Two years after the horrific fires destroyed a large section of Sonoma County, I am reminded of the Heroes that we honored in a film you can watch by clicking on this link—

Seldom in life does the opportunity to drop everything and do whatever is necessary to save lives and property happen. Two years ago, that opportunity happened to our community, and to our industry and to our ECA brothers and sisters. Although decisions were made, because of the kind of threat we were confronted with, and because of the type of character we have, there really was no choices but to make those decisions. Business owners and individuals made the decision to jump in and do whatever it took to help people escape, to help try to save houses, and to help first responders and National Guard troops to keep safety and order in the fire zone. ECA business owners and employees did not consider their own “bottom line”, and in many cases, their own safety. They just reacted and kept helping people and the community. They had the expertise, the people, the equipment, and the ability to mobilize those resources to deal with the threat. And that they did.

Within minutes, owners were calling employees, employees were calling owners, all to allow them to get water tenders, water trucks, dozers and people out to insure safety and mitigate fire damage to houses and entire neighborhoods.

Here we are 2 years later, and many of the 5,400 houses are under construction and or rebuilt. An historic fire cleanup was undertaken and accomplished by many of those same ECA members who selflessly reacted in the middle of the night on October 8 to save property and lives. Care and consideration was given by our men and women doing the cleanup, and small acts of kindness went a long ways to impact fire victims. Finding a diamond ring in the debris, treating the property with respect, working with Army Corps no matter how frustrating, and handling the safety of their workers all turned many firms away from business as usual to a committed workforce that was determined to get fire victims back into their homes as quickly as possible.

I hope you watch the video again. Let’s remember who the heroes are amongst us. Every day guys and gals, doing what they can. And what they could. And what a difference they made to our community. I remember handing out flowers at the Coffey Park Holiday celebration that was put together in just a few days, and seeing fire victims cry in gratitude to get a bouquet of flowers or a Christmas tree on their burned out lot. A lot of emotion and a feeling of community was established for the world to see. We stepped up and the world noticed.

From the first, our ECA members like BoDean, NorthWest, Argonaut, Team Ghilotti, Ghilotti Construction and many others, jumped into the situation and had employees risk their own lives, risked their own equipment, and do whatever they could to guide people to safety, save houses, provide shelter to victims and National Guard alike, and generally show the world what true heroes they were.

I have watched this video that was masterfully shot and edited by Don Mills and Sound Ideas and his staff. It never fails to remind me of the sheer terror, confusion, and compassion our guys and gals exhibited.

Some actions were very visible. Some were not so public. All of the contributions united our ECA family and united our community. Hundreds of individual acts of compassion and support bound our community like never before:

*James Gore commented on how the crisis led to “Courage and Capacity” and he is correct. An amazing effort was needed to make sure most people escaped the inferno safely, as well as great efforts to augment firefighters with our ECA member water trucks, dozers, and even a converted hydroseeding truck that had a water cannon on top.

*BoDean employees risked their own lives to assist folks from the Mark West area to get away from the fire.

*Ghilotti Construction Company mobilized with water trucks immediately and today they are still helping the community. Press Democrat link

*NorthWest was onsite helping fire fighters with their water trucks

*Argonaut threw equipment and personnel into the fray immediately

*Team Ghilotti was quick to react, and continued to help long after October 8

*Dave Soiland was on the fire front lines doing all he could to help people

*Mark Soiland stepped up and did all he and his firm could to assist

*Rod Sichel took his water wagon and a few guys and maybe saved most of Montecito Heights and Proctor Heights and Brush Creek Road from destruction

*Ghilotti Brothers got here quickly and selflessly

*others jumped into the inferno and did everything they could to help in any way they could help.

*Individuals, like “Tiny” Jeff Green of GCC, Shawn Soiland, Robert Lindsay of BoDean, Aaron Brown of GCC, Dave Soiland, Rodney Sichel, Mark Cresta, Dale Mahoney, Chris Wilson, ED Nessinger drove water trucks, dozed fire breaks, escorted people to safety and made a huge difference to a lot of people

*Nunley did all they could while losing their own house

*Glenn Smith and countless others leapt into action with little or no regard for their own personal safety and saved lives. Glenn saved his own house with his brother Gordon using hoses, shovels, and rakes then went over and saved neighbor Rob Muelrath’s house.

