Thursday, August 18, 2022
Recently, I noted a troubling trend for public works in California that required PLAs to qualify for state funding. In August, we saw mixed results.
· AB 2419 (Bryan - D) This bill mandated that for a construction project that will cost $5,000,000 or more, IIJA funds may be allocated only if the construction project will be performed under a PLA. Status: DIED in Senate Appropriations. Caltrans and DWR noted higher costs and project delays because of the PLA mandate – thanks State Building and Construction Trades Council!
· S.B. 22 (Glazer - D) This bill would have required DGS to prioritize projects for funding that used a PLA. Status: Died in Senate Education. No school bonds this year.
· SB 1020 (Laird - D) requires new procurement of clean energy by the state to be constructed with contractors using multi-craft project labor agreements. Status: Assembly floor
· SB 1105 (Hueso - D) This bill created the San Diego Regional Equitable and Environmentally Friendly Affordable Housing Finance Agency and grants it the authority to impose taxes and fees. The bill would have required the agency to execute a PLA with the San Diego County Building and Construction Trades Council before placing a measure on the ballot to raise revenue for the agency. Status: Died in Assembly Appropriations.
While it might appear the Legislature is acting in a more prudent manner, the truth is more complex and worthy of a graduate school thesis. Nonetheless, we will take the win where we can!
Legislation
PLAs
SB 6 (Caballero - D) This bill, until January 1, 2029, enacts the Neighborhood Homes Act, which authorizes housing on any parcel zoned for office or retail uses. On PLA projects bars the labor commissioner from enforcing the labor code and exempts these projects from skilled and trained workforce mandates. Requires prevailing wages and apprentices on all projects - even if private. Status: 8/11/2022 - Assembly floor
SB 679 (Kamlager - D) This bill provides that any construction project receiving funding or financing from Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency (LACAHSA) shall constitute a public work for which the contractor must pay prevailing wages. All contractors and subcontractors must use a skilled and trained workforce to perform all work on projects (with the usual SBCTC language). Status: 8/11/2022 - Assembly floor
SB 1020 (Laird - D) This bill requires retail sellers or local publicly owned electric utilities to require its contractors to use a PLA for the construction of the zero-carbon resource or eligible renewable energy resource. Status: 8/11/2022 - Assembly floor
APM/DB/CMaR
AB 902 (O’Donnell - D) AB 902 establishes an alternative design-build pilot project to procure school construction contracts. According to CDE, in 2019-20, 11 school districts had an enrollment of more than 50,000 students. Fiscal Impact: This bill was not expected to result in high costs to local school districts or the state. For school districts electing to utilize the design-build contract methodology proposed by this measure, there could be cost savings for those facility projects compared to other procurement methods. The bill had no opposition, so why was it killed? Good question. Status: DEAD
SB 991 (Newman - D) SB 991 will allow Local Water Agencies (LWA) to contract with entities that utilize the Progressive Design-Build method to execute a public works project. Progressive Design-Build (PDB) is a contracting model in which a public agency hires a single entity to design and construct a project at the earliest feasible stage. Includes a mandate for STWF, including an exemption for projects covered by a PLA. It contains language that deems a union contractor “safe.” Status: 8/8/2022 - Assembly floor
SB 1422 (Hertzberg - D) SB 1422 authorizes, until January 1, 2028, a state or local agency to use alternative contracting procedures for the purchase or installation of carpet, resilient flooring, synthetic turf, or lighting fixtures, so long as the installation work is not performed in connection with new construction, and the contractor complies with specified wage and labor requirements. Status: 8/11/2022 - Assembly floor
Apprenticeship
SB 1351 (Durazo - D) This bill establishes a program within the Division of Apprenticeship Standards, called the California Youth Apprenticeship Program, to develop new or expand on existing apprenticeship programs targeting 16 to 24-year-olds who are unhoused in the welfare or juvenile justice system or otherwise facing barriers to labor market participation Status: 8/10/2022 - Dead
Business Issues
AB 732 (Quirk - D) This bill changes the Mercury Thermostat Collection Act of 2021, deletes obsolete provisions related to registered hazardous waste transporters, and makes additional technical and conforming changes. Status: 8/11/2022 - Senate floor
Construction Practices
AB 1867 (Lee - D) This bill requires the governing board of a school district intending to seek state funding for specified school modernization projects to include, as part of the project, faucet aerators and water-conserving plumbing fixtures in all bathrooms. Status: 8/11/2022 - Senate floor
SB 1393 (Archuleta - D) This bill requires local governments to consider the CEC’s guidance on building electrification when adopting ordinances that require the electrification of existing buildings. Status: 8/10/2022 - Dead
EVC
AB 1738 (Boerner Horvath - D) AB 1738 will require the Building Standards Commission (BSC) and the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to research, develop, and propose the adoption of mandatory building standards for the installation of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in existing multifamily dwellings and nonresidential development when existing parking facilities are being retrofitted, added, or altered. Status: 8/11/2022 - Senate floor
