SB77 - Revises provisions relating to highways. (BDR 35-302)

S.B. 77 - *SB77* SENATE BILL NO. 77–COMMITTEE ON GROWTH AND INFRASTRUCTURE (ON BEHALF OF THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION) PREFILED NOVEMBER 20, 2024 ____________ Referred to Committee on Growth and Infrastructure SUMMARY—Revises provisions relating to highways. (BDR 35-302) FISCAL NOTE: Effect on Local Government: No. Effect on the State: Yes. ~ EXPLANATION – Matter in bolded italics is new; matter between brackets [omitted material] is material to be omitted. AN ACT relating to transportation; revising the required qualifications of a Deputy Director of the Department of Transportation; revising the highway projects for which the Department is required to prepare a written cost- benefit analysis; revising provisions governing the award of contracts by the Department; increasing the maximum cost of a project for which the Department may use informal bidding procedures; revising provisions relating to advertisement and submission of bids for work; increasing the amount that the Department may spend to purchase equipment without approval from the Board of Directors of the Department; revising requirements for the provision of certain notices by the Department; and providing other matters properly relating thereto. Legislative Counsel’s Digest: Existing law creates the Department of Transportation, which is administered 1 by a seven-member Board of Directors and has various powers and duties relating 2 to the construction, improvement and maintenance of the highways in this State. 3 (Chapter 408 of NRS) Under existing law, the Department consists of a Director, 4 three Deputy Directors, a Chief Engineer and certain Divisions, which are headed 5 by assistant directors. (NRS 408.111) Section 1 of this bill revises the education 6 and experience required for appointment as a Deputy Director. 7 Existing law requires the Department to prepare a written analysis of the costs 8 and benefits of certain highway projects expected to cost at least $25 million before 9 – 2 – - *SB77* the Department submits a proposal for the project to the Board of Directors. (NRS 10 408.3195) Section 2 of this bill increases the minimum expected cost of a project 11 from $25 million to $50 million for which the Department is required to prepare a 12 cost-benefit analysis. 13 Existing law, with certain exceptions, requires the Director of the Department 14 to use a process of competitive bidding to contract for work to construct, 15 reconstruct, improve or maintain highways. (NRS 408.323, 408.327, 408.367, 16 408.3875-408.3888) Under existing law, the Director is authorized, with the 17 approval of the Board, to execute certain work or improvements with facilities and 18 employees of the Department rather than through competitive bidding. (NRS 19 408.323) Section 3 of this bill eliminates the requirement for the Director to obtain 20 the approval of the Board when the Director is authorized by existing law to 21 execute work or improvements with facilities and employees of the Department 22 rather than through competitive bidding. Section 3: (1) further eliminates the 23 requirement for the Director to obtain the approval of the Board to hire, employ or 24 contract for labor, materials or equipment without the use of competitive bidding in 25 a disaster or great emergency; and (2) instead, requires the Director to report each 26 such hiring, employment or contract to the Board at its next regularly scheduled 27 meeting. 28 Existing law authorizes the Director to use an informal bidding process to 29 award contracts for highway construction, reconstruction, improvements or 30 maintenance if the project is estimated to cost $250,000 or less and the Director 31 obtains the approval of the Board to use such an informal bidding process. (NRS 32 408.367) Sections 4 and 8 of this bill increase the maximum cost of a project for 33 which the Director may use an informal bidding process from $250,000 to 34 $750,000. Section 8 also eliminates the requirement for the Director to obtain the 35 approval of the Board to use an informal bidding process. Finally, section 8 36 increases the cost of a project for which the Director may solicit a bid from only 37 one properly licensed contractor from $50,000 or less to less than $100,000. 