Bill Amendment: FL S1044 | 2019 | Regular Session

NOTE: For additional amemendments please see the Bill Drafting List

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Bill Title: Department of Transportation

Status: 2019-05-01 - Laid on Table, companion bill(s) passed, see CS/CS/CS/HB 905 (Ch. 2019-153), CS/CS/CS/HB 385 (Ch. 2019-169) [S1044 Detail]

Download: Florida-2019-S1044-Senate_Committee_Amendment_517500.html

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       Florida Senate - 2019                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 1044
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì517500lÎ517500                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
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       The Committee on Infrastructure and Security (Albritton)
       recommended the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete everything after the enacting clause
    4  and insert:
    5         Section 1. Subsection (1) of section 20.23, Florida
    6  Statutes, is amended to read:
    7         20.23 Department of Transportation.—There is created a
    8  Department of Transportation which shall be a decentralized
    9  agency.
   10         (1)(a) The head of the Department of Transportation is the
   11  Secretary of Transportation. The secretary is shall be appointed
   12  by the Governor, from among three persons nominated by the
   13  Florida Transportation Commission and shall be subject to
   14  confirmation by the Senate. The secretary shall serve at the
   15  pleasure of the Governor.
   16         (b) The secretary must shall be a proven, effective
   17  administrator who, by a combination of education and experience,
   18  clearly possesses shall clearly possess a broad knowledge of the
   19  administrative, financial, and technical aspects of the
   20  development, operation, and regulation of transportation systems
   21  and facilities or comparable systems and facilities. The
   22  secretary must be a registered professional engineer in
   23  accordance with chapter 471 or the laws of another state, or, in
   24  lieu of professional engineer registration, must hold an
   25  advanced degree in an appropriate related discipline, such as a
   26  Master of Business Administration, and have 5 years of relevant
   27  transportation experience or must have 10 years of relevant
   28  transportation experience.
   29         (c) The secretary shall provide to the Florida
   30  Transportation Commission or its staff, such assistance,
   31  information, and documents as are requested by the commission or
   32  its staff to enable the commission to fulfill its duties and
   33  responsibilities.
   34         (d) The secretary may appoint up to three assistant
   35  secretaries who shall be directly responsible to the secretary
   36  and who shall perform such duties as are assigned by the
   37  secretary. The secretary shall designate to an assistant
   38  secretary the duties related to enhancing economic prosperity,
   39  including, but not limited to, the responsibility of liaising
   40  liaison with the head of economic development in the Executive
   41  Office of the Governor. This Such assistant secretary is shall
   42  be directly responsible for providing the Executive Office of
   43  the Governor with investment opportunities and transportation
   44  projects that expand the state’s role as a global hub for trade
   45  and investment and enhance the supply chain system in the state
   46  to process, assemble, and ship goods to markets throughout the
   47  eastern United States, Canada, the Caribbean, and Latin America.
   48  The secretary may delegate to any assistant secretary the
   49  authority to act in the absence of the secretary.
   50         (e) Any secretary appointed after July 5, 1989, and the
   51  assistant secretaries are shall be exempt from the provisions of
   52  part III of chapter 110 and must shall receive compensation that
   53  is commensurate with their qualifications and competitive with
   54  compensation for comparable responsibility in the private
   55  sector.
   56         Section 2. Paragraph (d) of subsection (7) of section
   57  112.061, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   58         112.061 Per diem and travel expenses of public officers,
   59  employees, and authorized persons.—
   60         (7) TRANSPORTATION.—
   61         (d)1. The use of privately owned vehicles for official
   62  travel in lieu of publicly owned vehicles or common carriers may
   63  be authorized by the agency head or his or her designee.
   64  Whenever travel is by privately owned vehicle:
   65         a. A traveler shall be entitled to a mileage allowance at a
   66  rate of 44.5 cents per mile; or
   67         b. A traveler shall be entitled to the common carrier fare
   68  for such travel if determined by the agency head to be more
   69  economical.
   70         2. Reimbursement for expenditures related to the operation,
   71  maintenance, and ownership of a vehicle shall not be allowed
   72  when privately owned vehicles are used on public business and
   73  reimbursement is made pursuant to this paragraph, except as
