To enact sections 153.73 and 153.731 of the Revised Code to prohibit a state agency from awarding a public improvement contract unless its terms require the contractor to participate in a specified drug-free workplace program.

Section 1. That sections 153.73 and 153.731 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:

Sec. 153.73. (A) As used in this section:

(1) "Contracting authority" means any state agency or other state instrumentality that is authorized to award a public improvement contract.

(2) "Contractor" includes each construction manager, construction contractor, or subcontractor providing labor services, lease labor, or manpower, for a public improvement contract.

(3) "Labor services" means any construction services performed on the site of the construction, alteration, or repair of a public building, public highway, or other public improvement.

(4) "Public improvement contract" means any contract that is financed in whole or in part with money appropriated by the general assembly, or that is financed in any manner by a contracting authority that is a state institution of higher education, and that is awarded by a contracting authority for the construction, alteration, or repair of any public building, public highway, or other public improvement.

(5) "State agency" means every organized body, office, or agency established by the laws of this state for the exercise of any function of state government.

(B) A contracting authority shall not award a public improvement contract to a contractor unless the terms of the contract require the contractor to be enrolled in and be in good standing in the drug-free workplace program of the bureau of workers' compensation or a comparable program that is approved by the bureau and that meets the minimum requirements of the bureau's drug-free workplace program. A contracting authority shall ensure that money appropriated by the general assembly for the contracting authority's public improvement contract or, in the case of a state institution of higher education, the institution's financing for the public improvement contract, is not expended unless each contractor for that contract is enrolled in and in good standing in such a program. A contracting authority need verify only once during the term of a public improvement contract that each contractor for the contract is enrolled in and in good standing in such a program.

Sec. 153.731.  The general assembly intends the drug-free workplace programs required by section 153.73 of the Revised Code to be of assistance in ensuring that public buildings, public highways, and other public improvements of the state are constructed, altered, or repaired in a manner that protects the safety of the citizens of this state.