BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2098
Page 1
( Without Reference to File )
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 2098 (Miller, Jeffries and Bonnie Lowenthal)
As Amended August 20, 2010
2/3 vote. Urgency
TRANSPORTATION 12-0 APPROPRIATIONS 16-0
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|Ayes:|Bonnie Lowenthal, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Conway, |
| |Jeffries, | |Bradford, |
| |Bill Berryhill, Buchanan, | |Charles Calderon, Coto, |
| |Eng, Furutani, Galgiani, | |Davis, |
| |Hayashi, Miller, Niello, | |De Leon, Gatto, Hall, |
| |Norby, Solorio | |Harkey, Miller, Nielsen, |
| | | |Skinner, Solorio, |
| | | |Torlakson, Torrico |
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SUMMARY : Authorizes the Riverside County Transportation
Commission (RCTC) to award a design-build contract for design
and construction of the State Highway Route 91 Corridor
Improvements Project. Specifically, this bill :
1)Authorizes, in addition to the 15 projects already authorized,
RCTC to use design-build procurement for the State Highway 91
Corridor Improvements Project, upon approval of the California
Transportation Commission (CTC).
2)Provides that the California Department of Transportation
(Caltrans) will be responsible for construction inspection
services on the project, including specific tasks, such as
materials testing, surveying, and quality control inspection.
3)Prescribes a direct reporting relationship between project
inspectors and responsible senior Caltrans engineers.
4)Explicitly states that senior Caltrans engineers are
responsible for acceptance or rejection of work on the
project.
5)Provides, notwithstanding any other provision of law, that
Caltrans will retain the authority to stop the contractor's
operations on the project in the event public safety is
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jeopardized.
6)Prescribes specific tasks related to public safety and
convenience for which Caltrans is responsible.
7)Prescribes the process by which Caltrans is to document
project deficiencies and direct their remedy.
8)Provides that Caltrans may use employees or consultants to
perform prescribed services, consistent with the State
Constitution.
9)Requires RCTC to report to the Legislature on the project's
progress and compliance with the provisions of this bill.
10)Is an urgency measure.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Sets forth provisions governing public works contracting.
These provisions generally prohibit public agencies from
contracting with the same firm for both the design and the
construction phases of a project.
2)Generally requires public works construction contracts to be
awarded to the lowest responsible bidder.
3)Authorizes RCTC to impose and collect tolls on State Highway
Route 91 in Riverside County and to issue bonds and other
forms of indebtedness for specified purposes.
4)Enacted last year, establishes the Design-Build Demonstration
Program that provides for a limited use of design-build
contracts for transportation; sets forth criteria and
procedures governing the program.
5)Defines "design-build" to mean a procurement process in which
both the design and construction of a project are procured
from a single entity.
6)Authorizes local transportation entities, if authorized by the
CTC, to use design-build for up to five projects that may be
"for local street or road, bridge tunnel, or public transit
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projects within the jurisdiction of the entity."
7)Authorizes Caltrans, if authorized by the CTC, to use
design-build on up to 10 "state highway, bridge, or tunnel
projects."
8)Limits the total number of projects authorized in the program
to 15.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Design-build is an alternate method for procuring
design and construction services that provides for the delivery
of public works projects from a single entity. Design-build
combines project design, permit, and construction schedules in
order to streamline the traditional design-bid-build
environment.
Last session, the Legislature enacted SB 1316 (Correa), Chapter
714, Statutes of 2008, that gave RCTC the authority to develop
the State Highway Route 91 Corridor Improvements Project. The
project, between the Orange County line to Interstate 15 in
Riverside County, includes a general purpose traffic lane in
each direction, improved ramps and intersections at major city
streets that intersect the freeway in Corona, better connections
between Interstate 15 and State Highway Route 91 and the
extension of the State Highway Route 91 Express Lanes, which are
currently located on State Highway Route 91 in Orange County to
Interstate 15. The project is a $1.2 billion project that is
expected to create 18,000 jobs.
Project proponents assert that the key to the project's success
is RCTC's financing plan, based on a mix of federal innovative
financing loan guarantees and revenue bonds. Proponents also
assert that this financing plan is only viable if RCTC can
provide cost and schedule certainty via the use of a
design-build procurement. Proponents contend that failure to
secure design-build authority will result in RCTC having to
segment the project into separate design-bid-build packages.
This in turn, they argue, will result in a three- to five-year
delay to accommodate project design and right of way
acquisition.
State law currently allows selected state agencies and local
governments to use design-build but, until last year, had not
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allowed design-build for highways. Last year, however, the
Legislature passed and the Governor signed SB 4 X2 (Cogdill),
Chapter 2, Statutes of 2009-10 Second Extraordinary Session,
authorizing, among other things, limited use of design-build for
transportation. SB 4 X2 sets forth processes and procedures by
which design-build projects would be approved. SB 4 X2 does
not, however, authorize a local transportation entity (such as
RCTC) to use design-build on the state highway system.
RCTC does not have authority to enter into a design-build
contract for this project. This bill would remedy that
situation by granting RCTC specific authority to enter into a
design-build contract for this project.
Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
FN: 0006796