   74  provided in subsection (8).
   75         3. All mileage shall be shown from point of origin to point
   76  of destination and, when possible, shall be computed on the
   77  basis of the most commonly used maps current map of the
   78  Department of Transportation. Vicinity mileage necessary for the
   79  conduct of official business is allowable but must be shown as a
   80  separate item on the expense voucher.
   81         Section 3. Section 334.179, Florida Statutes, is created to
   82  read:
   83         334.179 Departmental standards or specifications for
   84  permissible use of aggregates.—Notwithstanding any law, rule, or
   85  ordinance to the contrary, a local government may not adopt
   86  standards or specifications that are contrary to the
   87  departmental standards or specifications for permissible use of
   88  aggregates that have been certified for use. For purposes of
   89  this section, the term “certified for use” means that the
   90  aggregates have been certified by the producer in accordance
   91  with departmental rule.
   92         Section 4. Subsection (1) of section 337.025, Florida
   93  Statutes, is amended to read:
   94         337.025 Innovative transportation highway projects;
   95  department to establish program.—
   96         (1) The department may is authorized to establish a program
   97  for transportation highway projects demonstrating innovative
   98  techniques of highway and bridge design, construction,
   99  maintenance, and finance which have the intended effect of
  100  measuring resiliency and structural integrity and controlling
  101  time and cost increases on construction projects. Such
  102  techniques may include, but are not limited to, state-of-the-art
  103  technology for pavement, safety, and other aspects of highway
  104  and bridge design, construction, and maintenance; innovative
  105  bidding and financing techniques; accelerated construction
  106  procedures; and those techniques that have the potential to
  107  reduce project life cycle costs. To the maximum extent
  108  practical, the department must use the existing process to award
  109  and administer construction and maintenance contracts. When
  110  specific innovative techniques are to be used, the department is
  111  not required to adhere to those provisions of law that would
  112  prevent, preclude, or in any way prohibit the department from
  113  using the innovative technique. However, before prior to using
  114  an innovative technique that is inconsistent with another
  115  provision of law, the department must document in writing the
  116  need for the exception and identify what benefits the traveling
  117  public and the affected community are anticipated to receive.
  118  The department may enter into no more than $120 million in
  119  contracts annually for the purposes authorized by this section.
  120         Section 5. Subsection (1) of section 337.14, Florida
  121  Statutes, is amended to read:
  122         337.14 Application for qualification; certificate of
  123  qualification; restrictions; request for hearing.—
  124         (1) Any contractor person desiring to bid for the
  125  performance of any construction contract in excess of $250,000
  126  which the department proposes to let must first be certified by
  127  the department as qualified pursuant to this section and rules
  128  of the department. The rules of the department must shall
  129  address the qualification of contractors persons to bid on
  130  construction contracts in excess of $250,000 and must shall
  131  include requirements with respect to the equipment, past record,
  132  experience, financial resources, and organizational personnel of
  133  the applying contractor which are applicant necessary to perform
  134  the specific class of work for which the contractor person seeks
  135  certification. Any contractor desiring to bid on contracts in
  136  excess of $50 million must have satisfactorily completed two
  137  projects, each in excess of $25 million, for the department or
  138  for any other state department of transportation. The department
  139  may limit the dollar amount of any contract upon which a
  140  contractor person is qualified to bid or the aggregate total
  141  dollar volume of contracts such contractor person is allowed to
  142  have under contract at any one time. Each applying contractor
  143  applicant seeking qualification to bid on construction contracts
  144  in excess of $250,000 shall furnish the department a statement
  145  under oath, on such forms as the department may prescribe,
  146  setting forth detailed information as required on the
  147  application. Each application for certification must shall be
  148  accompanied by the latest annual financial statement of the
  149  applying contractor applicant completed within the last 12
  150  months. If the application or the annual financial statement
  151  shows the financial condition of the applying contractor
  152  applicant more than 4 months prior to the date on which the
  153  application is received by the department, then an interim
  154  financial statement and an updated application must be submitted
