States Contracts

The record $206-billion tobacco settlement became a certainty Friday, as the last of 46 state attorneys general signed onto the accord that eliminates the greatest single legal threat facing the tobacco industry. The deal will provide $25 billion to both California and New York over the next 25 years, and lesser sums to the other states--triggering major battles across the nation over whether to spend the windfall for anti-smoking campaigns or for roads, schools and government operations.

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Jerry Brown signed a new contract with California's largest state worker union on Thursday, granting raises to more than 90,000 employees. The state could begin increasing salaries for all members of SEIU 1000 next July if administration officials say there's enough money in the bank. Either way, raises will reach 4.5% by July 1, 2015. The new contract is expected to cost the state's general fund an extra $130.3 million in the 2015-16 fiscal year, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office.

For the last 10 years, states and cities have been experimenting with private prisons to see if they might ease the growing pressures of cost and overcrowding. The trend is growing, but, so far, the results are inconclusive, experts say. There is no clear evidence that private companies can run prisons with less cost, although there are some indications that they may provide better services and programs.

When California corrections officials found what they described as alarming defects in half of the GPS monitors worn by sex offenders and other parolees statewide, they moved immediately to break the contract with the company that supplied them.  A Sacramento judge said their concerns justified refusing to give the company more work, but he also ruled the state should not have given its existing work to a firm without competitive bidding....

Competition over the siting of the government's proposed $4.4-billion superconducting super collider began in earnest Wednesday, when elected officials from 17 states urged a House committee to allocate money for the project--preferably in their own state. California, generally seen with Illinois as leading contenders for what will be one of the largest public works projects in history, livened its sales pitch when Lt. Gov. Leo T.

If indeed "from now on, the state will award contracts . . . based solely on the basis of merit" (March 12), it is going to be required to change its procedures radically. As far back as I can remember, the state has awarded contracts based on various criteria: who one knows, how big the company is, how much money a company donated to various election campaigns and so on. That's why there was so much clamor from minority and women's groups who wanted to be let into the game. Now Gov. Pete Wilson tells us they are going to try something new, merit.

"Get Written Contract for Addition" (July 22) by Benny L. Kass concerning remodeling contracts is a good generic article. However, I fear that it might give California homeowners false information. California has an extensive statutory scheme concerning home improvement. Many of the items that Kass suggests be included in the contract, are in fact regulated. As an example, a payment schedule must be included in the contract although no amount of retention is required by law. However, unless the contractor provides certain financial guarantees, the contractor may not receive any more in compensation than the percentage of the work that he has completed.

Despite complaints by GOP lawmakers that Gov. Jerry Brown did a poor job of negotiating labor contracts covering 51,000 public employees, the state Senate approved the agreements Monday. Brown had vowed to save the state more than $500 million in negotiating the six contracts. But he came up $200 million short, prompting several Republicans to call for a return to the negotiating table. Among those covered by the accords are state prison guards, who have a potential windfall when they retire.

Tourists flocked to Yosemite National Park after park concession workers overwhelmingly approved a new labor contract. The ratification vote eliminated the threat of a strike by hundreds of hotel, recreational, custodial and retail workers in the park during the usually busy Easter Week. Union members voted 301 to 14 to accept the new, three-year contract with Yosemite Park and Curry Co. The pact includes a 10.

"Flip Artists" by Carol Tice (Feb. 24) prompts me to add a few cautions on some important local and state regulations and tax considerations that may apply. If you do structural improvements that require building department approvals, you may run afoul of California's contractor licensing laws. The state requires that people who "make improvements to real property" be licensed as contractors; a contractor's license is necessary to obtain building permits except for homeowners acting as "owner-builders."

SACRAMENTO - When state officials wanted a computer system to track the cost of therapy, transportation and other services for 240,000 disabled Californians, they hired Deloitte Consulting. After four years, the Department of Developmental Services decided the new system didn't work as needed and canceled the project after paying Deloitte $5.7 million. That same month in 2006, the Department of Industrial Relations hired the New York-based company to computerize its monitoring system for workers' compensation claims.

Healthcare companies are tripping over themselves to profit from a flood of government contracts for treating the poor and disabled, and a family-run company in Long Beach with nearly $5 billion in revenue is trying to stay ahead of the pack. Amid the growing competition,Molina Healthcare Inc.is facing new hurdles. It has lost two key state contracts in Ohio and Missouri and its shares have tumbled 23% in recent weeks. J. Mario Molina, the company's 53-year-old chief executive, said that these are temporary setbacks and that the company remains in expansion mode.

State lawmakers passed an emergency bill Friday that would resurrect a troubled plan to build an emergency communication system in Los Angeles County for police and fire agencies. The project, which is estimated to cost around $600 million to $700 million, derailed last month after three years of planning, when county lawyers belatedly realized the nearly completed contract negotiations to build the complex system violated state rules on how contracts for publicly funded projects must be structured and awarded.

Despite complaints by GOP lawmakers that Gov. Jerry Brown did a poor job of negotiating labor contracts covering 51,000 public employees, the state Senate approved the agreements Monday. Brown had vowed to save the state more than $500 million in negotiating the six contracts. But he came up $200 million short, prompting several Republicans to call for a return to the negotiating table. Among those covered by the accords are state prison guards, who have a potential windfall when they retire.

The state's ethics enforcement agency disclosed Wednesday that it is investigating several present and former leaders of California's $43-billion bullet train project to determine if they violated regulations on receipt of gifts. The investigation follows reports in The Times that officials with the California High-Speed Rail Authority took overseas trips paid for by foreign governments jockeying to help their homeland firms secure state contracts. Although agency rules prevent him from providing specifics, Fair Political Practices Commission Executive Director Roman Porter said that, based on the paper's reporting, his agency has "undertaken a proactive investigation.

State government might seem like a ready, deep-pocketed customer for California small businesses, but these days there is far less money available and much more competition to get it. The purchasing of goods and services by the state shrunk 22% to $8.97 billion in fiscal 2009 from the year before, according to a recent report from the Department of General Services. At the same time, small businesses certified to go after state dollars jumped 16% as companies looked for new ways to make up for weak sales.

State government might seem like a ready, deep-pocketed customer for California small businesses, but these days there is far less money available and much more competition to get it. The purchasing of goods and services by the state shrunk 22% to $8.97 billion in fiscal 2009 from the year before, according to a recent report from the Department of General Services. At the same time, small businesses certified to go after state dollars jumped 16% as companies looked for new ways to make up for weak sales.

Few state agencies and departments are complying with a mandate to award 3% of their contracts to businesses owned by disabled veterans, a state audit found. That could mean the 3% goal is unreasonable or that veterans aren't aware of the program, said the Bureau of State Audits in its report on the program. The Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise program was started in 1989 to ensure that disabled veteran business owners have a shot at state contracts.

Californians can get a report on a used car's history from the state DMV for only dollars, now that the state has made information from a federal website available to consumers. Consumers now can buy a report from the California Department of Motor Vehicles containing information from a database compiled from junkyards, mechanics, insurance companies and other sources. The report is relatively inexpensive -- the document from the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System costs $4 or less, compared with the approximately $30 charge for a history from Carfax, a car- information firm.

California's high speed rail commission, dominated by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's appointees, is set to award a $9-million contract today to a company led by the governor's top political advisor and his former campaign manager. The three commission staff members charged with recommending a public relations firm have advised the board to give the contract to Mercury Public Affairs at its meeting today. Schwarzenegger strategist Adam Mendelsohn is a partner at Mercury, as is Steve Schmidt, who managed the governor's 2006 reelection effort.