By Gabrielle Gillette

PAJARO — Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill Monday aiming to accelerate Pajaro River critical flood protection projects by expanding contracting tools available.

Senate Bill 1055 was introduced by Sen. John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, and works to expand the contracting tools available to the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency to help the agency conduct levee repairs and flood control improvements more efficiently. It authorizes the agency to use additional construction procurement methods — or methods for acquiring necessities like materials, equipment, resources, consultants and contractors.

“Pajaro Valley communities know firsthand the devastating consequences of flooding, and we have a responsibility to keep moving these critical protection projects forward,” Laird said in a statement. “SB 1055 gives the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency more flexibility to get this work done efficiently and responsibly. I thank Governor Newsom for signing this bill and for continuing to support our work to better protect families, businesses, and farmland throughout the Pajaro Valley.”

The Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency is currently limited in the construction procurement methods it can use, but once SB 1055 takes effect in January 2027, the agency’s contracting authority will expand from three procurement methods to seven, providing greater flexibility to reduce costs, shorten construction timelines and complete critical flood protection improvements more efficiently. Some of the new procurement methods include job order contracting, design-build, best value and construction manager/general contractor contracting, according to a media release from Laird’s office.

The original Pajaro River levee system has seen five major floods from the Pajaro River since its inception in 1949, according to the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency’s website. Most recently, a roughly 400-foot levee breach flooded the town of Pajaro, displacing residents, damaging structures and soaking agricultural fields in March 2023.

Later that year, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and local elected officials entered into a Project Partnership Agreement to rebuild the Pajaro River levee.

Though the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has contracted much of the construction, there are several other requirements in the rebuilding process that the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency must perform itself, Mark Strudley, executive director of the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency, told the Sentinel.

“There’s utilities that need to be relocated, and some of them are quite large, and so what we’re hoping is that with these different procurement methods, this would allow for more flexibility in contracting for those utility relocations, which could speed them along and offer cost savings if we’re able to use different methods,” Strudley said.

The agency also will have future projects independent from the levee project with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Levees that stretch downstream of Highway 1 to the Pacific Ocean will need to be updated in the future, Strudley said, and the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency could use the new variety of procurement methods to speed up and lessen costs for that project as well.

The bill received support from the cities of Watsonville and Monterey, the Pajaro River Watershed Flood Prevention Authority, the Pajaro Valley Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture, Pajaro Valley Prevention and Student Assistance and the Casa de la Cultura Center in Pajaro. The Associated General Contractors of California and Western Electrical Contractors Association opposed the bill.

“Senator Laird stepped up without hesitation to carry SB 1055 given his long-time interest and active legislative support of the Pajaro River flood project. In fact, his engagement goes back decades,” Strudley said in the release. “SB 1055 paves the way for a more timely and cost-effective means of seeing the project to completion all for the benefit of the families, farms, and businesses of the Pajaro Valley. Providing our agency with the ability to use alternate project delivery methods puts us on par with other similarly situated public agencies. We thank Senator Laird for his leadership and commitment to the project and the people it will ultimately protect.”

Published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel.