Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency: contracts.

Header changed from listing prior amendment dates (Senate March 25 and April 15, Assembly June 9 and June 23) to showing passage dates: Senate passed August 17, 2026 and Assembly passed August 13, 2026.

Line-number markers (line 1, line 2, etc.) that were present in the amended version were removed from the enrolled text.

The procedural note 'Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.' was removed, as is standard when a bill reaches enrolled status.

A Governor approval block with date and signature line was added at the end of the bill.

New Section 21653.6 requires an agency using job order contracting to submit a report to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature on or before January 1, 2030. The report must include: (1) a description of the agency's bid evaluation system and criteria for determining qualified contractors, (2) a description of each job order contract awarded and each contractor awarded, and (3) an assessment of the use of job order contracting under the article. The report must comply with Section 9795 of the Government Code.

Section 21653(d) was restructured: the old subdivision (d) combined both the requirement to develop a bid evaluation system and the detailed award process into one subdivision. The amendment splits this into subdivision (d) (developing the evaluation system, now a standalone sentence without 'as follows') and a new subdivision (e) ('The award of a job order contract shall progress as follows') containing the five paragraphs that were previously under (d).

Section 21652(e) changed the introductory language for CM/GC contracting from 'Contracting as provided in either of the following:' to 'Contracting as follows:', a minor simplification that does not change the substance of the two paragraphs beneath it.

New Section 21653.5(a) prohibits the agency from using job order contracting unless it has entered into a project labor agreement that applies to all public works awarded through job order contracting and to all other public works exceeding a monetary threshold set by the agreement, regardless of contracting method used.

New Section 21653.5(b)(1) requires any entity awarded a job order contract over $25,000 to provide an enforceable commitment that it and its subcontractors at every tier will use a skilled and trained workforce in apprenticeable building and construction occupations per Chapter 2.9 (Section 2600 et seq.) of the Labor Code.

New Section 21653.5(b)(2) provides an exception to the skilled workforce commitment requirement if the job order contract is already subject to a project labor agreement that binds all contractors and subcontractors to use a skilled and trained workforce.

The definition of 'best value' was removed from Section 21651 (the definitions section). The term is still defined operationally in Section 21654(b) where it is used for award decisions, so this appears to be a cleanup rather than a policy change.

Minor corrections: 'for the purposes of this chapter' changed to 'for the purposes of this article' in Section 21651; 'this chapter article' corrected to 'this article' in Section 21656; duplicate word 'contractor's contractor's' fixed to 'contractor's' in the unit price definition.

Best Value Procurement contracting is now explicitly listed as an authorized alternative project delivery method in Section 21652(f), with procedures to follow Article 3.7 (Section 20155) and a savings clause for contracts awarded before that article becomes inoperative.

The separate provision amending Section 20122 of the Public Contract Code (which changed 'over' to 'more' in the population threshold language for the $6,500 contract exemption in counties with 500,000 or more residents) has been deleted from the bill entirely.

Section 21654 is restructured into subdivisions (a) and (b), with a new local definition of 'best value' added in subdivision (b) for purposes of that section, duplicating language already found in the definitions section (Section 21651(c)).

The legislative digest now designates the bill as requiring fiscal committee review ('yes') and as a state-mandated local program ('yes'), both previously marked 'no.' This signals that the bill may carry state funding obligations or mandate costs to local agencies.

Minor corrections throughout: 'this chapter' changed to 'this chapter, article' in Section 21651; 'this chapter' changed to 'this chapter article' in Section 21656 (likely intended as 'this article'); cross-reference in Section 21652(b) corrected from 'commencing with 22170' to 'commencing with Section 22170.'

Entirely new Article 130 (Sections 21650-21656) added to the Public Contract Code, applying exclusively to contracts by the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency. The bill now requires a fiscal committee vote and creates a state-mandated local program due to expanding the crime of perjury.

Authorizes the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency, upon approval of its governing body, to use alternative project delivery methods in addition to standard contracting: award to lowest bidder, Progressive Design-Build, Construction Manager-at-Risk, Design-Build, CM/GC, and Job Order contracting.

The agency may award job orders for repair or renovation work valued at $250,000 or less to certified small business enterprises or disabled veterans business enterprises as a set-aside provision.

Job Order contracts are limited to a maximum of $5 million per initial contract term, with no single job order exceeding $1 million (excluding change orders). Initial term is 24 months, extendable up to four one-year extensions, with an additional $5 million cap over subsequent terms. Amounts adjust annually based on the California Construction Cost Index.

The agency must prepare an independent cost estimate before receiving any job order contractor's estimate, and may decline to issue a job order if the contractor's estimate is found unreasonable or not cost effective.

Prevailing wage applies to all work under Job Order contracts regardless of the thresholds in Labor Code Section 1771.5. The contractor must pay prevailing wages in effect at contract issuance plus all published increases for the full term.

All provisions sunset on January 1, 2035. Contracts awarded before that date continue in full force until completion.

New definitions added for: adjustment factor, agency, best value, construction manager, CM/GC method, Job Order contract, preconstruction services, project, technical specifications, unit price, and unit price catalog.

The original Section 20122 amendment (removing an obsolete reference to materials/supplies cost) is retained but renumbered as the final section of the bill rather than the primary content.