On October 11, 2009, Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law AB 729 (Evans), revising the design-build statute applicable to transit operators. AB 729 extends the authority of public transit operators to use design-build contracting from January 1, 2011 to January 1, 2015. We interpret this to mean that transit operators must award, but not complete, a design-build contract prior to this date.
AB 729 also retained the requirement that public agencies submit a report to the Legislative Analyst evaluating the design-build process in various categories within 120 days of putting the project in to operation or by December 1, 2015 (whichever occurs first). The continued reporting requirement will allow further analysis to be conducted regarding the effectiveness of the design-build contracting process. The full text of the bill may be viewed here.
The design-build statute for transit operators was initially adopted in 2000 pursuant to AB 958 (Scott), and established a sunset date of January 1, 2005. In 2006, AB 372 (Nation) extended the sunset provision to January 1, 2011.