BILL ANALYSIS
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2098
Author: Miller (R), et al
Amended: 8/20/10 in Assembly
Vote: 27 - Urgency
WITHOUT REFERENCE TO COMMITTEE OR FILE
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 73-0, 8/27/10 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Riverside County Transportation Commission
SOURCE : Riverside County Transportation Commission
DIGEST : This bill authorizes the Riverside County
Transportation Commission to award a design-build contract
for design and construction of the State Highway Route 91
Corridor Improvements Project.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Sets forth provisions governing public works
contracting. These provisions generally prohibit public
agencies from contracting with the same firm for both
the design and the construction phases of a project.
2. Generally requires public works construction contracts
to be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder.
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3. Authorizes the Riverside County Transportation
Commission (RCTC) to impose and collect tolls on State
Highway Route 91 in Riverside County and to issue bonds
and other forms of indebtedness for specified purposes.
4. Enacted last year, establishes the Design-Build
Demonstration Program that provides for a limited use of
design-build contracts for transportation, and sets
forth criteria and procedures governing the program.
5. Defines "design-build" to mean a procurement process in
which both the design and construction of a project are
procured from a single entity.
6. Authorizes local transportation entities, if authorized
by the California Transportation Commission (CTC), to
use design-build for up to five projects that may be
"for local street or road, bridge tunnel, or public
transit projects within the jurisdiction of the entity."
7. Authorizes the Department of Transportation (Caltrans),
if authorized by the CTC, to use design-build on up to
10 "state highway, bridge, or tunnel projects."
8. Limits the total number of projects authorized in the
program to 15.
This bill:
1. Authorizes, in addition to the 15 projects already
authorized, RCTC to use design-build procurement for the
State Highway 91 Corridor Improvements Project, upon
approval of the CTC.
2. Provides that Caltrans will be responsible for
construction inspection services on the project,
including specific tasks, such as materials testing,
surveying, and quality control inspection.
3. Prescribes a direct reporting relationship between
project inspectors and responsible senior Caltrans
engineers.
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4. Explicitly states that senior Caltrans engineers are
responsible for acceptance or rejection of work on the
project.
5. Provides, notwithstanding any other provision of law,
that Caltrans will retain the authority to stop the
contractor's operations on the project in the event
public safety is jeopardized.
6. Prescribes specific tasks related to public safety and
convenience for which Caltrans is responsible.
7. Prescribes the process by which Caltrans is to document
project deficiencies and direct their remedy.
8. Provides that Caltrans may use employees or consultants
to perform prescribed services, consistent with the
State Constitution.
9. Requires RCTC to report to the Legislature on the
project's progress and compliance with the provisions of
this bill.
Comments
Design-build is an alternate method for procuring design
and construction services that provides for the delivery of
public works projects from a single entity. Design-build
combines project design, permit, and construction schedules
in order to streamline the traditional design-bid-build
environment.
Last session, the Legislature enacted SB 1316 (Correa),
Chapter 714, Statutes of 2008, that gave RCTC the authority
to develop the State Highway Route 91 Corridor Improvements
Project. The project, between the Orange County line to
Interstate 15 in Riverside County, includes a general
purpose traffic lane in each direction, improved ramps and
intersections at major city streets that intersect the
freeway in Corona, better connections between Interstate 15
and State Highway Route 91 and the extension of the State
Highway Route 91 Express Lanes, which are currently located
on State Highway Route 91 in Orange County to Interstate
15. The $1.2 billion project is expected to create 18,000
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jobs.
Project proponents assert that the key to the project's
success is RCTC's financing plan, based on a mix of federal
innovative financing loan guarantees and revenue bonds.
Proponents also assert that this financing plan is only
viable if RCTC can provide cost and schedule certainty via
the use of a design-build procurement. Proponents contend
that failure to secure design-build authority will result
in RCTC having to segment the project into separate
design-bid-build packages. This in turn, they argue, will
result in a three- to five-year delay to accommodate
project design and right of way acquisition.
State law currently allows selected state agencies and
local governments to use design-build but, until last year,
had not allowed design-build for highways. Last year,
however, the Legislature passed and the Governor signed SB
4 X2 (Cogdill), Chapter 2, Statutes of 2009-10, Second
Extraordinary Session, authorizing, among other things,
limited use of design-build for transportation. SB 4 X2
sets forth processes and procedures by which design-build
projects would be approved. SB 4 X2 does not, however,
authorize a local transportation entity (such as RCTC) to
use design-build on the state highway system.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/30/10)
Riverside County Transportation Commission (source)
California Chamber of Commerce
California State Council of Labors
CH2M Hill
City of Corona
Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce
Monday Morning Group
Orange Chamber of Commerce
Orange County Business Council
Orange County Transportation Authority
Self Help Counties Coalition
Southern California Contractors Association
Western Riverside Council of Governments
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OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/30/10)
Service Employees International Union, Local 1000
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Bass, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield,
Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, DeVore,
Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuller, Furutani,
Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Hagman, Hall, Harkey,
Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jeffries,
Jones, Knight, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma,
Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello,
Nielsen, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas,
Saldana, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra
Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran,
Villines, Yamada, John A. Perez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Caballero, Chesbro, Fuentes, Gilmore,
Norby, Vacancy, Vacancy
JJA:mw 8/30/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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