Florida Senate - 2019 CS for SB 1044
By the Committee on Infrastructure and Security; and Senator
Albritton
596-03289-19 20191044c1
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to the Department of Transportation;
3 amending s. 20.23, F.S.; deleting the requirement that
4 the Governor appoint the Secretary of Transportation
5 from among three persons nominated by the Florida
6 Transportation Commission; providing additional
7 qualifications for the secretary; creating s. 334.179,
8 F.S.; prohibiting local governments from adopting
9 standards or specifications that are contrary to the
10 department standards or specifications for permissible
11 use of aggregates that have been certified for use;
12 defining the term “certified for use”; amending s.
13 337.025, F.S.; authorizing the department to establish
14 a program for transportation projects that demonstrate
15 certain innovative techniques for measuring resiliency
16 and structural integrity and controlling time and cost
17 increases; amending s. 337.14, F.S.; requiring that
18 any contractor, instead of any person, desiring to bid
19 for the performance of certain construction contracts
20 first be certified by the department as qualified;
21 conforming provisions to changes made by the act;
22 requiring a contractor desiring to bid on certain
23 contracts to have satisfactorily completed certain
24 projects; amending s. 337.185, F.S.; increasing the
25 maximum amounts per contract of certain contractual
26 claims that must be arbitrated by the State
27 Arbitration Board under certain circumstances;
28 providing an effective date.
29
30 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
31
32 Section 1. Subsection (1) of section 20.23, Florida
33 Statutes, is amended to read:
34 20.23 Department of Transportation.—There is created a
35 Department of Transportation which shall be a decentralized
36 agency.
37 (1)(a) The head of the Department of Transportation is the
38 Secretary of Transportation. The secretary is shall be appointed
39 by the Governor, from among three persons nominated by the
40 Florida Transportation Commission and shall be subject to
41 confirmation by the Senate. The secretary shall serve at the
42 pleasure of the Governor.
43 (b) The secretary must shall be a proven, effective
44 administrator who, by a combination of education and experience,
45 clearly possesses shall clearly possess a broad knowledge of the
46 administrative, financial, and technical aspects of the
47 development, operation, and regulation of transportation systems
48 and facilities or comparable systems and facilities. The
49 secretary must be a registered professional engineer in
50 accordance with chapter 471 or the laws of another state, or, in
51 lieu of professional engineer registration, must hold an
52 advanced degree in an appropriate related discipline, such as a
53 Master of Business Administration, and have 5 years of relevant
54 transportation experience or must have 10 years of relevant
55 transportation experience.
56 (c) The secretary shall provide to the Florida
57 Transportation Commission or its staff, such assistance,
58 information, and documents as are requested by the commission or
59 its staff to enable the commission to fulfill its duties and
60 responsibilities.
61 (d) The secretary may appoint up to three assistant
62 secretaries who shall be directly responsible to the secretary
63 and who shall perform such duties as are assigned by the
64 secretary. The secretary shall designate to an assistant
65 secretary the duties related to enhancing economic prosperity,
66 including, but not limited to, the responsibility of liaising
67 liaison with the head of economic development in the Executive
68 Office of the Governor. This Such assistant secretary is shall
69 be directly responsible for providing the Executive Office of
70 the Governor with investment opportunities and transportation
71 projects that expand the state’s role as a global hub for trade
72 and investment and enhance the supply chain system in the state
73 to process, assemble, and ship goods to markets throughout the
74 eastern United States, Canada, the Caribbean, and Latin America.
75 The secretary may delegate to any assistant secretary the
76 authority to act in the absence of the secretary.
77 (e) Any secretary appointed after July 5, 1989, and the
78 assistant secretaries are shall be exempt from the provisions of
79 part III of chapter 110 and must shall receive compensation that
80 is commensurate with their qualifications and competitive with
81 compensation for comparable responsibility in the private
82 sector.
83 Section 2. Section 334.179, Florida Statutes, is created to
84 read:
85 334.179 Departmental standards or specifications for
86 permissible use of aggregates.—Notwithstanding any law, rule, or
87 ordinance to the contrary, a local government may not adopt
88 standards or specifications that are contrary to the
89 departmental standards or specifications for permissible use of
90 aggregates that have been certified for use. For purposes of
91 this section, the term “certified for use” means that the
92 aggregates have been certified by the producer in accordance
93 with departmental rule.