*Willie Ghilotti and GCC housing 250 National Guard members and providing toilets, showers, food and all other comforts and assistance they needed to do their jobs

*I remember calling Dave Soiland to see if he could get a pump and some hose to a friend’s house on Petaluma Hill Road so if the fire came, he had something to pull water out of his pool to help save his house

*There were many others and the community thanks you, I thank you, and we all know why we did what we did-because it was the right thing to do. We had no choice.

To the owners of the ECA Companies, Mike Smith Jr., Dick Ghilotti, the late great Glen Ghilotti, Mark Soiland, Dave Soiland, Dean and Bo, Willie Ghilotti, and others-thank you for stepping up to show the local residents and the world what it means to be an engineering contractor. You had the resources, and you turned them loose with quality guys and you saved houses and entire communities.

As we currently endure a widespread power outage to be safe in high fire danger weather, it is a very good time to remember back two years ago how we all came together to do what needed to be done. As Shawn Soiland said-“it was a time where the Good Ole Boys Were Back”.

Please take a moment to watch the video and remember how we came together to lend meaning to the words – “FROM THE ASHES, WE WILL RISE”.

I was never prouder to be an ECA Member. Thanks to all of you!!!! Heroes!

John Bly

That’s all folks!

This week’s soapbox will focus on 2 upcoming forums. The first event is an AB5 forum – Assembly Bill 5 was just recently signed by Governor Newson into law. This new law will affect contractors, truckers, insurance companies and trucking brokers alike. Because it is complicated, we are going to host a forum on Oct. 16, 2019 from 5 – 7 pm at the NCBE, 1030 Apollo Way, Santa Rosa.

Click here for flyer. Seating is limited, one person per company please. RSVP asap.

The purpose of this forum is to present information that will be helpful to all of our ECA members as they close out 2019 and plan for 2020. We invite all of you to come. It will be provided free to ECA & NCBE members but cost $40 for non-members. We have very qualified speakers that will be able to present the law, and its impact to all of your businesses.

Those speakers will be:

Stephen Holden (Holden Law Group). Mr. Holden will talk about how companies and individuals will have to comply with the law as written. Mike Ryan with InterWest Insurance Services will be introducing Mr. Holden.

The second speaker will be Mike Ghilotti, Ghilotti Bros. Mike will speak on how AB5 affects public works bids as far as qualifying for WBE & DBA percentages. Mike will also talk about the impact the project schedules and project costs moving forward.

Our third speaker is Debbie Ferrari of MAG Trucking. Debbie will speak to us about options to fix this horrific new law. Debbie is well connected in Sacramento and has been lobbying in Sacramento to find an author that would be willing to sponsor a clean up bill.

In conclusion, if you use trucking on any of your projects, if you have clients that are trucking contractors or if you are a trucking brokers you need to attend this forum.

Since we are putting this on for free if you would like to sponsor please contact Mary so we can defray the cost of putting this on.

Thank you to Erik Fowler, V. Volan Trucking for sponsoring this event. Debbie Ferrari of MAG Trucking will be becoming the newest ECA member on October 15th and we thank her for speaking at this forum.

The second important forum that is upcoming will be our Annual General Membership Meeting to be held November 14th from 12 noon – 2 pm. Lunch will be provided, and the subject will be Planes, Trains and Automobiles Revisited. It feels very appropriate to update our members on all that is happening for all of our modes of transportation in Sonoma County and the contiguous counties.

The “Planes” portion of this program will be presented by Jon Stout, Airport Manager of Sonoma County Airport. He will be discussing upcoming projects to the airport and its facilities. These projects will affect your business and increase opportunities for regional growth.

The “Trains” portion of the forum, will be handled by Farhad Mansourian, General Manager of SMART. SMART is now up and running and is looking at a potential sales tax measure that will go to the voters in 2020. In addition to the sales tax topic, Farhad will also address potential expansion of SMART to the north and to the east to Suisun City. Safety is paramount to the SMART operation and Farhad will also address some recent tragic incidents and plans to mitigate future tragedies.

