioner of transportation from the requirements of section 161.321, subdivision 6, that define small businesses and set other eligibility requirements.

ARTICLE 4

Section 1 [Veteran-Owned Small Business Contracts] gives counties permission to give preference to veterans in awarding contracts for procurement of goods and services, printing and construction.

SJJ/syl