94 Section 3. Subsection (1) of section 337.025, Florida
95 Statutes, is amended to read:
96 337.025 Innovative transportation highway projects;
97 department to establish program.—
98 (1) The department may is authorized to establish a program
99 for transportation highway projects demonstrating innovative
100 techniques of highway and bridge design, construction,
101 maintenance, and finance which have the intended effect of
102 measuring resiliency and structural integrity and controlling
103 time and cost increases on construction projects. Such
104 techniques may include, but are not limited to, state-of-the-art
105 technology for pavement, safety, and other aspects of highway
106 and bridge design, construction, and maintenance; innovative
107 bidding and financing techniques; accelerated construction
108 procedures; and those techniques that have the potential to
109 reduce project life cycle costs. To the maximum extent
110 practical, the department must use the existing process to award
111 and administer construction and maintenance contracts. When
112 specific innovative techniques are to be used, the department is
113 not required to adhere to those provisions of law that would
114 prevent, preclude, or in any way prohibit the department from
115 using the innovative technique. However, before prior to using
116 an innovative technique that is inconsistent with another
117 provision of law, the department must document in writing the
118 need for the exception and identify what benefits the traveling
119 public and the affected community are anticipated to receive.
120 The department may enter into no more than $120 million in
121 contracts annually for the purposes authorized by this section.
122 Section 4. Subsection (1) of section 337.14, Florida
123 Statutes, is amended to read:
124 337.14 Application for qualification; certificate of
125 qualification; restrictions; request for hearing.—
126 (1) Any contractor person desiring to bid for the
127 performance of any construction contract in excess of $250,000
128 which the department proposes to let must first be certified by
129 the department as qualified pursuant to this section and rules
130 of the department. The rules of the department must shall
131 address the qualification of contractors persons to bid on
132 construction contracts in excess of $250,000 and must shall
133 include requirements with respect to the equipment, past record,
134 experience, financial resources, and organizational personnel of
135 the applying contractor which are applicant necessary to perform
136 the specific class of work for which the contractor person seeks
137 certification. Any contractor desiring to bid on contracts in
138 excess of $50 million must have satisfactorily completed two
139 projects, each in excess of $25 million, for the department or
140 for any other state department of transportation. The department
141 may limit the dollar amount of any contract upon which a
142 contractor person is qualified to bid or the aggregate total
143 dollar volume of contracts such contractor person is allowed to
144 have under contract at any one time. Each applying contractor
145 applicant seeking qualification to bid on construction contracts
146 in excess of $250,000 shall furnish the department a statement
147 under oath, on such forms as the department may prescribe,
148 setting forth detailed information as required on the
149 application. Each application for certification must shall be
150 accompanied by the latest annual financial statement of the
151 applying contractor applicant completed within the last 12
152 months. If the application or the annual financial statement
153 shows the financial condition of the applying contractor
154 applicant more than 4 months prior to the date on which the
155 application is received by the department, then an interim
156 financial statement and an updated application must be submitted
157 and be accompanied by an updated application. The interim
158 financial statement must cover the period from the end date of
159 the annual statement and must show the financial condition of
160 the applying contractor applicant no more than 4 months prior to
161 the date that the interim financial statement is received by the
162 department. However, upon the request of by the applying
163 contractor applicant, an application and accompanying annual or
164 interim financial statement received by the department within 15
165 days after either 4-month period under this subsection shall be
166 considered timely. Each required annual or interim financial
167 statement must be audited and accompanied by the opinion of a
168 certified public accountant. An applying contractor applicant
169 desiring to bid exclusively for the performance of construction
170 contracts with proposed budget estimates of less than $1 million
171 may submit reviewed annual or reviewed interim financial
172 statements prepared by a certified public accountant. The
173 information required by this subsection is confidential and
174 exempt from the provisions of s. 119.07(1). The department shall
175 act upon the application for qualification within 30 days after
176 the department determines that the application is complete. The
177 department may waive the requirements of this subsection for
178 projects having a contract price of $500,000 or less if the
179 department determines that the project is of a noncritical
180 nature and the waiver will not endanger public health, safety,
181 or property.
182 Section 5. Subsection (1) of section 337.185, Florida
183 Statutes, is amended to read:
184 337.185 State Arbitration Board.—
185 (1) To facilitate the prompt settlement of claims for
186 additional compensation arising out of construction and
187 maintenance contracts between the department and the various
188 contractors with whom it transacts business, the Legislature
189 does hereby establish the State Arbitration Board, referred to
190 in this section as the “board.” For the purpose of this section,
191 the term “claim” means the aggregate of all outstanding claims
192 by a party arising out of a construction or maintenance
193 contract. Every contractual claim in an amount up to $250,000
194 per contract or, at the claimant’s option, up to $1 million
195 $500,000 per contract or, upon agreement of the parties, up to
196 $2 million $1 million per contract which that cannot be resolved
197 by negotiation between the department and the contractor must
198 shall be arbitrated by the board after acceptance of the project
199 by the department. As an exception, either party to the dispute
200 may request that the claim be submitted to binding private
201 arbitration. A court of law may not consider the settlement of
202 such a claim until the process established by this section has
203 been exhausted.
204 Section 6. This act shall take effect July 1, 2019.