LEGISLATION COMMITTEE
Meeting Date: April 16, 2024
Subject: AB 2557 (Ortega) and AB 2489 (Ward)
Submitted For: Legislation Committee
Department: County Administrator's Office
Referral No:
Referral Name: AB 2557 and AB 2489
Presenter: Geoff Neill and Michelle Rubalcava, Nielsen Merksamer
Contact: L. DeLaney, 925-655-2057
Referral History:
AB 2557 (Ortega) and AB 2489 (Ward) are bills that have been flagged by the California State Association of Counties (CSAC) and the Urban Counties of California (UCC); the County's state lobbyists have reached out for County input as well. CSAC has an "Oppose" position on AB 2557. The Board of Supervisors took an "Oppose" position on a related bill, AB 1250 from 2017.
The adopted 2023-24 State Legislative Platform includes the following policy:
"OPPOSE the establishment of specific or stricter standards for the use of personal services contracts by counties that would make contracting with community-based organizations more difficult."
Referral Update:
While local governments are still analyzing these bills, it is clear that they would limit the ability of local agencies to contract for many services (likely including homelessness, health, behavioral health, and youth services), make it more expensive and cumbersome for many contractors to provide services to local agencies, and potentially give employee organizations a new role in preventing contractors from receiving payment in certain circumstances.
AB 2557 (Ortega) requires:
1. At least 10 months prior to a procurement process to contract for special services that are currently or in the past 10 years provided by a member of an employee organization, the governing body must notify the employee organization affected by the contract of its determination to begin a procurement process.
2. Each person who enters into a contract with the governing body to perform functions that are currently, or were in the prior 10 years, performed by employees of the local agenc...
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