BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 946 Page 1 Date of Hearing: September 8, 2011 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT Cameron Smyth, Chair AB 946 (Bonnie Lowenthal) - As Amended: August 31, 2011 SUBJECT : Public contracts: Los Angeles County: regional interoperable communications system. SUMMARY : Authorizes the Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System Authority (LA-RICS), a joint powers agency, to procure a regional interoperable communications system by utilizing a solicitation process to award a contract for the design and build out of a regional interoperable communications system and related infrastructure. The Senate amendments delete the Assembly version of this bill, and instead: 1)Authorize the County of Los Angeles or the LA-RICS to solicit proposals and enter into agreements with private entities for the delivery of a regional interoperable communications system and all related infrastructure to be used by public safety agencies and emergency responders located in the County of Los Angeles, including, but not limited to the : a) Studying, planning, design, developing, and financing of the system, the delivery and installation of equipment; b) Architectural and engineering design of the improvements to real property; c) Construction of the improvements to real property; and, d) Maintenance, rebuilding, repair, or operation, or any combination thereof, of the regional interoperable communications system. 2)Require the solicitation process to ensure that the contractor is selected in compliance with the "procurement by competitive AB 946 Page 2 proposals" process specified in applicable federal regulations governing federal grants and cooperative agreements to state and local governments. 3)Find and declare that a special law is necessary because of the unique requirements for a regional interoperable communications system in the County of Los Angeles. 4)State that an urgency statute is necessary in order to allow the County of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communication System Authority to contract for a regional interoperable communications system as soon as possible. EXISTING LAW : 1)Requires the governmental agency soliciting proposals and entering into agreements with private entities for the studying, planning, design, developing, financing, construction, maintenance, rebuilding, improvement, repair, or operation, or any combination thereof, by private entities for fee-producing infrastructure projects to ensure that the contractor is selected pursuant to a competitive negotiation process. 2)Requires the competitive negotiation process to utilize, as the primary selection criteria, the demonstrated competence and qualifications for the studying, planning, design, developing, financing, construction, maintenance, rebuilding, improvement, repair, or operation, or any combination thereof, of the facility. 3)Requires the selection criteria to also ensure that the facility be operated at fair and reasonable prices to the user of the infrastructure facility services. 4)Specifies that powers which may be exercised by a joint powers agency (JPA) can be no greater than the powers shared by each of the agency's constituent members. 5)Provided that for a JPA it shall not be necessary that any power common to the contracting parties be exercisable by each AB 946 Page 3 such contracting party with respect to the geographical area in which such power is to be jointly exercised. 6)Provides for a state strategic plan for establishing a statewide integrated, interoperable public safety communications network. 7)Governs, through the State Contract Act, contract practices between state departments and private contractors. 8)Establishes, under the Local Agency Public Construction Act, the procedures local agencies are required to use when soliciting and evaluating bids or proposals for the construction of a public work or improvement. AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill consolidated into Revenue and Taxation Code Section 279 reference to the effective dates for eligibility of the disabled veterans' exemption for specified situations. FISCAL EFFECT : None COMMENTS : 1)In 2009, the Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System Authority was established as a joint powers authority specifically to create the Los Angeles Regional Tactical Communications Subsystem - a network that would unite the region's 34,000 first responders through voice and data communications. 2)The need for emergency communications interoperability is especially great in the Los Angeles region with over 50 law enforcement agencies and 31 fire departments serving a 4,084 square mile region and 10 million County residents. After several years of work and a contract that was about to be awarded to the technology company Raytheon, the LA-RICS Authority was advised by counsel of several issues that would require canceling its existing procurement process and beginning a new one. County counsel recently raised concerns that the nearly completed contract violated state rules on how contracts for publicly funded projects must be structured and awarded. In light of this, negotiations with Raytheon were suspended. It was found that not all of the entities comprising the LA-RICS JPA have the statutory authority to AB 946 Page 4 enter into a contract using a solicitation process, yet the project had been procured through one, all-encompassing solicitation meant to lead to a single contract. AB 946 would authorize the JPA to proceed with the solicitation process on this project without running afoul of state contracting laws and the limitations set forth in the Joint Exercise of Powers Act. 3)Under existing infrastructure financing laws, governmental agencies, including counties, cities, school districts, public districts, and joint powers authorities, are authorized to solicit proposals and enter into contracts for the design, financing, construction, maintenance, operation, or any combination thereof, for fee-producing infrastructure projects. AB 946 would allow the use of a similar solicitation process for the LA-RICS project. 4)According to the sponsor, the County of Los Angeles, the need for urgency legislation is due in large measure to hundreds of millions of dollars in Federal grant funding that has already been allocated for the LA-RICS Authority project. To date, over $270.0 million in Federal grants have been budgeted for the project that are subject to time limits. Last year, the U.S. Department of Commerce awarded the Authority a Broadband Technology Opportunities Program grant of $154.6 million to cover the infrastructure costs in deploying a broadband public safety network for the project which alone is estimated to generate 2,181 jobs, including jobs produced indirectly from the project. In addition, the project would create a large, new market for public safety broadband software applications, which could result in substantial innovation and additional jobs that have not been quantified. 5)Support arguments: According to the County of Los Angeles, this urgency legislation is needed because over $270 million in federal grant funding allocated for the LA-RICS Authority project must be utilized within a specified time. Opposition arguments: Opposition could argue that traditional procurement processes that all members of the JPA share should be used instead of creating a separate procurement process just for LA-RICS. REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION : AB 946 Page 5 Support County of Los Angeles ÝSPONSOR] California Contract Cities Association California Police Chiefs Association, Inc. California State Firefighters' Association Cities of Bell Gardens, Cerritos, Culver City, Gardena, Long Beach, Torrance and Whittier Los Angeles County District Attorney, Steve Cooley Los Angeles County Sheriff, Leroy Baca Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System Authority Los Angeles Unified School District Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa, City of Los Angeles Opposition None on file Analysis Prepared by : Katie Kolitsos / L. GOV. / (916) 319-3958