Legislation to help accelerate critical flood protection projects along the Pajaro River passed the California Legislature in mid August with bipartisan support and now awaits action by Governor Gavin Newsom.
Senate Bill 1055, authored by Senator John Laird, expands the contracting tools available to the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency. SB 1055 expands the agency’s contracting authority from three procurement methods to seven, providing greater flexibility to reduce costs, shorten construction timelines, and complete critical flood protection 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 gives the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency more flexibility to deliver critical levee and flood control improvements faster, helping better protect families, businesses, and farmland from future flooding.”
Currently, PRFMA is limited in the construction procurement methods it can use to deliver projects. The new legislation authorizes 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.
The Pajaro River levee system was originally constructed by the federal government in 1949 to protect the communities of Pajaro and Watsonville. The system has been breached multiple times over the decades, most recently during the March 2023 floods, when a roughly 400-foot levee breach forced approximately 3,500 residents to evacuate and caused an estimated $300 million in damage.
SB 1055 is sponsored by the Pajaro Regional Flood Management Agency, which oversees flood protection infrastructure along the Pajaro River.