October 20, 2008
from Kevin Pedrotti, Legislative Advocate for the Golden State Builders Exchanges
In an end to one of the strangest legislative years, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger completed his duties September 30 on the 1187 bills that reached his desk in 2008. He signed 772 into law and vetoed 415, a modern day record for rejecting bills sent to him (34.9%).
2008 will be remembered as a tumultuous legislative year driven by the record-setting 84 day delay of the state budget. The after-effects of the budget were reflected in the Governor’s actions on end of session legislation, not only in a record-setting number of vetoed bills, but also by a generic veto message of the Governor’s for 136 of these bills. The Governor stated he used a boilerplate veto message because he had roughly ten days to act on bills because of the budget stalemate, rather than the 30 days normally accorded. The veto message stated:
“I am returning Senate(/Assembly) Bill X without my signature. The historic delay in passing the 2008-2009 State Budget has forced me to prioritize the bills sent to my desk at the end of the year's legislative session. Given the delay, I am only signing bills that are the highest priority for California. This bill does not meet that standard and I cannot sign it at this time. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger”
Expect the re-introduction next year of many of these vetoed bills.
Provided below is a link to the Governor’s website which contains a bill-specific list documenting the Governor’s action on every bill the legislature sent to him in 2008. The list is in reverse chronological order.
Listed below are bills of high-priority to GSBE that will become law in 2009.
AB 642 (Wolk) – Authorizes all cities in California to employ design-build contracting for the construction of buildings; authorizes cities, counties, and special districts to employ design-build contracting for the construction of no more than 20 regional and local wastewater facilities, solid waste management facilities, or water recycling facilities. http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/asm/ab_0601-0650/ab_642_bill_20080926_chaptered.pdf
AB 844 (Berryhill) – Requires junk dealers and recyclers to comply with additional recordkeeping requirements and new payment restrictions when purchasing nonferrous materials (i.e., copper, copper alloys, stainless steel, and aluminum, excluding beverage containers).
AB 1062 (Ma) - Requires the Department of General Services' (DGS) Division of State Architect (DSA), on or before January 1, 2010, to develop uniform criteria for precheck approval process for solar design plans, including structural plans and calculations, for school facility projects' compliance with existing law and regulations. http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/asm/ab_1051-1100/ab_1062_bill_20080930_chaptered.pdf
AB 1874 (Coto) – Reforms the structure of the Board of Directors of the State Compensation Insurance Fund (SCIF).
AB 2075 (Fuentes) - Prohibits an employer from requiring an employee to execute a timesheet containing false statements of actual hours worked as a condition of being paid. Specifically, this bill would define "execution of a release" to include requiring an employee, as a condition of being paid, to execute a statement of the hours he or she worked during a pay period which the employer knows to be false.
AB 2335 (Nakanishi) - Simplifies and streamlines the building permit process by combining the three separate provisions of the Health and Safety Code into one provision incorporating the essential elements into one model building permit application form. http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/asm/ab_2301-2350/ab_2335_bill_20080703_chaptered.pdf
AB 2376 (Price) - Authorizes the establishment, until January 1, 2013, of the Small and Emerging Contractors Technical Assistance Program, administered by the Department of Transportation, for the purpose of providing small and emerging contractors with the technical assistance necessary to obtain surety bond guarantees offered by the federal Small Business Administration.
AB 2604 (Torrico) - Allows local agencies to defer the collection of developer fees up to the close of escrow, with the exception of school impact fees.
AB 2738 (Jones) - Provides for and specifies the application of wrap-up insurance policies in the context of residential construction projects and their relationship to indemnification and defense obligations in residential construction projects.
AB 3024 (Duvall) - Increases, from $5,000 to $25,000, the contract cost limit over which contractors on state public works projects must obtain a payment bond.
SB 375 (Steinberg) - Requires metropolitan planning organizations to include sustainable communities strategies in their regional transportation plans for the purpose of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, aligns planning for transportation and housing, and creates specified incentives for the implementation of the strategies.
SB 593 (Margett) – Prohibits the Department of Transportation, until January 1, 2014, from withholding retention proceeds to its contractors when making progress payments for work performed on any transportation project.
SB 691 (Calderon) – Requires junk dealers and recyclers to comply with additional recordkeeping requirements and new payment restrictions when purchasing nonferrous materials (i.e., copper, copper alloys, stainless steel, and aluminum, excluding beverage containers).
SB 1145 (Machado) - Restructures the governance of the State Compensation Insurance Fund; allows the board to appoint six additional exempt positions in addition to the president; applies the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act to meetings of the board; and applies the Milton Marks Postgovernment Employment Restrictions Act to members of the board and other executive level employees.
SB 1185 (Lowenthal) - Extends the expiration date by 12 months for specified subdivision maps that will expire before January 1, 2011, and for any legislative, administrative or other approval by a state agency relating to a development project in the subdivision, and increases the time for local discretionary extensions for tentative subdivision maps from five years to six years.
SB 1352 (Wyland) Allows contractors and/or subcontractors who have received a wage and penalty assessment under public works law, as an alternative to becoming automatically liable for liquidated damages in specified circumstances, to deposit the full amount of the assessment for the Department of Industrial Relations to hold in escrow, pending review and distribution. http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/sen/sb_1351-1400/sb_1352_bill_20080927_chaptered.pdf
SB 1362 (Margett) - Authorizes specified disciplinary action for failure to comply with existing law related to the certification of electricians.
SB 1432 (Margett) - Expands and clarifies the time period for consumers to file a claim against a bond when the license of a contractor was inactivated, cancelled, or revoked, makes changes to the portion of the bond that is available in a small claims action for a person (claimant) against the contractor's bond from $4,000 to $6,500, and clarifies that a home or property owner no longer has to provide that a license law violation by a contractor was willful and deliberate when filing for a claim on their bond.
SB 1473 (Calderon) - Requires the Building Standards Commission, in instances where no state agency has authority or expertise for particular occupancies, to approve, adopt, codify, publish and update green building standards for those occupancies. Requires every city and county to collect a fee of $4 per $100,000 in valuation from every applicant for a building permit for the purpose of funding the development of building standards with emphasis on the development of and educational efforts associated building standards, including green building standards.
SB 1509 (Lowenthal) - This bill increases the penalty for assault or for battery committed against a highway worker (public and private) engaged in the performance of his or her duties from a fine of up to $1,000 and/or up to six months in county jail, to a fine of up to $2,000 and/or up to one year in county jail.
SB 1613 (Margett) - Allows the Department of Transportation to enter into contracts not exceeding $25,000 for the leasing or renting of operated heavy highway equipment for state highway maintenance purposes without requiring the Department of Transportation to put the contract out to bid.
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