BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 110
Page 1
Date of Hearing: July 1, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
SB 110 (DeSaulnier) - As Amended: July 3, 2013
SENATE VOTE : Not applicable
SUBJECT : East Span, San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Safety
Review Task Force
SUMMARY : Establishes a safety review task force to assess the
seismic safety of the East Span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay
Bridge, exempts the task force and its members from liability,
and subjects the task force to open meeting and public record
access requirements. Specifically, this bill :
1)Establishes the East Span, San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge
Safety Review Task Force (task force) in state government, to
consist of seven members, each appointed to a one-year term as
officers of the state and each selected on the basis of
qualifications related to expertise and independence.
2)Assigns the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) with the
responsibility to provide administrative support for the task
force.
3)Provides compensation to task force members as follows: the
chairperson is to receive $20,000 and each task force member
is to receive $16,000. All members are entitled to
reimbursement for expenses, paid for by the State Highway
Account.
4)Appropriates $149,000 from the State Highway Account for
expenses related to the task force and requires the Bay Area
Toll Authority to reimburse these expenses.
5)Requires all task force meetings to be held in California but
allows members to conduct meetings outside the state or to
participate via conference call, with prior approval by LAO.
6)Exempts task force members from provisions of existing law
that otherwise prohibit state officers and state employees
from working outside California and traveling out of the state
without the Governor's approval; authorizes the LAO to approve
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out-of-state travel.
7)Subjects the task force to the requirements of the
Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act and subjects the records of the
task force to disclosure under the Public Records Act (PRA).
8)Directs the task force to assess the anticipated seismic
structural performance of East Span of the San
Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, as follows:
a) Review the seismic design criteria of the east span and
evaluate the appropriateness of the approach,
methodologies, and modeling assumptions used by the
California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) as they
pertain to the ability of the bridge as designed to
withstand an earthquake of an appropriate hazard level.
b) Review construction techniques, testing documents, and
other pertinent information regarding construction of the
bridge and address specific questions that have been raised
about construction quality due to possible problems with
Caltrans' oversight of the construction contractor and
subcontractors.
c) Review and evaluate Caltrans' analyses to assess the
impact of construction defects.
d) Evaluate Caltrans' risk assessment to determine if
Caltrans appropriately assessed the bridge's ability to
withstand an earthquake.
9)Provides that the task force may request Caltrans to run
models of the bridge and the bridge foundation using various
assumptions; additionally requires Caltrans to otherwise
cooperate fully with the task force.
10)Requires the task force to submit a final written report to
the Legislature and the Governor setting forth the results of
the task force's review.
11)Clarifies that the task force members are covered by existing
government immunity provisions and provides that task force
members can request Caltrans, as the responsible public
entity, to defend against any claim or action based on the
task force members' acts or omissions in the scope of their
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work on the task force. Any related expenses incurred by
Caltrans are to be reimbursed by the Bay Area Toll Authority.
12)Makes the bill's provisions inoperative as of July 1, 2014,
and repeals these provisions on January 1, 2015.
13)States legislative intent that the work of the task force
should not delay the opening of the new East Span of the Bay
Bridge if Caltrans determines at any time that the bridge is
safe and ready to open.
14)Is an urgency measure.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides that state officers and employers are required to do
state business within the state unless they obtain prior
approval of the Governor to travel out of state.
2)Generally provides that a public employee is not liable for an
injury resulting from his act or omission where the act or
commission was the result of the exercise of the discretion
vested in him or her.
3)Provides that if an employee or former employee of a public
entity makes a timely request that the relevant public entity
defend any claim or action against him or her for an injury
that arises out of an act or omission occurring within the
scope of his or her employment with the public entity, then
the public entity shall defend that claim or action. If the
employee or former employee reasonably cooperates in good
faith in the defense of claim or action, then the public
entity shall pay any judgment, or pay any compromise or
settlement amount to that the public entity has agreed.
4)Requires, under the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, designated
government bodies, boards, and commissions to publicly notice
their meetings, prepare agendas, accept public testimony and
conduct their meetings in public unless specifically
authorized by the Act to meet in closed session.
5)Requires, under the PRA, that all records of a state or local
agency be open to inspection or duplication by members of the
public, unless exempted by an express provision of the PRA.
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Imposes certain requirements on the manner and timeframes
within which a state or local agency must respond to a public
record request and requires the agency make reasonable efforts
to assist a member of the public in making a focused and
effective request.
6)Creates the Bay Area Toll Authority to administer all toll
revenues for the seven state-owned Bay Area toll bridges.
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill appropriates $149,000 from the State
Highway Account for task force expenses; requires these
expenses, and expenses incurred by Caltrans related to defending
task force members in a lawsuit, are to be reimbursed by the Bay
Area Toll Authority.
COMMENTS : Media reports over the last year have raised
questions about the structural soundness of the new east span of
the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, which is currently under
construction and will replace the older east span of the bridge.
Questions were first raised last year specifically about the
soundness of the bridge's main tower foundation. Subsequently,
Caltrans reported that its own Seismic Peer Review Panel
reviewed pertinent data and confirmed the bridge was safe. That
report, however, did not assuage skeptics. They challenged the
panel members' independence and judgment, arguing that panel
members had a vested interest in finding that the bridge was
safe given that they had participated in the bridge's design.
Critics, therefore, concluded that the panel members' opinions
could not be trusted.
In response to these media reports, the author, in his capacity
as chair of the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee,
requested that the LAO review Caltrans' and others' foundation
reviews and evaluations and confirm that the problems identified
by the media were resolved. Following that hearing, the LAO
determined that it did not have the expertise to review the
highly technical reviews of the bridge and decided to establish
a task force of independent experts to review the reviews
originally conducted by the Caltrans and others (including the
Federal Highway Administration).
The LAO convened the task force earlier this year amidst
controversy of its own. For example, soon after task force
members were identified, media scrutiny focused on alleged
conflicts of interests due to members' ties to Caltrans.
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Proceeding undeterred, nonetheless, the LAO sought to negotiate
final contracts for the task force but found resistance by the
task force members who were concerned about the legal liability
of findings they may reach in the course of their work on the
task force. As a result, the work of the task force has been
stalled until resolution of the immunity issue can be remedied.
The author has introduced this bill in an attempt to do just
that-i.e., alleviate task force members' concerns regarding
liability so that the work of the task force-can continue in
earnest. This bill would formally create the task force in
state government and provide task force members with assurances
that they will not be held liable for any injury that results
from any of their acts or omissions made while serving on the
task force. In addition to its immunity provisions, this bill
specifically subjects the task force to open meeting
requirements of the Bagley-Keene Act and provides that the
records and the documents created or used by the task force are
subject to the PRA.
Double-referred: SB 110 was doubled-referred to the Assembly
Judiciary Committee, which approved the bill 10-0.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file
Opposition
One individual
Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093