EdLawConnect Blog

Newly introduced AB 219 seeks to amend Labor Code section 1720.3, relating to the definition of "public works."  Existing law defines "public works," for purposes of requirements regarding the payment of prevailing wages for public works projects, to include, among other things, the hauling of refuse from a public works site to an outside disposal location with respect to contracts involving any state ...

Under current law, postsecondary education institutions, including California Community Colleges, the University of California, and the California State University, are required to follow competitive bidding procedures to procure contracts for goods and services above a certain value.  With respect to California Community Colleges, Public Contract Code section 20651 requires competitive bidding ...

Public Contract Code section 20111.6, which goes into effect on January 1, 2014, requires school districts to prequalify bidders for certain construction projects. Specifically, any school district with an average daily attendance of 2,500 or more must prequalify bidders for: 1) any project using funds from the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998 or 2) projects using funds from any future state ...

Pursuant to the recent passage of Assembly Bill 86 (“AB 86”), as of July 1, 2013, Education Code section 17463.7 has been extended and will remain in effect until January 1, 2016.  Education Code section 17463.7 was added in 2009 and provides school districts with some additional flexibility regarding the use of funds derived from the sale of surplus real property.  AB 86’s passage merely extends the ...

The California Department of Education and the California Energy Commission today issued a press release informing all Local Educational Agencies (“LEAs”) with Average Daily Attendance (“ADA”) of less than 1,000 that they have until August 1, 2013 to apply for Proposition 39 funding comprising a combined funding allocation for the current and following year to be received in a lump sum allocation in the current year.  This notice comes ahead of completion of the regulatory drafting, public input and adoption process required under the California Administrative Procedures Act.  Nonetheless, small LEAs should go through the online application process and then start planning to use those funds, while anticipating what the rules are going to look like.

Because of the way school facilities and technology funding has been separated and compartmentalized, we tend to think in narrow terms about how we approach new construction and modernization projects, information technology (IT) procurement, and IT system planning. There are major benefits to be drawn from a coordinated approach to these issues, which involves a comprehensive plan for IT structure. With this plan, we can design more energy efficient IT systems as our networks and data centers are built into our facilities and as we procure the equipment we plug into our networks.

The Division of the State Architect is about to implement a new procedure for Field Act and access compliance certification of K-14 projects beginning June 1, 2013. There is really only one change in the law, which is a bar to potentially conflicting interests in contracting for inspection services, which will be the focus of this post. A future post will provide details about the new DSA job card process.

The ...

Recent developments in Court treatment of California Public Records Act (CPRA) issues has raised some concern as to possible Court expansion of the scope of records that a public agency may be compelled to produce.  We want to share these concerns with you, so that you can better prepare to meet increasingly challenging requirements as Courts expand the scope of the CPRA.

Under the CPRA “public records” ...

Proposition 39, which passed on the November 2012 ballot, has garnered a lot of interest for its provision to funnel about $500,000,000 a year into energy conservation projects for public education over each of the next five years.  Unfortunately, the enthusiasm has gotten a little ahead of implementation – which looks like it will take a while.

Prop 39 essentially applies to out-of-state businesses the ...

As a LEED accredited attorney, I thought it was time to address a question that seems to cross many of our clients' minds: Should we aim for LEED certification (whether on a specific project, or as a matter of general policy)?