AB 2061 (Ting - D) This bill would require entities receiving state or ratepayer funding for electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure to report on charging station uptime and excluded time and would require the California Energy Commission (CEC) to assess this data and consider adopting tools to improve related metrics. Status: 8/11/2022 - Senate floor
SB 1482 (Allen - D) This bill requires access to an electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure for each dwelling unit with access to a parking space in a multifamily dwelling. Status: 8/11/2022 - Assembly floor
GHG
SB 905 (Skinner - D) This bill tasks CARB with several responsibilities surrounding geologic carbon sequestration demonstration projects, including but not limited to developing a geologic carbon sequestration demonstration initiative; funding 1-3 projects therein by January 1, 2026; developing program guidelines and criteria; and acting as lead agency under CEQA for any geologic carbon sequestration demonstration projects. It requires projects to use a Skilled and Trained Workforce unless there is a PLA. Status: 8/3/2022 - Assembly floor
Housing
AB 2011 (Wicks - D) AB 2011 would enact the “Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act of 2022” to create a ministerial, streamlined approval process for 100% affordable housing projects in commercial zones and mixed-income housing projects along commercial corridors, as specified. The bill would also impose set labor standards on those projects, including requirements that contractors pay prevailing wages, participate in apprenticeship programs, and make specified healthcare expenditures. On PLA projects, no CPRs are required, and the Labor Commissioner may not enforce the labor code. On development projects of 50 or more units, a contractor with construction craft employees shall make health care expenditures for each employee in an amount per hour worked on the development equivalent to at least the hourly pro-rata cost of a Covered California Platinum level plan for two 40-year-old adults and two dependents 0 to 14 years of age for the Covered California rating area in which the development is located. Status: 8/11/2022 - Senate floor
SB 886 (Wiener - D) This bill exempts faculty and staffing housing projects and student housing projects meeting specified requirements from CEQA. There are at least 12 existing CEQA housing exemptions, some of which may apply to a university housing development project depending on the project’s scope, size, and individual characteristics. Requires the use of a Skilled and Trained Workforce unless there is a PLA. Status: 8/11/2022 - Assembly floor
SB 1226 (Durazo - D) This bill allows, until January 1, 2032, private, nonprofit corporations that provide services to zero-emission transportation systems or facilities to join a joint powers authority (JPA) or enter into a joint powers agreement with one or more public agencies to facilitate the development, construction, and operation of zero-emission transportation systems or facilities that lower greenhouse gases, reduce vehicle congestion and vehicle miles traveled, and improve public transit connections. Exempts PLA projects from CPRs, Skilled and Trained Workforce, and Labor Commissioner enforcement. Status: 8/4/2022 - Assembly floor
Labor Law
SB 1044 (Durazo - D) This bill prohibits an employer, in the event of a state of emergency or an emergency condition, from taking or threatening adverse action against an employee who feels unsafe and leaves or refuses to report to the workplace. Status: 8/11/2022 - Assembly floor
Licensure
SB 216 (Dodd - D) This bill does four things: it requires the C-8 (concrete contractors), C-20 (HVAC contractors), C-22 (asbestos abatement contractors), and D-49 (tree service contractors) license classifications to the license classifications required to obtain and maintain workers’ compensation insurance, even if they have no employees, as a condition of being licensed by the CSLB; it requires, beginning January 1, 2026, all classifications under the CSLB’s jurisdiction to obtain and maintain workers’ compensation insurance, even if that contractor has no employees, as a condition of being licensed by the CSLB; it exempts joint ventures from the workers’ compensation insurance requirements, and prohibits the CSLB from accepting certificates of exemption from workers’ compensation on behalf of a licensee beginning January 1, 2026. Status: 8/11/2022 - Assembly floor
Practice
SB 1164 (Stern - D) This bill requires the California Energy Commission (CEC) to develop and implement (1) statewide electronic heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment sales registry and compliance tracking system and (2) an electronic statewide compliance document data registry. Status: 8/3/2022 - Dead
Public Works
AB 1717 (Aguiar-Curry - D) AB 1717 expands the definition of “public works” to include fuel reduction work paid for in whole or in part out of public funds performed as part of a fire mitigation project. It increases the cost of crucial fire mitigation projects around communities and critical infrastructure by including these projects in the definition of ‘public works,’ thus subjecting them to prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements. Status: 8/11/2022 - Senate floor
AB 1851 (Rivas, Robert - D) AB 1851 would expand the definition of “public works” to include the on-hauling of materials used for paving, grading, and fill onto a public works site if the individual driver’s work is integrated into the flow process of construction. Status: 8/11/2022 - Senate floor
AB 2143 (Carrillo - D) This bill requires a contractor to pay prevailing wages on renewable energy installation projects with a generating capacity of more than 15 kilowatts (kWs) and which receive service under an electric utility’s net energy metering (NEM) tariff. Status: 8/11/2022 - Senate floor
