BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 587| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ THIRD READING Bill No: AB 587 Author: Gordon (D), et al Amended: As introduced Vote: 21 SENATE LABOR & INDUSTRIAL REL. COMMITTEE : 6-0, 6/8/11 AYES: Lieu, Wyland, DeSaulnier, Leno, Runner, Yee NO VOTE RECORDED: Padilla ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 5/2/11 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Public works: volunteers SOURCE : California Council of Land Trusts DIGEST : This bill extends the sunset on the exemption for volunteers on public works project out five years, from January 1, 2012 to January 1, 2017, and also makes findings and declarations on the intent of the Legislature to not undermine the wage base of a community, as well as several non-substantive amendments. ANALYSIS : Existing law public works as any construction, alteration, demolition, installation or repair work done under contract and paid for in whole or in part from public funds. This includes work performed during the design and pre-construction phase, including, but not limited to, inspection and land surveying. Existing law: CONTINUED AB 587 Page 2 1. Requires with certain exceptions, contracted public works projects to be submitted for bids by the public entity requesting the work, and that the contract is awarded to the lowest responsible bidder. The awarding body is required to ensure that the winning contractor is appropriately licensed with the Contractors' State Licensing Board, and has not been in barred from bidding on, accepting, or performing public contracts. 2. Requires all employees who work on public works projects with a budget of $1,000 or more to be paid the general prevailing rate of per diem wages and the general prevailing rate for holiday and overtime work for the specific location where the public work is to be performed. This prevailing wage is determined by the Department of Industrial Relations. 3. Exempts from public work requirements any project where the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) contracts with public agencies, Indian tribes, or nonprofit organizations for fish and wildlife habitat preservation, restoration, and enhancement. Existing law also allows the DFG to contract with public and private entities for fish and wildlife habitat preservation, restoration, and enhancement, but these contracts are only exempt from public work requirements if they are less than $50,000. 4. Exempts any work performed by volunteers from the public works requirements, but the exemption allowing volunteers on public works projects is set to expire on January 1, 2012. 5. Under existing law, volunteers are defined as: Individuals who perform works for civic, charitable, or humanitarian reasons for a public agency or tax-exempt organization, such as a 501(c)(3), without any compensation. Volunteer coordinators. Members of the California Conservation Corps or the CONTINUED AB 587 Page 3 Community Conservation Corps are also exempt. 6. Excludes from the definition of a volunteer: Anyone who works on the public works project for compensation. Anyone who received payment from the contractor on the public works project for construction, alteration, demolition, installation, repair, or maintenance work on the same project. This bill extends the sunset on the exemption for volunteers on public works project out five years, from January 1, 2012 to January 1, 2017. This bill also makes findings and declarations on the intent of the Legislature to not undermine the wage base of a community, as well as several non-substantive amendments. Comments In 2004, AB 2690 (Hancock), Chapter 330, Statutes of 2004, creates an exemption for volunteers from public works requirements, but also included the sunset of January 1, 2009. This bill came about from a 2003 Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) decision, which found that a stream restoration project using student volunteers should have paid prevailing wages and assessed back wages and civil penalties. At the time, the proponents argued that a public works exemption for volunteers was needed due to the "importance of volunteers in building community support for local projects", many of which included environmental projects such as stream restoration, beach clean-up, wetlands restoration, and trail building. In 2008, this sunset was extended until January 1, 2012 by AB 2537 (Furutani), Statutes of 2008, Chapter 678. The proponents of this bill argue that this exemption has proven successful, and therefore it is important to extend this exemption for additional five-years to allow volunteers to continue to participate in preservation activities on public lands, including removing invasive CONTINUED AB 587 Page 4 species, river and beach clean-ups, and maintaining walking trails. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 6/9/11) California Council of Land Trusts (source) Amargosa Conservancy American Land Conservancy American River Conservancy Amigos de los Rios Association of CA Water Agencies Audubon California Bay Area Open Space Council Bay Area Ridge Trail Council Big Sur Land Trust Bolsa Chica Land Trust California Association of Local Conservation Corps California Association of School Business Officials California Outdoor Heritage Alliance California Park and Recreation Society California ReLeaf California State Parks Foundation California Urban Forests Council California Watershed Network Canopy Catalina Conservancy Catalina Island Conservancy Cities of Citrus Heights, Fresno, San Diego, Signal Hill, Tulare, and Visalia Eastern Sierra Land Trust Fallbrook Land Conservancy Friends of the UC Davis Arboretum Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy Goleta Valley Beautiful Green LA Coalition Hammond Law Office Hollywood/LA Beautification Team Huntington Beach Tree Society Infineon Raceway Keep Eureka Beautiful Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation CONTINUED AB 587 Page 5 Lake County Land Trust Land Conservancy of SLO County Land Trust for Santa Barbara County Land Trust of Napa County Land Trust of Santa Cruz County Lassen Land and Trails Trust League of California Cities Los Angeles Conservation Corps Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust Marin Agricultural Land Trust Marin Employment Connection Marin Municipal Water District Mendocino Land Trust Northern California Carpenters Regional Council Northcoast Regional Land Trust Ojai Valley Land Conservancy Our City Forest Pacific Forest Trust Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy Placer Land Trust Redwood Coast Land Conservancy Roseville Urban Forest Foundation Rural Council of Rural Counties Sacramento County Sacramento Tree Foundation Sacramento Valley Conservancy San Joaquin River Parkway & Trust San Jose Conservation Corps Santa Barbara County ReLeaf Save Mount Diablo Sequoia Riverlands Trust Solano Land Trust Sonoma Land Trust Southern CA Open Space Council Southern California Open Space Council The Nature Conservancy Transition Habitat Conservancy Tree Fresno Tree Musketeers TreePeople Trust for Public Land Tulare Basin Wildlife Partners Union of Concerned Scientists Urban Corps- San Diego County CONTINUED AB 587 Page 6 Wildlife Heritage Foundation Woodland Tree Foundation ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : Proponents argue that during these difficult fiscal times, local government need to be able to call upon volunteers to complete important projects and maintain local park infrastructure. Proponents also note that hundreds of restoration projects are taken up by local governments in partnership with non-profits and local business, and that project managers work hard to ensure that there is a clear delineation between tasks for volunteers and tasks for paid employees and contractors. Proponents also note that there have been no reported labor law violations on environmental and restoration projects since the public works exemption was put in law in 2004. ASSEMBLY FLOOR : AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Campos, Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor, Miller, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NO VOTE RECORDED: Charles Calderon, Gorell, Mendoza, Vacancy PQ:do 6/30/11 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED AB 587 Page 7 CONTINUED