EdLawConnect Blog

On May 2, 2017, the First District Court of Appeal issued an unpublished opinion in CTAN v. Mt. Diablo Unified School District, (see AALRR Alert) which specifically rejected the Davis v. Fresno lease-leaseback requirements of a “genuine” lease and contractor financing.   AALRR on behalf of the amici curiae Coalition for Adequate School Housing and the Association of California Construction Managers ...

At the May 25, 2016, State Allocation Board (SAB) meeting, the SAB authorized, for the first time ever, the imposition of Level III Developer Fees finding that no state funds were available for new construction projects.  On May 26, 2016, in response to California Building Industry Association (CBIA) filing a Petition for Writ of Mandate challenging the SAB’s finding that state funds are not available for ...

At the May 25, 2016, State Allocation Board meeting, the State Allocation Board authorized, for the first time ever, the imposition of Level III Developer Fees.  Developer Fees or school impact fees are paid by property owners and developers to mitigate the impacts of new construction on the school district’s facilities.  There are three levels of Developer Fees, commonly referred to as Level I, II, and III.  ...

On February 11, 2016, a federal district court in New York allowed a former executive to proceed with his defamation lawsuit against the company that terminated him. (McCusker v. Hibu PLC (E.D.N.Y. 2/11/16) 2016 WL 538472.)

On December 14, 2015, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released a “final interim rule” for registering unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), or drones, just in time for the holiday season.  (Note: Although the new rule goes into effect on December 21, 2015, the FAA has also created a second “notice and comment” period, and claims it may modify the interim ...

Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird!  It’s a plane! No…it’s an unmanned aerial device!  No longer the stuff of science fiction, we hear nearly every day about new stories in the media involving unmanned aerial devices – aka drones:

• La Guardia-Bound Jet Has Close Call with Drone (May 29, 2015, NBCNEWYORK.com)
• Dallas Cowboys using drones to prepare players (May 27, 2015, CBS)
• Man detained for trying to fly ...

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 ...

In a recent decision, Pittsburg Unified School District v. S.J. Amoroso Construction Co., Inc. (December 22, 2014), the California Court of Appeal affirmed that public agencies have the right to unilaterally declare a default under a construction contract and demand a distribution of securities retained by escrow.  The Court based its decision on Public Contract Code section 22300, which provides that once a public agency sends a proper notice of default, it has the right to withdraw securities held in an escrow retention account “immediately upon its own determination” if it determines that a contractor has defaulted on the construction agreement. The key issue confirmed by the Court is that a public agency may unilaterally determine that a contractor defaulted on its obligations under a construction agreement without judicial determination, and thus, may unilaterally withdraw retention proceeds from an escrow account.

The new law becomes operative on January 1, 2015.  Therefore, any lease leaseback project that is awarded after January 1, 2015, involves a projected expenditure of $1,000,000 or more, and uses any money from the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998 or any future state school construction bond must comply with the mandatory prequalification procedures found at Public Contract Code section 20111.6.

On September 18, 2014, Governor Brown signed AB 1581 which amended Education Code sections 17406 and 17407 (the lease leaseback statutes) to expressly provide that the mandatory prequalification requirements apply to the lease-leaseback delivery projects.  The mandatory prequalification requirements set forth in the new Public Contract Code section 20111.6 apply to any school district public works ...