BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 729
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 6, 2009

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Kevin De Leon, Chair

                     AB 729 (Evans) - As Amended:  April 22, 2009

          Policy Committee:                               
          TransportationVote:11-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:              

           SUMMARY  

          This bill extends the sunset date, from January 1, 2011 to  
          January 1, 2015, on local transit operators' authority to use  
          design-build contracting.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Potential savings to transit operators to the extent continued  
          use of design build reduces project delivery time and/or  
          project-related change orders and litigation.

           COMMENTS  

           Background and Purpose  .  AB 958 (Scott)/Chapter 541 of 2000  
          authorized transit operators to use design-build and required  
          transit operators to report to the Legislative Analyst's Office  
          (LAO) on their experience using this procurement method.  In  
          February 2005, the LAO reported on all design-build authorities  
          granted to various types of government entities and found that  
          design-build can be a useful option for some public construction  
          projects.  LAO reported that government agencies using  
          design-build generally expressed favorable opinions of the  
          process. Almost all reported that compared to the traditional  
          design-bid-build process, design-build took less time and  
          resulted in fewer claims and less litigation.  

          AB 372 (Nation)/Chapter 262 of 2006 extended transit operators'  
          design-build authority to January 1, 2011, and made other  
          modifications to this authority, including requiring a transit  
          operator to establish a labor compliance program for a  
          design-build contract if the transit operator does not already  








                                                                  AB 729
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          have a labor compliance program.

          The California Transit Association (CTA) is sponsoring AB 729,  
          arguing that design-build authority could help expedite projects  
          that are under time constraints and may otherwise lose funding,  
          in programs such as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act  
          or Proposition 1B. 

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081