(April 13, 2007) In a victory for a position long held by the California Chamber of Commerce, the California Supreme Court yesterday issued a ruling upholding the use of private contracts for public transportation projects.

The case involved a challenge to CalChamber-supported Proposition 35, which allows California governments to use both public and private sector architects and engineers to work on thousands of backlogged highway and transit, seismic retrofitting and other public work projects. The CalChamber joined the California Building Industry Association in filing a friend-of-the court brief supporting the ability of government to contract with private sector entities.

“This ruling is great news for California commuters and taxpayers,” said CalChamber President Allan Zaremberg. “The California Supreme Court has upheld the will of the people, who passed Proposition 35 in 2000 to promote the efficient delivery of public works projects and approved infrastructure bonds in 2006 to increase and accelerate those projects. Among other things, Californians need increased transportation capacity and they want it as quickly and efficiently as possible; today's ruling will help deliver these results by allowing the use of private sector services to augment public sector capabilities.”

Proposition 35 gives California state and local government the choice to hire qualified private sector engineers, surveyors and architects where it makes sense to do so — something the other 49 states and the federal government have been able to do for decades.

Zaremberg continued, “In furtherance of this ruling and the intent of Prop. 35, we urge the Legislature to send Governor Schwarzenegger legislation to allow the state to use design-build and public-private partnerships on even more projects to be constructed with the 2006 infrastructure bonds so that these important works can be delivered as quickly and efficiently as possible. California demands and deserves no less.”

Staff Contact: Erika Frank