BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 729
                                                                  Page  1

          CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
          AB 729 (Evans)
          As Amended  June 30, 2009
          Majority vote
           
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          |ASSEMBLY:  |73-0 |(May 14, 2009)  |SENATE: |35-0 |(August 31,    |
          |           |     |                |        |     |2009)          |
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           Original Committee Reference:   TRANS  .

           SUMMARY  :  Extends, until January 1, 2015, the sunset date on  
          provisions authorizing the use of design-build contracting by  
          transit operators.  

           The Senate amendments  extend, until December 1, 2015,  
          legislative reporting requirements for transit operators that  
          elect to use design-build authority.  

           EXISTING LAW  :  

          1)Authorizes a transit operator to enter in design-build  
            contracts for both the design and construction of a project.  

          2)Defines "design-build" as a procurement process in which both  
            the design and construction of a project are procured from a  
            single entity.  

          3)Prescribes the process to be used by transit operators when  
            developing and procuring a design-build project.  

          4)Sunsets the design-build authority for transit operators on  
            January 1, 2011.  

           AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill was substantially similar  
            to the version passed by the Senate.  

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  Unknown

           COMMENTS  :  Original legislation enabling the use of design-build  
          for transit operators, AB 958 (Scott), Chapter 541, Statutes of  
          2000, required transit operators to report to the Legislative  
          Analyst's Office (LAO) on their experience using this type of  
          procurement method.  In February 2005, LAO prepared a  








                                                                  AB 729
                                                                  Page  2

          comprehensive report on design-build authorities granted to date  
          and found that it can be a useful option for some public  
          construction projects.  LAO reported that government agencies  
          that used 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 to construction and resulted in fewer claims and less  
          litigation.  

          The California Transit Association (CTA) is sponsoring this  
          bill, arguing that design-build authority can 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.  

          The extension of the sunset date set forth in the bill is  
          intended to provide the Legislature more time and more projects  
          with which to evaluate the effectiveness of design-build as a  
          procurement method.  

          Previous legislation:  In addition to AB 958, AB 372 (Nation),  
          Chapter 262, Statutes of 2006, which extended the original  
          authority January 1, 2011, and made other modifications to the  
          authority, including requiring a transit operator to establish a  
          labor compliance program only for a design-build contract and  
          only if the transit operator does not already have a labor  
          compliance program, as specified.  

           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093 


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