BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                      



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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                   AB 587|
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                                 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:
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          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 

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                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 

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          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

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          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

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          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

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