RECOMMENDATION(S): (CONT'D)
- Technologies that support the County’s climate goals, including battery energy storage and microgrids, solar and wind energy, electric vehicles, and electric vehicle charging infrastructure;
- Energy efficiency programs that encourage whole house retrofits and address asthma triggers in the built environment;
- Planning work for adapting to rising sea levels;
- Planning and implementation of microgrids;
- Active transportation and green infrastructure programs;
- Job training for careers in clean energy, clean transportation, and green infrastructure.
2. AUTHORIZE County Administrator staff to perform administrative amendments to the adopted State and Federal Legislative Platforms that include correction of typographical errors or omissions which do not substantively alter a policy or principle.
3. AMEND the County's adopted 2021-22 State Legislative Platform to include the following principles in a renamed "Finance and Administration" (formerly "General Revenues/Finance") section:
a. ENABLE the use of Progressive Design-Build (PDB) Project Delivery for construction contracts.
b. ENABLE local governments to continue offering opportunities for public meeting attendance, participation and accessibility through technological means after the COVID-19 pandemic emergency has ended.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no direct fiscal impact to the County related to amending the County's adopted Legislative Platforms.
BACKGROUND:
At their February 8, 2021 meeting, the Legislation Committee (Chair Burgis, Vice Chair Mitchoff) considered and voted to recommend to the Board of Supervisors the following amendments to the County's 2021-22 adopted State and Federal Legislative Platforms:
1. 2021-22 Federal Legislative Platform Amendment: As requested by the County's Sustainability Coordinator, incorporate the following language from the County's adopted 2021-22 State Legislative Platform as a federal "Priority Policy Statement":
ENSURE that the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic supports the following:
- Technologies that support the County’s climate goals, including battery energy storage and microgrids*, solar and wind energy, electric vehicles, and electric vehicle charging infrastructure;
- Energy efficiency programs that encourage whole house retrofits and address asthma triggers in the built environment;
- Planning work for adapting to rising sea levels;
- Planning and implementation of microgrids;
- Active transportation and green infrastructure programs;
- Job training for careers in clean energy, clean transportation, and green infrastructure.
*Note the definition of microgrid: A microgrid is a compressed version of the larger electrical grid that provides electricity for a small geographic area, such as a few buildings or local community. Microgrids must have a source of energy to supply electricity to their users, like solar plus battery storage. Microgrids are capable of operating independently from the grid during an outage. When the grid goes down for any reason (including a public safety power shutoff event), a microgrid can continue to operate on its own using local energy sources by disconnecting from the grid or "islanding."
2. 2021-22 State Legislative Platform Amendments:
A. ENABLE the use of Progressive Design-Build (PDB) project delivery for construction contracts.
This amendment would allow counties to use the PDB project delivery method for construction contracts, allowing local agencies to evaluate bids on factors other than price; reduce certain risks as compared to alternative contracting methods; reduce project delivery schedules and costs; and partner with the designer during the initial phase of the process.
Design-build is a procurement methodology allowed by the Public Contract Code (PCC) sections 22160-22169. It allows a local agency to pre-qualify a short list of bidders for a project and then accept guaranteed maximum price bids on the project from the qualified short list. The winner is selected from those bids by using a best value to the agency approach, not necessarily the lowest bid as required by the design-bid-build standard procurement method.
Progressive design-build (PDB) allows the selection of the design-builder even earlier in the process. The design-builder is selected by the local agency primarily based on qualifications and then they work with the local agency in designing the process. Some California agencies are specifically allowed to use progressive design build, for instance in PCC section 20928.1, for certain projects but that specific allowance is not extended to all local agencies.
In addition, the code sections that define the procurement method do not have an allowance for selection of a design-build entity on the basis of qualifications alone, as it would need to be to use the PDB approach.
B. ENABLE local governments to continue offering opportunities for public meeting attendance, participation and accessibility through technological means after the COVID-19 pandemic emergency has ended.
This amendment emanates from Board Member and County staff expressions of interest in legislation that would enable virtual public meetings to continue in some fashion after the pandemic's emergency has ended. Existing law, the Ralph M. Brown Act, requires, with specified exceptions, that all meetings of a legislative body of a local agency, as those terms are defined, be open and public and that all persons be permitted to attend and participate. The Governor has issued several Executive Orders during the COVID-19 pandemic enacting suspensions of certain Bagley-Keene Act and Brown Act provisions so that there is no requirement for state or local legislative bodies to make a physical location available from which the public can make public comment, so long as options to participate telephonically or electronically are provided. Local bodies must still adhere to noticing requirements and implement a procedure for resolving requests for accommodation from individuals with special needs.
As the adopted 2021-22 State Platform does not address these subjects, an amendment would be required for advocacy purposes.The "General Revenues/Finance" section (p. 13) of the 2021-22 State Legislative Platform will be retitled "Finance and Administration," and these amendments will be included therein.