SB 954 (Archuleta - D) This bill requires DIR to develop and implement an online database of certified payroll records submitted to comply with Public Works requirements. The Labor Commissioner or a joint labor-management committee can then use this information to streamline checking for compliance. Status: 8/11/2022 - Assembly floor
SB 1422 (Hertzberg - D) SB 1422 authorizes, until January 1, 2028, a state or local agency to use alternative contracting procedures for the purchase or installation of carpet, resilient flooring, synthetic turf, or lighting fixtures, so long as the installation work is not performed in connection with new construction, and the contractor complies with specified wage and labor requirements Status: 8/11/2022 - Assembly floor
SES
AB 2316 (Ward - D) This bill would require the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to establish a new community renewable energy program that meets specified criteria. PLA construction means no CPRs or Labor Commissioner authority. Status: 8/11/2022 - Senate floor
STWF
AB 1602 (McCarty - D) This bill establishes the California Student Housing Revolving Loan Fund Act of 2022 (Fund) to provide zero-interest loans to qualifying applicants of the University of California (UC), the California State University (CSU), and the California Community Colleges (CCC) to construct affordable student, faculty, and staff housing. Requires using a Skilled and Trained Workforce UNLESS there is a PLA and exempts PLA projects from keeping CPRs. Status: 8/2/2022 - Dead
AB 1775 (Ward - D) This bill imposes workplace safety training, certification, and staffing requirements for which an entertainment events vendor must provide written certification to a contracting entity. The entertainment events vendor must certify that its employees and any subcontractors’ employees meet the conditions for a skilled and trained workforce. Status: 8/11/2022 - Senate floor
AB 2046 (Medina - D) This bill establishes the Inland Rising Fund to support the multiyear operating costs for the development, operation, and maintenance of economic development and innovative climate change research efforts, and health care and medical research operations at the UC Riverside (UCR) and UC Merced. This bill requires STWF, but with a PLA, no penalties or reporting are needed. Status: 8/11/2022 - Senate floor
SB 1136 (Portantino - D) This bill expands a provision in existing law that requires public agencies, at the time of adoption of a rule or regulation requiring the installation of pollution control equipment or a performance standard or treatment requirement, to perform an environmental analysis of the reasonably foreseeable methods of compliance, to also apply to the adoption of a rule or regulation requiring the reduction in greenhouses gases (GHG), criteria air pollutants, or toxic air contaminants. This bill also requires projects to meet specific labor requirements to utilize a focused environmental impact report (EIR), including payment of prevailing wage and use of a “skilled and trained” workforce, unless there is a PLA. Status: 8/11/2022 - Assembly floor
SB 1295 (Limón - D) This bill establishes labor requirements for specified activities related to plugging and abandoning oil and gas wells and authorizes an increase in the annual expenditure limit from the Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Administrative Fund (OGGAF). The bill would require the division to develop a procurement process to group multiple oil well projects and use project labor agreements to deliver projects. Status: 8/11/2022 - Assembly floor
Taxes/Fees
SB 485 (Portantino - D) This bill extends the Film and TV Tax Credit 3.0, which authorizes the California Film Commission to allocate $330 million in tax credits each fiscal year from 2024-25 to 2029-30. Status: 8/3/2022 - Assembly floor
Workers Comp
AB 2894 (Cooper - D) AB 2894 requires all active licensees to, at the time of renewal, provide workers’ compensation classification codes to the CSLB. Status: 8/2/2022 - Dead
SB 216 (Dodd - D) This bill does four things: it requires the C-8 (concrete contractors), C-20 (HVAC contractors), C-22 (asbestos abatement contractors), and D-49 (tree service contractors) license classifications to the license classifications required to obtain and maintain workers’ compensation insurance, even if they have no employees, as a condition of being licensed by the CSLB; it requires, beginning January 1, 2026, all classifications under the CSLB’s jurisdiction to obtain and maintain workers’ compensation insurance, even if that contractor has no employees, as a condition of being licensed by the CSLB; it exempts joint ventures from the workers’ compensation insurance requirements, and prohibits the CSLB from accepting certificates of exemption from workers’ compensation on behalf of a licensee beginning January 1, 2026. Status: 8/11/2022 - Assembly floor
SB 1127 (Atkins - D) This bill modifies various timelines and penalties under the workers’ compensation system. The bill fundamentally alters longstanding rules and timeframes for determining eligibility for workers’ compensation claims and, as drafted, would dramatically increase systemic friction and litigation. Status: 8/11/2022 - Assembly floor
Legislative Calendar:
- August 15 – 31: Floor Session only. No committees, other than conference and Rules, may meet for any purpose
- August 25: Last Day to amend bills on the Floor
- August 31: Last Day for each house to pass bills - Final Recess begins at the end of this day's session
- September 30: Last day for Governor to sign or veto bills passed by the Legislature before Sept. 1 and in the Governor’s possession on or after Sept. 1
- November 8: General Election.
- November 30: Adjournment Sine Die at midnight
- December 5: Convening of the 2023-24 Regular Session
- January 1, 2023: Statutes take effect
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