SB 146

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) Existing law authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to assume the responsibilities of the United States Secretary of Transportation under the federal National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) and other federal environmental laws for any railroad, public transportation, or multimodal project undertaken by state agencies, as specified. Existing law provides that the State of California consents to the jurisdiction of the federal courts with regard to the compliance, discharge, or enforcement of these responsibilities. Existing law repeals these provisions on January 1, 2025. This bill would extend the above authorization to December 31, 2033. The bill would additionally authorize the Secretary of Transportation, consistent with, and subject to the requirements of, any memorandum of understanding between the state and federal government and upon the request of a local or regional agency with the authority to implement transportation projects, to assume responsibilities under the NEPA and other federal environmental laws for any railroad, local public transportation, or multimodal project implemented by the requesting local or regional agency. The bill would impose terms and conditions similar to those with respect to the above-described authority to assume those responsibilities for projects undertaken by state agencies, including providing consent for the jurisdiction of the federal courts, as provided. The bill would require the secretary to report to the transportation policy committees of the Legislature regarding the assumption of responsibilities under the NEPA requested by a local or regional agency by December 31, 2033. The bill would repeal these provisions on December 31, 2033. (2) Existing law authorizes the Director of General Services to use the progressive design-build procurement process for the construction of up to 3 capital outlay projects, as jointly determined by the Department of General Services and the Department of Finance, and prescribes that process. Existing law defines "progressive design-build" as a project delivery process in which both the design and construction of a project are procured from a single entity that is selected through a qualifications-based selection at the earliest feasible stage of the project. Existing law, pursuant to the process, after selection of a design-build entity, authorizes the Department of General Services to contract for design and preconstruction services sufficient to establish a guaranteed maximum price, as defined. Existing law authorizes the department, upon agreement on a guaranteed maximum price, to amend the contract in its sole discretion, as specified. Existing law requires specified information to be verified under penalty of perjury. This bill would authorize the Department of Water Resources and the Department of Transportation (departments) to use the progressive design-build procurement process for the construction of up to 8 public works projects per department for a project that is estimated to exceed $25,000,000 in total price, and would prescribe that process. The bill would require each design-build entity, as defined, to submit specified information in a statement of qualifications that is to be verified under penalty of perjury. By expanding the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would prescribe the process for the departments to determine which design-build entity offers the best value to the public for the design-build project, as defined. The bill would require the selected design-build entity to provide payment and performance bonds and errors and omissions insurance coverage, as specified. The bill would, pursuant to the process, authorize the departments to contract for design and preconstruction services sufficient to establish a guaranteed maximum price, as defined. Upon agreement on a guaranteed maximum price, the bill would authorize the departments to amend a contract, as specified. The bill would also authorize the departments to solicit additional proposals if the departments and the design-build entity are unable to reach an agreement on a guaranteed maximum price. The bill would require the departments to submit, on or before January 1, 2034, to the Legislature a report containing specified information regarding the public works projects, commenced before January 1, 2033, that used the progressive design-build procurement process. This bill would specify that the above provisions do not apply to procurement by the Department of Water Resources for the design or construction of through-Delta conveyance facilities of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta or seawater desalination projects. (3) Existing law requires the Department of Transportation to improve and maintain state highways. The State Contract Act generally provides for a contracting process by state agencies for public works of improvement pursuant to a competitive bidding process, under which bids are awarded to the lowest responsible bidder, with specified alternative procurement procedures authorized in certain cases. Other existing law authorizes certain state and local agencies to engage in job order contracting, as prescribed. This bill, until December 31, 2033, would authorize the Department of Transportation to use job order contracting for certain transportation and public works projects, including, among others, those related to highway maintenance, installation of stormwater pollution control devices, and for facilities, systems, and traffic control devices needed to comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as provided. The bill would require the department to establish a procedure to prequalify job order contractors and to prepare a set of documents for each job order contract, as provided. The bill would require the department to prepare a request for bids for job order contracts that invites job order contractors to submit sealed bids in the manner prescribed by the department. The bill would also authorize the department, notwithstanding those other procedures, to award job order contracts for contracts within a specified cost range after obtaining written bid submittals from 2 or more certified small businesses or from 2 or more disabled veteran business enterprises, as provided. This bill would authorize job order contracts to be executed for an initial contract term of no more than 12 months, with the option of extending or renewing the job order contract for 2 additional 12-month periods, as provided. The bill would require job order contractors to possess or obtain sufficient bonding and risk and liability insurance, as provided. The bill would require the department to publish, on or before July 1 of each year, until July 1, 2033, on its internet website regarding the status of all active job order contracts and those job order contracts that expired in the previous year, and to monitor job order contracts for compliance with federal and state labor laws. This bill would repeal the above-described provisions relating to job order contracting on December 31, 2033. (4) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. (5) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.