BILL NUMBER: AB 961	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Krekorian

                        FEBRUARY 26, 2009

   An act to add Article 14 (commencing with Section 10485) to
Chapter 2 of Part 2 of Division 2 of the Public Contract Code,
relating to public contracts.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 961, as introduced, Krekorian. Public contracts: state contract
eligibility: genocidal regimes.
   Existing law authorizes contracting between state agencies and
private contractors and sets forth requirements for the procurement
of goods and services by state agencies and the various
responsibilities of state agencies and the Department of General
Services in implementing state contracting procedures and policies.
Existing law prohibits a scrutinized company, as defined, that is
involved in specified activities in Sudan, from entering into a
contract with a state agency for goods or services, subject to
specified requirements and exemptions.
   This bill would prohibit a scrutinized company, as defined, that
was engaged in business with perpetrators of genocide, from entering
into a contract with a state agency for goods or services. The bill
also would require a prospective bidder for those state contracts,
that currently or within the previous 3 years has had business
activities or other operations outside of the United States, to
certify that the company is not a scrutinized company and would
impose civil penalties, as specified, for a company that provides a
false certification. The bill would allow the Director of General
Services, under specified conditions, to permit a scrutinized company
to enter into state contracts for goods and services.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Article 14 (commencing with Section 10485) is added to
Chapter 2 of Part 2 of Division 2 of the Public Contract Code, to
read:

      Article 14.  Prohibition on Contracts with Companies that Aided
Genocidal Regimes


   10485.  For purposes of this article, the following definitions
apply:
   (a) "Genocide" means any of the following events:
   (1) The atrocities committed by the Ottoman and Turkish
governments against Armenians from 1915 to 1923, inclusive, which
constituted the Armenian Genocide, and the massacres of Armenians
committed by the Ottoman Empire from 1894 to 1909, inclusive.
   (2) The Holocaust committed by Nazi Germany against Jews from 1938
to 1945, inclusive, and the persecution and massacre of Roma,
Slavic, Polish, Soviet, disabled people, homosexuals, and political
and religious dissidents by the Nazi regime.
   (3) The oppression, forced labor, and murder of the Cambodian
people by the Khmer Rouge regime from 1975 to 1979, inclusive.
   (4) The aggression and ethnic cleansing committed by the Rwandan
Hutu majority against minority Rwandan Tutsis that constituted the
Rwandan genocide of 1994.
   (5) The aggression and ethnic cleansing committed by elements of
the Bosnian Serb army against the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina
from 1992 to 1995, inclusive.
   (b) "Scrutinized company" means a company, and any affiliates of
that company, that was engaged in business with the perpetrators of
genocide and that still holds looted or deposited assets of a victim
of a genocide or his or her heirs.
   10485.5.  (a) A scrutinized company is ineligible to, and shall
not, bid on or submit a proposal for a contract with a state agency
for goods or services.
   (b) (1) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), the Director of General
Services may permit a scrutinized company, on a case-by-case basis,
to bid on or submit a proposal for a contract with a state agency for
goods or services, if it is in the best interests of the state to
permit the scrutinized company to bid on or submit a proposal for one
or more contracts with a state agency for goods or services.
   (2) In making this determination, the Director of General Services
may consider attempts by a scrutinized company to settle claims
against it by a victim of genocide, or his or her heirs, or evidence
refuting those claims presented by the scrutinized company.
   10486.  (a) A state agency shall require a company that submits a
bid or proposal with respect to a contract for goods or services,
that currently or within the previous three years has had business
activities or other operations outside of the United States, to
certify that the company is not a scrutinized company.
   (b) A state agency shall not require a company that submits a bid
or proposal with respect to a contract for goods and services to
certify that the company is not a scrutinized company if the company
has obtained permission to bid on or submit a proposal for a contract
with a state agency pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 10485.5.
   10486.5.  (a) If the Department of General Services determines
that a company has submitted a false certification under Section
10486, the company shall be subject to all of the following:
   (1) The company is liable for a civil penalty in an amount that is
equal to the greater of two hundred fifty thousand dollars
($250,000) or twice the amount of the contract for which a bid or
proposal was submitted.
   (2) The state agency or the Department of General Services may
terminate the contract with the company.
   (3) The company is ineligible to, and shall not, bid on a state
contract for a period of not less than three years from the date the
state agency determines that the company submitted the false
certification.
   (b) The Department of General Services shall report to the
Attorney General the name of the company that the Department of
General Services determined had submitted a false certification under
Section 10486, together with its information as to the false
certification, and the Attorney General shall determine whether to
bring a civil action against the company. The company shall pay all
costs and fees the plaintiff incurred in a civil action, including
costs incurred by the state agency and the Department of General
Services for investigations that led to the finding of the false
certification and all costs and fees incurred by the Attorney
General.
   10487.  (a) If any one or more provision, section, subdivision,
paragraph, sentence, clause, phrase, or word of this act or the
application thereof to any person or circumstance is found to be
invalid, illegal, unenforceable, or unconstitutional, the same is
hereby declared to be severable and the balance of this act shall
remain effective and functional notwithstanding such invalidity,
illegality, unenforceability, or unconstitutionality.
   (b) The Legislature hereby declares it would have passed this act,
and each provision, section, subdivision, paragraph, sentence,
clause, phrase or word thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one
or more provision, section, subdivision, paragraph, sentence,
clause, phrase, or word be declared invalid, illegal, unenforceable,
or unconstitutional.