BILL NUMBER: AB 251	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Levine
   (Coauthor: Assembly Member Chau)

                        FEBRUARY 9, 2015

   An act to amend Section 1720 of the Labor Code, relating to public
works.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 251, as introduced, Levine. Public works: public subsidies.
   Existing law requires that, except as specified, not less than the
general prevailing rate of per diem wages, determined by the
Director of Industrial Relations, be paid to workers employed on
public works projects. Existing law defines "public works" to
include, among other things, construction, alteration, demolition,
installation, or repair work done under contract and paid for, in
whole or in part, out of public funds, but exempts from that
definition, among other projects, an otherwise private development
project if the state or political subdivision provides, directly or
indirectly, a public subsidy to the private development project that
is de minimis in the context of the project.
   This bill would provide that a public subsidy is de minimis if it
is both less than $25,000 and less than 1% of the total project cost.
The bill would specify that those provisions do not apply to a
project that was advertised for bid, or a contract that was awarded,
before January 1, 2016.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 1720 of the Labor Code is amended to read:
   1720.  (a) As used in this chapter, "public works" means:
   (1) Construction, alteration, demolition, installation, or repair
work done under contract and paid for in whole or in part out of
public funds, except work done directly by any public utility company
pursuant to order of the Public Utilities Commission or other public
authority. For purposes of this paragraph, "construction" includes
work performed during the design and preconstruction phases of
construction, including, but not limited to, inspection and land
surveying work, and work performed during the postconstruction phases
of construction, including, but not limited to, all cleanup work at
the jobsite. For purposes of this paragraph, "installation" includes,
but is not limited to, the assembly and disassembly of freestanding
and affixed modular office systems.
   (2) Work done for irrigation, utility, reclamation, and
improvement districts, and other districts of this type. "Public work"
does not include the operation of the irrigation or drainage system
of any irrigation or reclamation district, except as used in Section
1778 relating to retaining wages.
   (3) Street, sewer, or other improvement work done under the
direction and supervision or by the authority of any officer or
public body of the state, or of any political subdivision or district
thereof, whether the political subdivision or district operates
under a freeholder's charter or not.
   (4) The laying of carpet done under a building lease-maintenance
contract and paid for out of public funds.
   (5) The laying of carpet in a public building done under contract
and paid for in whole or in part out of public funds.
   (6) Public transportation demonstration projects authorized
pursuant to Section 143 of the Streets and Highways Code.
   (7) (A) Infrastructure project grants from the California Advanced
Services Fund pursuant to Section 281 of the Public Utilities Code.
   (B) For purposes of this paragraph, the Public Utilities
Commission is not the awarding body or the body awarding the
contract, as defined in Section 1722.
   (b) For purposes of this section, "paid for in whole or in part
out of public funds" means all of the following:
   (1) The payment of money or the equivalent of money by the state
or political subdivision directly to or on behalf of the public works
contractor, subcontractor, or developer.
   (2) Performance of construction work by the state or political
subdivision in execution of the project.
   (3) Transfer by the state or political subdivision of an asset of
value for less than fair market price.
   (4) Fees, costs, rents, insurance or bond premiums, loans,
interest rates, or other obligations that would normally be required
in the execution of the contract, that are paid, reduced, charged at
less than fair market value, waived, or forgiven by the state or
political subdivision.
   (5) Money loaned by the state or political subdivision that is to
be repaid on a contingent basis.
   (6) Credits that are applied by the state or political subdivision
against repayment obligations to the state or political subdivision.