The “Automobiles” segment will be handled by Supervisor David Rabbitt and SCTA Executive Director Suzanne Wilford Smith. Recently both Suzanne and David were present at the final Hwy 101 ground breaking in Sonoma County. The excitement and satisfaction of all those who have supported the widening of Hwy 101 was evident at the the event in Petaluma. Despite the joyous groundbreaking there is still much to do to fix our roads and bridges in our area. Hwy 37, local city roads and streets, and unincorporated roads all have extreme needs. Suzanne and David will speak to a proposed sales tax measure that would extend Measure M and accommodate funding for those infrastructure needs.

In conclusion this Annual General Membership Meeting should be well attended by ECA members and we urge you to bring a guest. Meeting sponsorship opportunities can be addressed by contacting Mary.

John Bly

That’s All Folks!

Open Letter to State Representatives

State Senators Bill Dodd, Mike McGuire, State Assemblymen Marc Levine, Jim Woods:

You recently voted “Yes” on AB5. You neither advocated for, nor supported a Republican effort to

exempt the trucking industry from AB5.

The Engineering Contractor industry has, in the past, supported you and endorsed you as you became

our State Legislators in Sacramento. We expected you to work hard, be fair, and vote without

predetermination on important issues. We would not have endorsed you had we known your future

voting would be guided by Special Interest groups that pushed for self serving legislation. Yet this is

exactly what you did in supporting and voting for AB5.

Now that AB5 has been signed into law by Governor Newsom, it is time for you to accept responsibility

for the constituents you turned your back on. These constituents, the truckers who work hard every

day in our industry, are being forced by you to give up their independent contractor status and be

legislated into becoming employees. They have always had that as a choice, yet they chose to buy their

own trucks, and control which jobs and which trucking brokers to work on and with. Many have said

they will relocate to another State. Some have said they will try to sell their trucks and look for another

career. I haven’t heard any of them who want to thank you for passing AB5. They are not thankful.

They don’t feel grateful for your actions. They feel betrayed by your vote and by your silence when

your fellow legislators asked for them to be exempted and you ignored their pleas because the majority

knew they had the power and you could hide behind that power.

There were lots of heroes that helped clean up after the fires of 2017 in Sonoma, Lake, and Mendocino

Counties. You know someone who lost their home to the fires and had their sites cleaned up and

hauled off by some of those truckers. Those truckers and the brokers who dispatch them, will now have

difficult times ahead of them. You have effectively turned heroes into victims by your passage of AB5.

What other results can we expect from your Yes vote on AB5? We can expect fewer trucks will be

available for delivery of rock and asphalt and concrete to our much needed infrastructure work. We

can expect highway construction projects to take longer to complete which will affect commuters and

taxpayers alike. We can expect the projects that need trucking to cost more so Cities and Counties will

get less miles of road repaired than before you cast your vote as a Yes on AB5.

The trucking brokers, who are so integral to our industry, will see their number of trucks dispatched be

reduced by 60 to 80%. Some will go out of business altogether. They will not thank you for your vote.

The labor groups who supported AB5 will thank you. But the people you legislated out of a job won’t

thank you for not standing up for them. Nope, they won’t thank you.

Signed With a Little Less Respect,

John Bly

That’s All Folks!

John Bly

John’s Soapbox

Recently, a good friend to the ECA forwarded me a quote from candidate Chris Coursey. Chris is challenging Shirlee Zane for her 3^rd District Sonoma County Supervisor seat in 2020. The ECA has already endorsed Shirlee Zane for Supervisor and we contributed some dollars to her campaign “war chest”.

In his letter to our good friend, Mr. Coursey pulled no punches in his support of all things that might impact the climate being bad. Mr. Coursey believes all actions by the Board of Supervisors must be considered and mitigated before said actions taken by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors.

Chris Coursey went on to say that the funds from Measure M should be spent more on public transit than roads in the future.

This column is an “opinion” piece. I try to write opinions that will make people think, perhaps learn something, consider my opinion and even if they vehemently disagree with my opinion, they can make up their own mind on the issues I write about.

To that end, I am going to take a decidedly “politically incorrect” position on the subject of Public Transportation.

Perhaps it is time to rethink the entire way we fund “public transportation” in the NorthBay region.