  155  and be accompanied by an updated application. The interim
  156  financial statement must cover the period from the end date of
  157  the annual statement and must show the financial condition of
  158  the applying contractor applicant no more than 4 months prior to
  159  the date that the interim financial statement is received by the
  160  department. However, upon the request of by the applying
  161  contractor applicant, an application and accompanying annual or
  162  interim financial statement received by the department within 15
  163  days after either 4-month period under this subsection shall be
  164  considered timely. Each required annual or interim financial
  165  statement must be audited and accompanied by the opinion of a
  166  certified public accountant. An applying contractor applicant
  167  desiring to bid exclusively for the performance of construction
  168  contracts with proposed budget estimates of less than $1 million
  169  may submit reviewed annual or reviewed interim financial
  170  statements prepared by a certified public accountant. The
  171  information required by this subsection is confidential and
  172  exempt from the provisions of s. 119.07(1). The department shall
  173  act upon the application for qualification within 30 days after
  174  the department determines that the application is complete. The
  175  department may waive the requirements of this subsection for
  176  projects having a contract price of $500,000 or less if the
  177  department determines that the project is of a noncritical
  178  nature and the waiver will not endanger public health, safety,
  179  or property.
  180         Section 6. Subsection (1) of section 337.185, Florida
  181  Statutes, is amended to read:
  182         337.185 State Arbitration Board.—
  183         (1) To facilitate the prompt settlement of claims for
  184  additional compensation arising out of construction and
  185  maintenance contracts between the department and the various
  186  contractors with whom it transacts business, the Legislature
  187  does hereby establish the State Arbitration Board, referred to
  188  in this section as the “board.” For the purpose of this section,
  189  the term “claim” means the aggregate of all outstanding claims
  190  by a party arising out of a construction or maintenance
  191  contract. Every contractual claim in an amount up to $250,000
  192  per contract or, at the claimant’s option, up to $1 million
  193  $500,000 per contract or, upon agreement of the parties, up to
  194  $2 million $1 million per contract which that cannot be resolved
  195  by negotiation between the department and the contractor must
  196  shall be arbitrated by the board after acceptance of the project
  197  by the department. As an exception, either party to the dispute
  198  may request that the claim be submitted to binding private
  199  arbitration. A court of law may not consider the settlement of
  200  such a claim until the process established by this section has
  201  been exhausted.
  202         Section 7. This act shall take effect July 1, 2019.
  203  
  204  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
  205  And the title is amended as follows:
  206         Delete everything before the enacting clause
  207  and insert:
  208                        A bill to be entitled                      
  209         An act relating to the Department of Transportation;
  210         amending s. 20.23, F.S.; deleting the requirement that
  211         the Governor appoint the Secretary of Transportation
  212         from among three persons nominated by the Florida
  213         Transportation Commission; providing additional
  214         qualifications for the secretary; amending s. 112.061,
  215         F.S.; requiring that certain mileage be computed on
  216         the basis of the most commonly used maps; creating s.
  217         334.179, F.S.; prohibiting local governments from
  218         adopting standards or specifications that are contrary
  219         to the department standards or specifications for
  220         permissible use of aggregates that have been certified
  221         for use; defining the term “certified for use”;
  222         amending s. 337.025, F.S.; authorizing the department
  223         to establish a program for transportation projects
  224         that demonstrate certain innovative techniques for
  225         measuring resiliency and structural integrity and
  226         controlling time and cost increases; amending s.
  227         337.14, F.S.; requiring that any contractor, instead
  228         of any person, desiring to bid for the performance of
  229         certain construction contracts first be certified by
  230         the department as qualified; conforming provisions to
  231         changes made by the act; requiring a contractor
  232         desiring to bid on certain contracts to have
  233         satisfactorily completed certain projects; amending s.
  234         337.185, F.S.; increasing the maximum amounts per
  235         contract of certain contractual claims that must be
  236         arbitrated by the State Arbitration Board under
  237         certain circumstances; providing an effective date.