The Local Agency Public Construction Act regulates public contracting by counties and other local agencies and establishes limits on the additional cost that may be authorized through construction contract change orders. Existing law created special authority for the Counties of Los Angeles and Santa Clara to approve larger change orders on high-value contracts. For qualifying contracts exceeding $25 million in such counties, the cap on change orders is $400,000 and, for qualifying contracts exceeding $50 million, the cap on change orders is $750,000, with those amounts adjusted annually based on changes in the California Consumer Price Index (CPI). Similar authority applies to specified county highway contracts and, for Los Angeles County, certain bridge, subway, waterworks, and flood-control contracts.
Under existing law, the special authority for the Counties of Los Angeles and Santa Clara was scheduled to expire January 1, 2027, and was limited to no more than seven (7) contracts total during the period the temporary authorization was in effect, and required the counties to submit reports to specified legislative committees regarding their use of individual change orders..
AB 1658 eliminates each of the three (3) limitations, removing the January 1, 2027, sunset, eliminating the seven-contract cap, and eliminating the legislative reporting requirement, effectively making the enhanced change-order authority permanent for the Counties of Los Angeles and Santa Clara.
The Counties of Los Angeles and Santa Clara may therefore continue utilizing the higher statutory change-order limits on qualifying public construction contracts without limiting their use to seven (7) contracts or submitting the legislative review report.
AB 1658 amends and repeals Public Contract Code section 20142, 20395, 20405, 20614, and 20998 to make the expanded change-order authority for the Counties of Los Angeles and Santa Clara permanent and to eliminate the contract-limit and reporting requirements.
