Bill of the Week – Assembly Bill 2557 (Ortega) and Assembly Bill 2489 (Ward): Contracting by Local Agencies

RCRC, along with a broad coalition of local government associations, opposes Assembly Bill 2557 (Ortega) and Assembly Bill 2489 (Ward), two measures relating to contracting by local agencies. As with previous legislative efforts that attempted to curb local agency authority for contracting, our organizations believe the proposals contained in AB 2557 and AB 2489 are overly burdensome and inflexible, resulting in   unacceptable outcomes for vulnerable communities and diminished local services for our residents.  

These measures would apply to over 4800 local agencies in the state, most of which rely – at least in part – on contractors to provide a variety of local programs and services that, given our current public sector workforce shortages, would be difficult to provide without their capable assistance. With the additional reporting obligations and requirements that AB 2557 (Ortega),and its partner measure AB 2489 (Ward) would place on local agencies and contractors, we anticipate several negative impacts, including (1) fewer non-profit providers, community-based organizations, and other private service providers willing to engage with local agencies, (2) exacerbated already-demanding caseloads and workloads for our existing staff, and (3) increased costs for local agencies.  

There remains a chronic and sustained under-investment in funding local government programs and services in California. In fact, most of the new resources that local agencies have received from the state and federal governments over the past many years have been one-time investments which do not acknowledge the ongoing nature of local programs and services. As the state repeatedly acknowledges regarding its own budget, responsible budgeting means that one-time revenues should be spent on one-time expenditures. Given the extensive application of these measures, we anticipate costs associated with this measure will easily be in the hundreds of millions of dollars statewide. 

Some key provisions of these measures include: 

• Requires that contractors provide quarterly performance reports containing a litany of required components, including personally identifiable information for its employees and subcontractors, which then becomes subject to the California Public Records Act. (AB 2557, Ortega) 

• Requires, at the contractor's expense, a performance audit by an independent auditor to determine whether performance standards are being met for contracts with terms exceeding two years. (AB 2557, Ortega) 

• Subjects temporary employment contracts to monthly reporting. (AB 2557, Ortega) 

• Requires that at least 10 months prior to beginning a procurement process to contract for special services that are currently being provided or in the past 10 years have been provided by a member of an employee organization, local agencies must meet-and-confer with the affected employee organization regarding its determination to begin a procurement process by the governing body. (AB 2489, Ward) 

•  Requires contractors to provide information to ensure that their employees meet the minimum qualifications and standards and to retain this information for two years. These personnel would also be subject to the California Public Records Act. (AB 2489, Ward) 

Local agencies are already subject to the statutory provisions of the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (MMBA), and related provisions of state law. These laws establish that local agencies cannot contract-out bargaining unit work simply to save money, and most contracting-out decisions are subject to meet-and-confer requirements. There are exceptions to the meet-and-confer requirement in cases of compelling necessity (like an emergency) or when there is an established past practice of contracting out particular work. The bills do not incorporate either of these exceptions. These issues are most appropriately addressed at the bargaining table where local conditions can be properly considered. 

AB 2557 (Ortega) and AB 2489 (Ward) represent a sweeping and costly change to the fundamental work of local governments. RCRC’s letters of opposition are available here: AB 2557 (Ortega) | AB 2489 (Ward). RCRC requests that counties send individual letters of opposition. Templates are available here: AB 2557 (Ortega) | AB 2489 (Ward) 

Both measures passed out of the Assembly Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, April 23rd, and have been referred to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. For additional information, contact RCRC Policy Advocate, Sarah Dukett.