Public contracts: local agencies: negotiations.

Existing law relating to public contracts requires local agencies, including cities and counties, to comply with specified procedures for public contracting for public construction. The Meyers-Milias-Brown Act requires the governing body of a local public agency to meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment with representatives of a recognized employee organization. This bill would enact the Civic Reporting Openness in Negotiations Efficiency Act to establish specific procedures for the negotiation and approval of certain contracts valued at $250,000 or more for goods or services by cities, counties, cities and counties, or special districts that have adopted a civic openness in negotiations ordinance, or COIN ordinance, defined as an ordinance imposing specified requirements as part of any collective bargaining process undertaken pursuant to the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act. The act would require the designation of an independent auditor to review and report on the cost of any proposed contract. The act would require a city, county, city and county, or special district to disclose prescribed information relating to the contract and contract negotiations on its Internet Web site. The act would prohibit a final determination by the governing body regarding approval of any contract until the matter has been heard at a minimum of 2 public meetings of the governing body. The act would exempt from its provisions contracts required to respond to, recover from, or mitigate the effects of a temporary public safety emergency declared by the chief law enforcement officer of a city, county, city and county, or special district, or a state of war emergency, state of emergency, or local emergency, as those terms are defined in the California Emergency Services Act. The act would also exempt from its provisions a renewal of a contract if the employees performing the services are covered by a collective bargaining agreement that is governed by the National Labor Relations Act. By imposing new requirements on cities, counties, cities and counties, and special districts, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.