BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair


          SB 1509 (Simitian) - School Facilities: Design-build Contracts
          
          Amended: April 18, 2012         Policy Vote: Education 7-0
          Urgency: No                     Mandate: No
          Hearing Date: April 30, 2012                                
          Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez                       

          This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the 
          Suspense file.
          
          
          Bill Summary: SB 1509 eliminates the statutory sunset on the 
          authority of school district and community college district 
          (CCD) governing boards to enter into design-build contracts for 
          school facilities. 

          Fiscal Impact: No direct state costs. The savings or costs 
          associated with the local authority made permanent by this bill 
          are subject to the appropriate assessment of the contracting 
          market.

          Background: Current law authorizes a school district or CCD 
          governing board to enter into a design-build contract for the 
          design and construction of a school facility for projects in 
          excess of $2.5 million, in certain circumstances. That authority 
          will sunset on January 1, 2014. 

          Proposed Law: This bill would delete the sunset, thereby 
          creating permanent statutory authority for school districts and 
          CCDs to enter into design-build contracts as allowed 
          temporarily, under existing law.

          Related Legislation: The original authority for school districts 
          and CCDs to enter into design-build contracts was established by 
          AB 1402 (Simitian) Chapter 421/2001 for projects costing in 
          excess of $10 million. The authority has been expanded and 
          reauthorized in subsequent legislation. Most recently, SB 614 
          (Simitian) Chapter 471/ 2007 reduced the contract threshold on 
          projects from $10 million to $2.5 million, and extended the 
          authority to enter into design-build contracts to all CCDs.

          Staff Comments: Under a design-build process, a single contract 








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          may be awarded for both the design and construction of a project 
          to a single entity on other than a lowest responsible bidder 
          process. This bill allows school districts and CCDs to choose 
          whether to use design-build or traditional (design-bid-build) 
          contracts for individual projects that meet the statutory 
          requirements. Any costs or savings, then, related to this bill 
          are subject to the judgment of K-12 and community college 
          districts as to when to utilize design-build rather than the 
          traditional design-bid-build process.