38 Under existing law, when the Director is required to use a competitive bidding 39 process to contract for work to construct, reconstruct, improve or maintain 40 highways, the Director is required to advertise for bids for such work by satisfying 41 certain requirements for publishing the advertisement in newspapers. (NRS 42 408.327) Section 4 removes requirements for publishing an advertisement for bids 43 in certain newspapers and, instead, section 4 requires the Department to post an 44 advertisement for bids on the Internet website of the Department for a certain 45 period. Section 11 of this bill similarly removes the requirement for the Department 46 to advertise in certain newspapers for preliminary proposals for the design and 47 construction of a project when the Department uses a design-build team to design 48 and construct a project and, instead, requires the Department to post such an 49 advertisement for preliminary proposals on its Internet website for a certain period. 50 Under existing law, before the Director may furnish plans and specifications for 51 an advertised work to a person proposing to bid for the work, the person is required 52 to become qualified to bid by establishing to the satisfaction of the Director that the 53 person has the financial ability and experience to perform the work. (NRS 408.333) 54 Instead of requiring a person proposing to bid for work to become qualified to bid 55 before the Director furnishes plans and specifications for the work to that person, 56 section 5 of this bill requires the person to become qualified by the Director before 57 submitting a bid. Section 8 similarly requires that when the Director is using the 58 informal bidding procedure to award a contract, a person wishing to bid is required 59 to submit certain information to the Director before submitting a bid rather than 60 before the Director furnishes the person with plans and specifications for the work. 61 Section 6 of this bill updates statutory language to clarify that a person 62 submitting a bid for work to construct, reconstruct, improve or maintain a highway 63 may be a business entity. 64 – 3 – - *SB77* Section 7 of this bill removes the authority of an authorized representative of a 65 bidder to execute a document to withdraw a bid and, instead, requires the bidder to 66 execute such a withdrawal. 67 Existing law requires the successful bidder for a contract for work to construct, 68 reconstruct, improve or maintain a highway to furnish one or more surety bonds to 69 secure: (1) faithful performance of the contract; and (2) payment of workers and 70 suppliers used for the performance of the contract. (NRS 408.357) Under existing 71 law, any such worker or supplier who has not been paid by a contractor or 72 subcontractor and who wishes to recover from the surety bond is required to file a 73 claim with the Department within 30 days from the date of final acceptance of the 74 contract. (NRS 408.363) To provide notice of the final acceptance of the contract, 75 the Department is required to publish a notice of the final acceptance of the contract 76 in certain newspapers. (NRS 408.387) Section 9 of this bill removes the 77 requirement to publish this notice in certain newspapers and, instead, requires the 78 Department to post notice of the date of final acceptance of a contract on 79 the Internet website of the Department. 80 Existing law requires the Department to obtain the approval of the Board before 81 purchasing any equipment which exceeds $50,000. (NRS 408.389) Section 12 of 82 this bill increases the purchase price of equipment which requires approval of the 83 Board from $50,000 to $150,000. 84 Under existing law, any legal notice or advertisement required by law to be 85 published in a newspaper is a legal notice or advertisement and must be published 86 in a newspaper that satisfies certain requirements. (NRS 238.010-238.080) Section 87 10 of this bill clarifies that the notice of a public meeting at which the Board makes 88 the determinations that are necessary to authorize the Department to contract with a 89 design-build team for the design and construction of a project is a legal notice that 90 must be published in a newspaper that satisfies the requirements of existing law. 91 (NRS 408.3881) Sections 13 and 14 of this bill clarify that notices of certain 92 dispositions of property of the Department are legal notices that must be published 93 in a newspaper that satisfies the requirements of existing law. (NRS 408.507, 94 408.533) Section 15 of this bill clarifies that notice of a public hearing required 95 upon an application to close a public road on public land is a legal notice that must 96 be published in a newspaper that satisfies the requirements of existing law. 97 (NRS 408.537) 98 THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. NRS 408.178 is hereby amended to read as follows: 1 408.178 1. Each Deputy Director: 2 (a) Is in the unclassified service of the State. 3 (b) Must [hold] : 4 (1) Hold a [master’s] bachelor’s degree in business, public 5 or business administration, [hold the] economics or any other field 6 related to a field described in this subparagraph; 7 (2) Hold a degree of bachelor of science in civil, structural, 8 mechanical , environmental, traffic or industrial engineering ; [,] or 9 [be] 10 (3) Be a licensed professional engineer. 