A Brief Examination of Legislation from California's 2018 Legislative Session

Deltek’s SLED research team has continued with its research on state legislation, following up on the article on the Virginia General Assembly’s 2018 session with some insights on relevant legislation from California. This article examines some relevant legislation from California’s 2018 legislative session.

Introduction

The California State Legislature is a bicameral body composed of the 40 seat Senate and 80 Seat Assembly. California’s Legislature is full-time. The State Legislature convenes on the first Monday of December in even-numbered years to organize, and must adjourn by November 30th of the following even-numbered year. California’s legislators are term limited as of 1990, with both Senators and Assembly members limited to 12 years total.

Notable Legislation

In the 2017-2018 session, the State Legislature introduced 3730 pieces of legislation in the Assembly and 1839 in the Senate. Of these, Deltek found 110 pertained to the State’s Public Contract Code in the Assembly and 78 in the Senate.

One example of legislation that may affect general procurement procedure is AB-2157. This bill, which has been in committee, would require the Department of General Services to submit an annual report to the Legislature of all noncompetitive bid contract requests that were approved. This information would also be made available to the public.

For Small Businesses, SB-605 was introduced and chaptered which will revise the definitions of small business to that with an average annual gross receipts over the previous 3 years from $10 million to $15 million, and a microbusiness from $2.5 million to $5 million. In addition, the Small Business Procurement and Contract Act requires state agencies to provide small businesses with a 5% bid preference on applicable bid specifications. For small businesses, as well as other disadvantaged business enterprises interested in doing business with the Department of Transportation, SB-103, which was chaptered, will require the Department to develop and submit, by January 1, 2019, a detailed outreach plan to increase procurement opportunities for new and limited contracting small businesses.

Some legislation addressed administrative functions pertaining to the procurement and management of information technology products and services. AB-1680, which was read for a second time last month, which would require the Director of Technology to establish and oversee the implementation of a professional development training program and curriculum for persons engaged in the procurement of information technology to develop, sustain, and advance their competency and skills in complex information technology acquisition. AB-1681, which was introduced but remains in the committee process, would require the Director of Technology, on or before January 1, 2019, to submit to the Governor and committees of the Senate and Assembly a report regarding the development of a standardized performance assessment system for information technology contractors. AB-475, which has been chaptered, will change some of the requirements of the Director of Technology pertaining to procurement procedures of IT projects.

Some legislation addressed specific areas or sectors. For example, SB-1224, which was introduced in May of 2018, would establish a statewide longitudinal education and workforce data system. This system would include data on California students from kindergarten through their entry into the workforce, which would then be publicly accessible and available. As of now, this bill is still pending.

Another salient area in this session is that of elections and election security. AB-2748 was introduced, and if passed would require a pilot program to conduct an independent security assessment of election infrastructure. In addition, AB-3075 was introduced, which, if passed, will establish the Office of Elections Cybersecurity. This Office would coordinate efforts to reduce the likelihood and severity of cyber incidents that could interfere with the security or integrity of state elections.

This examination of only a handful of the numerous relevant pieces of legislation provides some insight into California’s legislative agenda that may bring some changes to public procurement and the management of government information technology. Further information on the activities of the current California legislative session can be found here. The Legislature remains in session and will adjourn by November 30 of this year.

Source: California State Legislature