It took many years and several efforts to get Measure M to pass this ¼ cent sales tax measure in 2004. Voters initially rejected it but finally accepted it after much debate. There are discussions taking place now as to possibly putting a ballot initiative to the voters in 2020 to extend Measure M (which is set to expire in 2024). Press Democrat link

Much good has resulted from Measure M tax revenues being collected and spent on projects all around Sonoma County that benefitted the community and the commuter. Some money was seeded to the SMART train to help with construction costs. Some money was allocated towards public transit to provide an expanded bus schedule. A lot of the tax revenue went into major construction projects on Highway 101 to widen the 101 and to add a High Occupancy Vehicle Land (HOV) from Windsor to Marin County. Those projects resulted in local jobs being created and local contractors were quite successful over the years in bidding and prosecuting the work funded by Measure M funds.

So, what did we get out of the dollars that went into Public Transit? I realize some folks need to ride the bus to get around, but it sure seems to me there are a lot of empty seats on the buses most of the time. Also, what have we gotten from the SMART train that got some of the Measure M dollars? We got a “halfway built” railroad that is having fewer riders on it than anticipated. Also, SMART is so encumbered with debt payments for their construction costs, the very future of SMART is in question unless an extension of that sales tax measure is passed in 2020 (the current sales tax measure for SMART will expire in 2028). We got a few small contracts out of the building of the SMART train, so those jobs went right back into the economy to benefit the community. But did we really take many cars off of Highway 101 as promised? By Caltrans’ own estimates, there are 1.5 million vehicle trips between Sir Francis Drake Blvd and Airport Blvd in Sonoma County each day. Using SMART’s own estimates of ridership during the week of 2130 passenger trips, that is a whopping 0.2% of all vehicle trips. SMART is not having an impact on lowering commute times, nor is it helping Climate Change as the ridership is so small.

Maybe we need to do the following:

1. Forget about SMART train being for commuters. Market it solely for tourism and package brew house tastings and wine tastings coupons with the tickets.
2. Forget about Bus transit being a major component of our transportation network. Instead, issue vouchers to be used for LYFT and UBER rides to the frequent riders and get rid of the buses altogether.
3. Should Measure M go to the voters, reduce the dollars allocated to Public Transit and increase the percentage of dollars allocated to fixing our roads in Sonoma County and its nine cities.

I could back off of my position if someone could demonstrate to me the buses are nearly filled on some routes. If so, then keep them. But for the underutilized bus routes, let folks use UBER and LYFT. It will save us money in the short run and in the long run.

So, do you think Chris Coursey will agree with this opinion piece? Hell no. Probably most of you would not either but remember-I am just trying to “stir the pot” and get us to think a bit!

That’s All Folks!

John

John’s Soapbox

Three years ago, I was astounded with the decision of the ECA Board of Directors who nominated me to the greatest honor of my life-I was honored as the Hermsmeyer Hall of Fame Award winner in 2016. I had similar feelings to those I have heard expressed by others-“there are so many more deserving folks out there, why me?”. Despite my sincere protestations as to my deserving this recognition, I was thrilled and invited close friends and family to share my special evening. I wanted to convey to the audience in my speech that none of us set out in our career to garner awards, we just try to keep producing and to keep trying to give a little bit back to the industry that has provided us so much.

Why am I sharing this memory with you? Because it is time for the newly formed ECA Nominating Committee to meet and discuss possible Hall of Fame candidates (as well as Contractor of the Year, Affiliate of the Year, and next year’s Officers and Board Members) on August 22, 2019. The process of choosing Award winners goes like this: In August the Nominating Committee meets and decides on recommended Candidates, those Candidates are presented to the Board of Directors at the September meeting to discuss and vote on, and once the Candidates are decided, we then contact the Candidates to see if they would accept the Award that will be presented in February, 2020.

I felt it was appropriate to put the word out to all ECA Members so if they have a thought of who might be “worthy” of consideration, they could nominate someone for being considered.

By clicking the link below, you can see who has been honored as previous Hall of Fame Award winners by clicking on this link—

_______________

The Nominating Committee and the Board looks at for the criteria in considering a candidate, This is an annual award given to two recipients, one posthumous. The criteria is the recipient has been a major contributor to the industry, community, or the ECA in his/her career. The contribution should be demonstrative of a career, not just a singular or short duration occurrence.

