BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                       AB 2196|
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                                      CONSENT 


          Bill No:  AB 2196
          Author:   Low (D) 
          Amended:  6/8/16 in Senate
          Vote:     21 

           SENATE TRANS. & HOUSING COMMITTEE:  11-0, 6/14/16
           AYES:  Beall, Cannella, Allen, Bates, Gaines, Galgiani, Leyva,  
            McGuire, Mendoza, Roth, Wieckowski

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR:  79-0, 5/5/16 (Consent) - See last page for  
            vote

           SUBJECT:   Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority


          SOURCE:    Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

          DIGEST:   This bill makes a number of non-substantive changes to  
          the enabling statutes for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation  
          Authority (VTA). Additionally, this bill changes the bid  
          thresholds for contracts related to supplies, equipment, and  
          materials, as specified. 


          ANALYSIS:  


          Existing law:


          1)Creates the Santa Clara Valley Transit District and the VTA  
            with various duties relative to transportation projects,  
            planning and services, and the operation of public transit in  
            the County of Santa Clara.









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          2)Defines the Santa Clara Valley Transit District as meaning the  
            Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority.   


          3)Designates that the governing board of the district shall  
            consist of 12 members, with two representatives of the county  
            who shall be members of the board of supervisors, five  
            representatives of the City of San Jose who shall be city  
            council members, and five council members selected from among  
            the cities in the county other than the City of San Jose.


          4)Requires VTA to let contracts for the purchase of supplies,  
            equipment, and materials to the lowest responsible bidder or  
            to the bidder who submits a proposal that provides best value,  
            as defined, if the amount of the contract exceeds $100,000.


          5)Requires VTA to obtain at least three quotations that permit  
            prices and terms to be compared whenever the expected  
            procurement is expected to cost between $2,500 and does not  
            exceed $100,000 for supplies, equipment, or materials.


          This bill:


          1)Clarifies that the mayor of a city is authorized to serve on  
            VTA's board of directors (Board of Directors) in the same  
            manner as city councilmembers.


          2)Prohibits VTA from levying any tax unless approved by electors  
            voting on the measure in accordance with Article XIII C of the  
            California Constitution at a special election called for that  
            purpose by the Board of Directors.


          3)Replaces references to the authority or district with VTA.










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          4)Replaces references to VTAs executive director with general  
            manager.


          5)Deletes obsolete and outdated provisions of law regarding  
            reorganization and labor disputes. 


          6)Increases the bid threshold, from $100,000 to $150,000, above  
            which VTA must award contracts for supplies, equipment and  
            materials to the lowest responsible bidder or to the bidder  
            who submits a proposal that provides best value, as defined.


          7)Increases, from $100,000 to $150,000, the maximum procurement  
            amount for supplies, equipment, or materials under which VTA  
            must obtain at least three quotations that permit prices and  
            terms to be compared.


          8)Increases, from $2,000 to $3,500, the minimum procurement  
            amount for supplies, equipment or materials above which VTA  
            must obtain at least three quotations that permit prices and  
            terms to be compared.


          9)Makes other technical and conforming changes.


          Comments


          1)Purpose.  The author asserts, "A comprehensive review and  
            clean-up of the underlying state statutes governing VTA has  
            not been done since the reorganization occurred more than 20  
            years ago. Therefore, AB 2196 has been introduced to make a  
            series of technical, non-substantive, clean-up changes to  
            VTA's enabling statutes that are intended to update provisions  
            that are outdated, delete provisions that are obsolete or  
            inoperable, and modify provisions that are unclear or  
            inconsistent."









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          2)Federal conformity. The Simplified Acquisition Threshold (SAT)  
            is set by the federal government for its Simplified  
            Acquisition Procedures (SAP), which are designed to help  
            federal agencies meet their small business procurement  
            targets.  SAPs employ streamlined contracting procedures for  
            contracts valued between $2,500 and $150,000, such as allowing  
            quotations (including oral quotations) instead of requiring  
            full-blown bids, requiring less stringent reporting, and  
            setting simpler rules for subcontracting.  Federal acquisition  
            thresholds are adjusted every five years and published in the  
            Federal Register.  The latest adjustment in 2015 raised the  
            micro-purchase threshold to $3,500. The SAT ceiling remained  
            the same, at $150,000.  This bill increases VTA's existing bid  
            thresholds for supplies, equipment, and materials to bring the  
            authority in alignment with federal regulations. 


          3)Technical clean-up.  AB 2196 is a clean-up bill, making  
            various non-substantive changes to current VTA statues.  A  
            comprehensive review and clean-up of the underlying statues  
            governing VTA has not been done since the reorganization of  
            the agency occurred.  This bill is intended to update  
            provisions that are outdated, delete provisions that are  
            obsolete or inoperable, and modify provisions that are  
            inconsistent.




          FISCAL EFFECT:   Appropriation:    No          Fiscal  
          Com.:NoLocal:    No


          SUPPORT:   (Verified6/17/16)


          Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (source)
          Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors


          OPPOSITION:   (Verified6/17/16)








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          None received

          ASSEMBLY FLOOR:  79-0, 5/5/16
          AYES:  Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,  
            Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,  
            Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley,  
            Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier,  
            Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson,  
            Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger  
            Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey,  
            Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes,  
            McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte,  
            O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez,  
            Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting,  
            Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Beth Gaines


          Prepared by:Manny Leon / T. & H. / (916) 651-4121
          6/17/16 15:03:37


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