Jarvis taxpayer group turns against Prop. 35: Contractor provisions raise concerns

Jump to Cal-Tax quote | Back to Cal-Tax In The News

The Sacramento Bee
Jarvis taxpayer group turns against Prop. 35: Contractor provisions raise concerns

By Steven A. Capps
Bee Capitol Bureau
(Published July 14, 2000)

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association broke ranks with other taxpayer groups Thursday and came out against Proposition 35, the November ballot initiative that would allow private contractors to perform design and engineering work for such public projects as highway construction.

Jon Coupal, an attorney who serves as president of the group, said the organization's change of heart stemmed from new concerns that the measure, if approved by voters, could pre-empt existing state or local contracting provisions, even if those provisions could deliver the same services at lower costs.

Proponents of the initiative immediately released opinions from two major law firms saying the measure would not pre-empt existing state or local contracting laws, but would simply offer public officials another option in pursuing engineering and design work.

"You open the process up to both the public and private sector," said Al Lundeen, a spokesman for the supporters' coalition, which is led by consulting engineers. "If anything, it creates competition."

But the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association also is worried that if the measure is approved by voters, it could cause significant and expensive delays for some public projects, Coupal said.

"This opinion, backed by various legal analyses, causes us concern as well," he said at a news conference announcing the group's new position.

The Jarvis group generally supports the contracting of public engineering and design services, and its initial support of the measure was based on that, he said.

"It was a knee-jerk reaction," Coupal said. "And then we read it (the initiative)."

A number of other taxpayer groups remain committed to the proposal. Larry McCarthy, president of the business-oriented California Taxpayers Association, said contracting will speed up public projects, particularly state highway efforts.

"Caltrans has the highest engineering costs of any state in the country," McCarthy said. "Proposition 35 will allow us to contract out more engineering services and get more projects completed at greater taxpayer savings."

But opponents say experts they have hired have determined that the measure will lead to long delays in getting projects started because it will take more than a year to draft new contracting regulations for California.

Former state auditor Kurt Sjoberg, now a private consultant who was hired by opponents, released a report Thursday saying those delays could cost taxpayers as much as $344 million.