_______________

If you have someone you would like the Nominating Committee to consider (the Nominating Committee consists of Chair Brett Wilmes, Past President Dale Mahoney, Current President Kevin Ghilotti, Incoming President Dave Weller, Past President Erik Fowler, and myself as a non-voting advisory member). Please get your suggestions in to the ECA no later than 5pm on August 21, 2019. We will gladly add your suggestions to the list to be considered and all candidates will be discussed on 8-22-19.

The Hall of Fame Awards dinner is called the Installation Dinner and we not only honor the Award winners, we “install” our new Board of Directors and Officers for 2020. It is always a special night. Yes, there are speeches made and some are too short, some are too long. All are sincere and all give us insight into the people being honored as well as their company, their key mentors and partners, and some great stories you will not hear anywhere else. Since it is a live event, you never know what will get expressed and I can guarantee you there will be emotion that is expressed, and you will leave feeling very good at being involved in our industry.

So please think about who has had a lifetime of contribution to our industry that you think would be a good choice for being honored as a Hall of Fame inductee. We honor one posthumous and one living inductee every year. I hope you share a name with us.

I also want to extend our invitation to you to be considered for joining our Board of Directors for 2020. The commitment is not huge, but the ability to make decisions that affect our industry is impactful. Our Board meets every 3^rd Tuesday of the month from February through July, and then from September through November. So there are only nine monthly meetings from noon – 1:30 that we ask you to attend and participate in. If you have any questions, please contact me and I will be happy to answer your questions.

Thank you!

That’s All Folks!

John

ECA NEWSLETTER 8-8-19

John’s Soapbox

Fellow ECA Members-we are in a housing emergency. I do not believe this is the first time you have heard this.

What is insane is that we need housing, and local government is moving towards adding costs to building that housing just like they did in the 1990’s when housing became too expensive to sell and developers stopped building. We should be making it easier to buy entry level housing for young working families trying to buy their first home.

We seemingly have forgotten why the developers stopped building in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s when local, State and Fed laws added costs to new housing construction (that’s when California tiger salamander, wetland, urban growth boundaries, and other local regs. added costs to building new housing). Our workforce could not afford the cost of new homes, so developers stopped building them. The cycle of local government adding costs to new hosing repeats itself as we are now looking at required solar and required all electric houses in 2020. Insanity. I predict the same result will come from raising the prices via Government interference and our already critical housing crisis will only get worse.  If you think the price of housing is not related to the well being of our community, think again. Your workers need a place to live, and we need to install infrastructure and services to those needed new housing starts. Long-term, we need to keep building or risk a cut in services by Cities and County that could affect our lifestyle.

Where do I come up with this outlook? Much of it is from the Sonoma County Economic Development Board studies that are available on their website.

1. The 3 largest employment sectors in SoCo are: Trade & Transportation, Education & Health Services, and Leisure & Hospitality
2. All 3 of SoCo largest employment sectors pay below average salaries compared to the rest of California
3. More than 1/3 of SoCo residents commute out of County to work
4. More than 1/3 of local SoCo jobs are filled by workers who live outside of SoCo
5. 74.4% of all SoCo businesses are businesses that have less than 10 employees
6. Minimum wage has increased and there is pressure from Progressives to increase minimum wage to $15 or $20/hour.
7. SoCo was 15,000 housing units short of demand before the fires of 2017 hit. In the nearly 2 years since the Tubbs Fire, about 1400 homes are under construction or completed. We are on a pace of approximately 800 housing units per year being built.
8. The State of California, in response to climate protection groups, has made it a law starting on Jan 1, 2020 that all new houses and apartment buildings have solar panels installed. This adds $10-20,000 minimum cost to each housing unit.
9. Local Cities and the County of Sonoma are considering new REACH rules as a result of climate protection groups that include a requirement for all electric houses-no gas, by Jan 1, 2020. This “all electric” requirement adds $20-40,000 to the price of each housing unit in 2020 and beyond.
10. Contractors building fire rebuild housing have had to rely on out of town trade workers to come in to meet the building demand. Those out of towners get compensated for living expenses which in turn drives up the cost of our local workforce wages. Housing costs are up 10% – 20% and most of the increase is due to increased labor costs rather than increased material costs.
11. The main reason for being 15,000 housing units short in 2017 is that in the 1990’s, local government initiated a lot of additional restrictions on housing starts such as: impact and development fees, Open Space restrictions, Wetlands restrictions, California Tiger Salamander restrictions, Urban Growth Boundaries, and some Affordable Housing fees. Developers were running out of easily developed land, and many projects ceased to “pencil out” for the developers and housing units slowed to a “crawl”. A decade later, the Recession of 2008 hit, and all housing starts stopped being built.