   (c) Notwithstanding subdivision (b):
   (1) Private residential projects built on private property are not
subject to the requirements of this chapter unless the projects are
built pursuant to an agreement with a state agency, redevelopment
agency, or local public housing authority.
   (2) If the state or a political subdivision requires a private
developer to perform construction, alteration, demolition,
installation, or repair work on a public work of improvement as a
condition of regulatory approval of an otherwise private development
project, and the state or political subdivision contributes no more
money, or the equivalent of money, to the overall project than is
required to perform this public improvement work, and the state or
political subdivision maintains no proprietary interest in the
overall project, then only the public improvement work shall thereby
become subject to this chapter.
   (3)    (A)  If the state or a political
subdivision reimburses a private developer for costs that would
normally be borne by the public, or provides directly or indirectly a
public subsidy to a private development project that is de minimis
in the context of the project, an otherwise private development
project shall not thereby become subject to the requirements of this
chapter. 
   (B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), a public subsidy is de
minimis if it is both less than twenty-five thousand dollars
($25,000) and less than 1 percent of the total project cost. This
subparagraph shall not apply to a project that was advertised for
bid, or a contract that was awarded, before January 1, 2016. 
   (4) The construction or rehabilitation of affordable housing units
for low- or moderate-income persons pursuant to paragraph (5) or (7)
of subdivision (e) of Section 33334.2 of the Health and Safety Code
that are paid for solely with moneys from the Low and Moderate Income
Housing Fund established pursuant to Section 33334.3 of the Health
and Safety Code or that are paid for by a combination of private
funds and funds available pursuant to Section 33334.2 or 33334.3 of
the Health and Safety Code do not constitute a project that is paid
for in whole or in part out of public funds.
   (5) Unless otherwise required by a public funding program, the
construction or rehabilitation of privately owned residential
projects is not subject to the requirements of this chapter if one or
more of the following conditions are met:
   (A) The project is a self-help housing project in which no fewer
than 500 hours of construction work associated with the homes are to
be performed by the home buyers.
   (B) The project consists of rehabilitation or expansion work
associated with a facility operated on a not-for-profit basis as
temporary or transitional housing for homeless persons with a total
project cost of less than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000).
   (C) Assistance is provided to a household as either mortgage
assistance, downpayment assistance, or for the rehabilitation of a
single-family home.
   (D) The project consists of new construction, expansion, or
rehabilitation work associated with a facility developed by a
nonprofit organization to be operated on a not-for-profit basis to
provide emergency or transitional shelter and ancillary services and
assistance to homeless adults and children. The nonprofit
organization operating the project shall provide, at no profit, not
less than 50 percent of the total project cost from nonpublic
sources, excluding real property that is transferred or leased. Total
project cost includes the value of donated labor, materials,
architectural, and engineering services.
   (E) The public participation in the project that would otherwise
meet the criteria of subdivision (b) is public funding in the form of
below-market interest rate loans for a project in which occupancy of
at least 40 percent of the units is restricted for at least 20
years, by deed or regulatory agreement, to individuals or families
earning no more than 80 percent of the area median income.
   (d) Notwithstanding any provision of this section to the contrary,
the following projects shall not, solely by reason of this section,
be subject to the requirements of this chapter:
   (1) Qualified residential rental projects, as defined by Section
142(d) of the Internal Revenue Code, financed in whole or in part
through the issuance of bonds that receive allocation of a portion of
the state ceiling pursuant to Chapter 11.8 (commencing with Section
8869.80) of Division 1 of Title 2 of the Government Code on or before
December 31, 2003.
   (2) Single-family residential projects financed in whole or in
part through the issuance of qualified mortgage revenue bonds or
qualified veterans' mortgage bonds, as defined by Section 143 of the
Internal Revenue Code, or with mortgage credit certificates under a
Qualified Mortgage Credit Certificate Program, as defined by Section
25 of the Internal Revenue Code, that receive allocation of a portion
of the state ceiling pursuant to Chapter 11.8 (commencing with
Section 8869.80) of Division 1 of Title 2 of the Government Code on
or before December 31, 2003.
   (3) Low-income housing projects that are allocated federal or
state low-income housing tax credits pursuant to Section 42 of the
Internal Revenue Code, Chapter 3.6 (commencing with Section 50199.4)
of Part 1 of Division 31 of the Health and Safety Code, or Section
12206, 17058, or 23610.5 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, on or
before December 31, 2003.
   (e) If a statute, other than this section, or a regulation, other
than a regulation adopted pursuant to this section, or an ordinance
or a contract applies this chapter to a project, the exclusions set
forth in subdivision (d) do not apply to that project.
   (f) For purposes of this section, references to the Internal
Revenue Code mean the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and
include the corresponding predecessor sections of the Internal
Revenue Code of 1954, as amended.
   (g) The amendments made to this section by either Chapter 938 of
the Statutes of 2001 or the act adding this subdivision shall not be
construed to preempt local ordinances requiring the payment of
prevailing wages on housing projects.