James Oberstar: “This legislation makes clear that no State will be considered to have violated the Federal Highway Administration's…”

“This legislation makes clear that no State will be considered to have violated the Federal Highway Administration's competitive bidding requirements solely because the State chose to enact an anti-pay-to-play law. The bill would neither require a State to pass anti-pay-to-play nor prohibit a State from doing so. It would not weigh in on the merits of any existing State law. It simply removes what currently functions as a Federal prohibition on some States' efforts to prohibit pay-to-play. As the gentleman from New Jersey said, it is commonsense legislation, and I urge its passage. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 3427, as amended, the ``State Ethics Law Protection Act of 2010'', introduced by the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Quigley). This bill aids State efforts to clean up their procurement processes by removing the threat of the loss of Federal-aid highway funds if a State chooses to enact ``anti-pay-to-play'' reforms.”