SACRAMENTO – The State Senate this week passed Senate Bill 1055 by Senator John Laird, legislation to help accelerate critical flood protection projects along the Pajaro River by expanding the contracting tools available to the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency (PRFMA). The bill now heads to the Assembly for consideration.

SB 1055 would authorize PRFMA to use additional construction procurement methods, including Job Order Contracting, Design-Build, Best Value, and Construction Manager/General Contractor contracting, helping the agency deliver levee repairs and flood control improvements more efficiently.

“After the devastating floods in 2023, we made a commitment to the Pajaro Valley community that we would keep pushing to strengthen flood protection infrastructure and move these projects forward with urgency,” said Laird. “SB 1055 helps remove unnecessary barriers to project delivery and gives the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency more flexibility to complete critical levee and flood control improvements faster and more efficiently.”

Currently, PRFMA is limited in the types of procurement methods it can use to deliver construction projects. These restrictions can slow project delivery and limit the agency’s ability to control costs and maintain critical flood protection infrastructure.

The Pajaro River levee system was originally constructed by the federal government in 1949 to protect the communities of Watsonville and Pajaro. Since then, the river and its tributaries have experienced major floods that breached the levees in 1955, 1958, 1995, 1998, and most recently in March 2023, when a levee breach of approximately 400 feet forced roughly 3,500 residents to evacuate and caused an estimated $300 million in damage to the Pajaro community.

SB 1055 would:

• Authorize the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency to use four additional construction procurement methods, including Job Order Contracting, Design-Build, Best Value, and Construction Manager/General Contractor contracting;
• Expand the number of contracting tools available to the agency from three to seven, increasing flexibility in how projects are delivered; and
• Help reduce project costs, accelerate construction timelines, and improve project delivery for levee maintenance and flood control improvements.

SB 1055 is sponsored by PRFMA, which oversees flood protection infrastructure for the Pajaro River.

SB 1055 builds on Laird’s longstanding work to improve flood protection along the Pajaro River. While serving in the California State Assembly, Laird authored AB 2348 (2006), which authorized the state to share in the costs of flood control projects along the Pajaro River. More recently, Laird authored SB 496 (2021), which authorized the California Department of Water Resources to cover 100% of the state’s cost share for Pajaro River flood control projects, and SB 489 (2022), which authorized the state to advance funding for the Pajaro River Flood Risk Management Project.

In 2024, legislation authored by Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and coauthored by Laird helped expedite flood control improvements along the river by streamlining certain environmental review requirements.