11 (c) Must have at least: 12 – 4 – - *SB77* (1) Two years of administrative experience as an assistant 1 director or the Chief Engineer; or 2 (2) Fifteen years of progressively responsible experience in 3 engineering , [or] project management [.] or a related field. 4 2. The Chief Engineer: 5 (a) Is in the unclassified service of the State. 6 (b) Must be a licensed professional engineer. 7 (c) Except as otherwise provided in subsection 3, must have at 8 least 3 years of experience as the final engineering authority for a 9 state’s agency which has duties similar to those of the Department. 10 3. If the Director or the Deputy Director appointed pursuant to 11 paragraph (a) of subsection 1 of NRS 408.175 is a licensed 12 professional engineer, he or she may also act as the Department’s 13 Chief Engineer. 14 Sec. 2. NRS 408.3195 is hereby amended to read as follows: 15 408.3195 1. Before the Department submits a proposal for a 16 highway project to the Board for approval, the Department shall 17 prepare a written analysis of the costs and benefits of the project. 18 The analysis must state, for each highway district in which the 19 project is proposed: 20 (a) The limits of the project; 21 (b) The period of analysis; 22 (c) The discount rate used in the analysis; 23 (d) The initial costs of the Department for the project, including 24 any costs for design, engineering, the acquisition of land and 25 construction; 26 (e) The future costs of the Department to preserve and maintain 27 the project, discounted to present value; 28 (f) Any other costs of the Department for any other construction 29 or any mitigation associated with the project; 30 (g) The costs to highway users for any loss of safety, delays in 31 the time of travel and costs for the operation of vehicles that are 32 associated with the project; 33 (h) The costs of any environmental impacts, including vehicle 34 emissions and noise, that are associated with the project; and 35 (i) The value of the benefits of the project, including the value of 36 any: 37 (1) Savings in the time of travel; 38 (2) Improvements to safety; and 39 (3) Savings in the cost of operating vehicles. 40 2. The analysis required by this section: 41 (a) Must include a discussion of any additional increases in costs 42 that would result from any delays in the performance of any routine 43 maintenance scheduled under the maintenance program of the 44 Department; 45 – 5 – - *SB77* (b) May include a discussion of: 1 (1) The costs of the project for any other persons and 2 governmental agencies; 3 (2) The value of any other social, economic or environmental 4 benefits or costs of the project; and 5 (3) Any costs or benefits which may result from the use of 6 any alternative design, construction or financing practices; and 7 (c) Must be prepared in a format that allows for the comparison 8 of proposed highway projects. 9 3. The analysis required by this section must be made available 10 to the Board and the public when the agenda is posted for the 11 meeting at which the proposal will be submitted to the Board for its 12 approval. 13 4. As used in this section, “highway project” means a project 14 that is expected to increase the capacity of the state highway system 15 and cost at least [$25 million.] $50,000,000. 16 Sec. 3. NRS 408.323 is hereby amended to read as follows: 17 408.323 1. Whenever it can be justified by the Director that 18 limited work or improvements can be done in a more economical or 19 other satisfactory manner than by contract under NRS 408.327, the 20 Director may [, with the approval of the Board,] execute such work 21 or improvements with Department facilities and employees. 22 2. In the event of disaster or great emergency the Director may 23 [, with the approval of the Board,] hire, employ or contract for such 24 labor, materials and equipment as are in the Director’s opinion 25 necessary to reroute, repair or replace any highway threatened or 26 damaged by the emergency or disaster, and the provisions of NRS 27 408.327 and 408.367 do not apply. The Director shall report each 28 such hiring, employment and contract to the Board at the next 29 regularly scheduled meeting of the Board. 30 Sec. 4. NRS 408.327 is hereby amended to read as follows: 31 408.327 Except as otherwise provided in NRS 408.3875 to 32 408.3888, inclusive: 33 1. Whenever the provisions of NRS 408.323 do not apply, the 34 Director shall advertise for bids for such work on projects estimated 35 to cost in excess of $750,000 according to the plans and 36 specifications prepared by the Director. The Department shall post 37 such an [Text truncated for display. Full text available on LegiScan.]