What do these facts indicate to me as related to the housing crisis? 

1. With wages in the top 3 employment sectors paying below average salaries, it will be harder to qualify for a mortgage because housing costs are high in SoCo. This is true even though mortgage rates are quite low. Lenders are tougher following the Recession of 2008 in lending money.
2. Many of our jobs in SoCo are in lower paying leisure & hospitality sectors so those workers are not likely to qualify for a home mortgage even if housing was available.
3. With 33% of the workforce coming in to SoCo to fill the jobs, and with many of these workers at the lower end of the pay scale, I see an even higher percentage travelling in to SoCo in the near future as folks at the lower end of the pay range can afford to live in areas of Mendo, Lake, Napa, and Solano Counties easier than in SoCo and Marin Counties. This will put pressure on Highway 101, Highway 12, and Highway 37 in excess of the traffic pressure those roads are already getting.
4. Increasing minimum wages to $15 or $20/hour will really hurt the 74.4% of all SoCo businesses that have less than 10 employees. In other areas where minimum wages were increased, businesses laid off many of the lower wage workers so less jobs were available. I suspect we will see some unemployment numbers rise if minimum wages are raised.
5. Because of the pressure climate protection groups are putting on our State and local legislators, laws are being passed that are adding $30-$60,000 to the price of a newly built housing unit. This increase will eliminate a large segment of the lower paid first home buyer market as they will not be able to qualify for the mortgage.

I do not know what they are thinking. Seems to me, if you do the exact same thing you did in the 1990’s and the result was a construction slowdown, do it again in 2020 and you get—–ANOTHER CONSTRUCTION SLOWDOWN. I hate to be the one to say no to these climate protection groups, but someone must at least raise the question if we can afford to increase the cost of housing to “protect” our carbon levels. I think we cannot afford it.

If you would like to see “insanity” in action, please look at the flyer linked below where the local “climate protection” folks will explain why it is such a great idea for all electric houses at an additional cost of $20-40,000 a unit. August 14 is the date to see the insanity! Click here for the pertinent info—

That’s All Folks

John

ECA NEWSLETTER 8-1-19

John’s Soapbox

High Speed Rail Project-We Shall See–

Most of you are aware that I have opposed the High Speed Rail project that voters approved in 2008 in California. I have always believed our roads and bridges need those dollars rather than a train project that is likely to run so far over budgeted estimates that it may never get built. Budget concerns are real-despite the original estimates that the project would cost some $33 billion when voters approved this ballot measure in 2008, the estimated costs (which are far from being dialed in) now vary between $98 billion and $120 billion for the rail project. Trump and California have a feud ongoing and Trump has requested some federal funds be returned because of cost overruns of the rail project as well the Feds claiming mismanagement of the project. Not surprisingly, California refuses to give the money back and the final outcome will probably be decided in the Courts and I would bet that California wins that Court battle.

Governor Newsome made national news in his inauguration speech when he announced the High Speed Rail Project would cost too much and he was putting the brakes on the project. What has happened since that speech is “business as usual” which makes the Governor’s speech even more confusing. Hundreds of workers are busy near Hwy 99 through Madera County and Fresno and the various segments of work are quite visible if you drive Hwy 99 in the Central Valley.

Although this project obviously has some effect on the Northern Bay Area as to State funding of both Cal Fire and local infrastructure projects, this is largely a project that is out of play for our membership. Huge Joint Venture contracting groups are doing the work (Flatiron and Tutor are involved), and the work is under the authority of Project Labor Agreements which means virtually every worker on the project is a union signatory member. This is a huge boost to unions and it helps our own workers as their collective bargaining agreements will certainly be affected by the influx of dollars into the union training and pension and health care funds that will not have to come out of the pockets of local workers that are ECA members.

