17319

EDUCATION CODE
SECTION 17319




17319.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
   (1) The purpose of the collaborative process for project
development and review is to ensure the public safety of school
facilities through a collaborative, consistent, and timely project
development and review process.
   (2) The collaborative process for project development and review
may be made available, as an alternative to the traditional plan
review and approval process, to school districts that voluntarily
apply to the Department of General Services.
   (3) This process entails the early participation of all parties
involved in a project from project development and continuing through
plan review, construction, and certification of school facilities
projects. These parties include the Department of General Services'
staff and their qualified plan review firms, and school districts and
their design professionals.
   (b) The Department of General Services, in consultation with the
Office of Public School Construction, shall establish procedures and
requirements governing the use of the collaborative process for
project development and review alternative. These procedures and
requirements shall include an application and selection process. Upon
project selection, the Department of General Services and the school
district shall mutually agree to the roles and responsibilities of
the Department of General Services, the applicant school district,
and its design professionals.
   (c) As a part of the establishment of the requirements for the
collaborative process for project development and review, the
Department of General Services, in consultation with participating
school districts, shall establish mutually determined timeframe goals
for a project's plan review, district and consultant response,
response review, and final approval. Those timeframe goals shall
reflect the project's estimated construction cost, complexity, size,
and other requirements of the collaborative process for project
development and review.
   (d) The Department of General Services shall establish model
statewide timeframe goals, in consultation with school districts and
other relevant parties, by February 1, 2007. Implementation of the
collaborative process for project development and review with
participating districts shall not negatively impact the traditional
plan review process with other districts.
   (e) The Department of General Services shall submit a preliminary
report to the Legislature by July 1, 2008, and a final report by July
1, 2009. These reports shall address whether the implementation of
the collaborative process for project development and review has
assisted the department and school districts in meeting their
mutually determined timeframe goals.
   (f) Notwithstanding Section 17300, the application for the
collaborative process for project development and review may be
accompanied by a filing fee from the school district in amounts
determined by the Department of General Services based on the
estimated project cost and according to the fee schedule identified
in subdivisions (a) to (c), inclusive, of Section 17300. The
Department of General Services may establish a procedure for the
payment and collection of this filing fee.
   (g) The department may assess a fee on a participating district to
cover the unreimbursed costs of the department incurred pursuant to
that district's participation in the collaborative process if the
department deems the assessment of the fee to be necessary for the
support of its operations and establishes a procedure for the
determination, collection, and deposit of the fee.
   (h) During project development, the school district may provide
input to the Department of General Services in its selection of a
qualified plan review firm to provide consultative services to that
department. Upon project submittal by the applicant school district,
the department shall also refer the necessary project documents to
the selected qualified plan review firm for plan review. The
department shall establish procedures governing the use of this
article by applicant school districts for the selection of a
qualified plan review firm.