Today's Law As Amended


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AB-1080 Public contracts: bid preferences: employee health care coverage.(2017-2018)



As Amends the Law Today


SECTION 1.

 Chapter 2.3 (commencing with Section 2030) is added to Part 1 of Division 2 of the Public Contract Code, to read:

CHAPTER  2.3. Employee Health Care Coverage Bid Preference
2030.
 The Legislature finds and declares that the state and the state’s political subdivisions incur substantial direct and indirect expenses when employers do not pay for employee health care expenses. Accordingly, it makes economic sense for state agencies to offer a bid preference to contractors that pay for employee health care expenses for employees in California.
2031.
 As used in this chapter:
(a) “Contract” means either of the following:
(1) A public works contract.
(2) A contract for either of the following services:
(A) Package delivery.
(B) Custodial or janitorial services.
(b) “Credible health care coverage” means any group policy, contract, or program that is written or administered by a disability insurer, health care service plan, fraternal benefits society, self-insured employer plan, or any other entity, in this state or elsewhere, that arranges or provides medical, hospital, and surgical coverage not designated to supplement other private or governmental plans.
(c) “Employee” means those individuals assigned by an employer or directly employed by the employer to perform and execute the terms of the contract.
(d) “State agency” means a department, division, board, bureau, commission, or agency of the executive branch of government.
2032.
 If a statute requires a state agency to award a contract to the lowest bidder or lowest responsible bidder, the state agency shall provide a 5-percent bid preference to that portion of the total bid performed by a bidder, or the bidder’s subcontractor, who qualifies for the employee health care coverage bid preference. This preference to a bidder that qualifies for the employee health care coverage bid preference shall be calculated by reducing the bid, or portion of the bid performed by the qualified bidder and the bidder’s subcontractors, by 5 percent of the amount of the lowest responsible bid for purposes of comparing the bid with competing bids.
2033.
 (a) A bidder may claim the employee health care coverage bid preference only for the portion of the bid performed by the bidder and the bidder’s listed subcontractors who qualify for the employee health care coverage bid preference.
(b) If a bidder claims the employee health care coverage bid preference, no other bid preference for which the bidder would otherwise be eligible shall apply to that portion of the bid.
2034.
 (a) A bidder or a subcontractor qualifies for the employee health care coverage bid preference if, during the 12-month period immediately preceding submission of the bid, the bidder’s or subcontractor’s employees were covered by credible health care coverage during the time that they were employed.
(b) The employees of the bidder or subcontractor shall be covered by credible health care coverage for the duration of their employment under the public contract and for any period of continuous employment up to one year after completion of the contract.
(c) If a bidder or subcontractor fails to comply with subdivision (b), that bidder or subcontractor shall pay the state agency an amount equal to twice the cost that the bidder or subcontractor would have incurred for health care if it had complied with subdivision (b).
2035.
 (a) A bidder may claim an employee health care coverage bid preference by submitting separate statements from the bidder and each of the bidder’s qualified listed subcontractors, each certifying that it qualifies for the bid preference. The Department of General Services, working with the Department of Industrial Relations, shall develop a form for this purpose, and a bidder that seeks the bid preference under this chapter, and all the bidder’s listed subcontractors, shall use that form. The Department of General Services shall post the form on its Internet Web site.
(b) A person or entity that knowingly provides false information in the certification required by this section shall be subject to a civil penalty for each violation in the minimum amount of two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) and the maximum amount of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000). An action for a civil penalty under this section may be brought by any public prosecutor in the name of the people of the State of California.
2036.
 If the winning bidder has claimed an employee health care coverage bid preference, at the request of the state agency, the bidder and the bidder’s listed subcontractors shall supply to the state agency records sufficient to show that the bidder is entitled to the preference. The failure to supply the records within a reasonable time shall result in denial of the bid preference.