There are “visions” of extending the high speed rail in two directions-one to build a link to Sacramento, and the other is to build a link to Las Vegas. From my perspective, both of these make more sense than the route from SF to LA but that is my own prejudice. To try and put this mega project into some digestible form, I combed the internet and the best report I could find is this link —

Progress of the first 119 mile segment can be tracked online at this link–

I will say when you go to this map, it claims you can get all the information about who the contractor for each segment is, the value of the project and photos of the work being done. The photos are there, and I was able to find some anecdotal information as to some of the subcontractors, but nowhere was a “handy dandy” list of GC’s in charge of each segment. Maybe you folks are better at this “deep dive” internet treasure hunt than I am. Despite my whining, the progress of the work is quite impressive, and the Central Valley is “alive” with work on this mega project.

Another development that is of interest, is the “go ahead” for the environmental impact reports and studies over the final alignment of the High Speed Rail project. This is a big deal as the EIR will start the process of going out to bid for the final right of way purchases that will then sharpen the focus on the final cost of this project.

The latest construction update video dated July of 2019 is worth your time to review. Very impressive video can be viewed here—

To read about this development on Environmental Reviews getting approved for final alignment routes, click here–

To read about the “vision” of high speed rail extension to Las Vegas being promoted and discussed, click on this link –

To read about the Merced to Sacramento 115 mile future HSR link, click here—

I am very interested in seeing what happens when the initial funding dries up. Will this be the biggest boondoggle in recent memory, or will this be the first step in a visionary project that will lower carbon emissions and get cars off of Highway 99 and Interstate 5?

We shall see—

That’s All Folks

John

ECA NEWSLETTER 7-25-19

John’s Soapbox

Whatcha Doin?

There are a few important items the ECA is working on, and I felt the best use of the “Soapbox” was not to make fun of the Mueller testimony (or “Not in my purvey” non-testimony), but rather to let you know what we are up to.

1. Emergency Contracts and Protocol:

On Wednesday, July 24 I met with Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins along with Dustin Abbott of Pacific Sanitation (our newest ECA Member!), and Doug Holmes of Ghilotti Brothers to discuss several issues of importance to ECA membership.  One of those issues was the glaring need for a “workshop” with Chris Godwell (Sonoma County Emergency Services Coordinator) and his staff to clarify and coordinate prequalification of contractors and suppliers for the “next” County emergency.  The fires of 2017 and the flood of 2019 demonstrated that there is a great need for local assistance when the next earthquake/fire/flood hits and the County is woefully ill prepared to mobilize local resources quickly and efficiently.  There are problems to work out in getting contractors and suppliers paid for their work, figuring out a fair way to utilize local contractors and suppliers such that the County does not compromise their reimbursement of emergency expenditures from FEMA and CALOES, and a balanced use of local contractors and suppliers that are prequalified to be utilized.  Lynda Hopkins is very supportive of this effort by ECA to work with County Emergency Services staff to clearly go over what contractual issues, limits, and duties can be ascertained and completed ahead of time for the prequalification efforts.  A bigger and more complex problem might be to utilize local suppliers during an emergency as FEMA has “National” prequalified sources that they require be used instead of local suppliers (such as straw wattles, silt fence, etc.).  There is much to do, and I will be bringing this effort up to the ECA Board of Directors soon with the hopes that a temporary advisory committee be formed to help with a structured recommendation and negotiation with the County Emergency services staff.  If you have any desire to a part of the solution and participate with us, please give me a call or email and let me know you are willing to devote a few hours in the next 2-3 months to get this done!

2. Partnering in Public Works:

At the same meeting with Lynda Hopkins as described above, the concept of Partnering was raised with the intent that formal Partnering be a requirement on all County Transportation and Public Works projects in excess of $500,000 value.  We will soon set up a meeting with Johannes at TPW to discuss this proactive and positive potential for making the Public works projects go smoother and save the taxpayers some money.   Thanks to Ghilotti Brothers for bringing this to the County’s attention with the ECA!

3. AB5 Exemption for Trucking on General Engineering Projects:

On Thursday, 7-25-19, I will meet with Kimberlina from Kadon Trucking and Logan Pitts, the Field Representative of State Senator Bill Dodd of the 3^rd District to discuss how to best facilitate assistance with “carving out an exemption” when AB 5 goes to the Senate Appropriations Committee in late August, and then on to the Senate Floor for a final vote before the Bill heads to Governor Newsome’s desk to be signed into law.  As I have written before, if AB5 goes through without amendment, our trucking companies will be hard pressed to supply all the trucks and drivers needed to our larger projects in a timely manner.  Without being able to utilize independent truckers to balance out the demand, some projects will have to be delayed and additional costs to both the Contractor and the Public will be realized.  Also, the investment of both Contractors who own their own equipment and independent truckers who own their own equipment, could potentially have to sell or idle some of their investment until such time as enough drivers are employed under the new law to operate them.

The ECA is working closely with Debbie Ferrari of Mag Trucking who has been working tirelessly to provide a clear exemption to owner operators in AB5.

That’s All Folks

John

I have written about AB5 before, and I am devoting this Soapbox to help us all understand what AB5 means to our industry and how close it is to passing and becoming law.

AB5, if passed, will eliminate most, if not all, truck drivers who claim to be independent truckers and work for contractors in the general engineering field. The ECA is not in opposition to the basic premise of AB5 except for our trucking industry. A Supreme Court decision (Dynamex) paved the way for the AB 5 Bill to be written which adds a “poison pill” to the test that independent contractors must pass to retain their status-the “poison pill” statute that is added, in essence precludes a truck driver from being assigned independent contractor status if he works for a firm that does the same work that he/she does.

What this means is that our ECA firms that regularly provide trucking quotes and services to contractors in order to deliver asphalt or rock, will no longer be able to use independent contractors as part of their work force. Our ECA trucking firms will have to rely solely on employees to drive the trucks. As you can imagine, this leaves a lot of independent truckers unhappy and “stuck” with their ownership of their tractors and trailers. There is no provision in the bill to compensate or buy the equipment from the independent truckers that own their own equipment.

Also affected by AB5 are Lyft and Uber drivers, and many other companies and the ECA does not have any opinion on the effect to those folks. We, the ECA, simply want the Bill to exempt the trucking association that deals with our general engineering contractors and suppliers.

If you want to read the AB 5 Bill in its entirety, click on this link—

Where is the AB 5 Bill now?

AB 5 was written by Lorena Gonzalez, the Democrat head of the Assembly Appropriations Committee. AB5 “sailed through” the Assembly mainly because nobody wanted to be “at odds” with Lorena Gonzalez who could make their own Bills die due to her power to fund, or not to fund new Bills.

AB 5 next goes before the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Senate will vote on AB5 sometime in late August. Supporters of AB5 turned out in big numbers in Sacramento on July 10, 2019 and the quotes from Lorena Gonzalez (the author of the Bill) indicated there is not much “pushback” that is meaningful to her. The few opposition folks that spoke out against the trucking industry being included in this were responded to with comments like “looks like you need to join the union and get a good union job”.

Several days ago, State Senator Bill Dodd spoke at an Alliance Breakfast meeting and when he took questions from the floor, I took the mic and asked if we could count on him using his influence to provide a “carve out/exemption” for our trucking industry—-his reply was less than comforting. In essence, he said “it is complicated. If someone thinks they can just hire someone off the street and call them an independent contractor, that is not going to happen”.

That is not what we are asking for.

The ECA is joining forces with other opposition efforts and asking our members to read the following attachments and write multiple letters to your representatives in Sacramento. Even though the Bill has passed the State Assembly, you can ask your representative to reach out and call their Senate colleagues and lobby for an exemption for our trucking industry.

To read the opposition flyer and if you need to get your Assembly or Senate Representative for your District, it can be found in the Flyer linked here—

For a sample letter that you can insert your own company name and send in, click here—

If AB5 passes without an exemption for our trucking industry, it will be more difficult to find enough truckers in the near future (anybody having trouble now, will see that trouble multiplied greatly when independent truckers are excluded). Also, the economic impact from having all those tractors and trailers being put up for sale will have an effect on anybody thinking about buying new trucks in the near future.

Needless to say, we do not care if exotic dancers, hair-cutters, Lyft and Uber drivers have to become employees. WE DO CARE IF TRUCKING COMPANIES GET HURT!

Stand with our trucking brothers and sisters and take the time to let your State Legislator know you want an exemption for our Trucking Industry! We have three weeks to make an impact!!

That’s all folks

John