(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, school 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 school districts shall not negatively impact the traditional plan review process with other school 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) The application for the collaborative process for project development and review shall 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 pursuant to Section 17300. The Department of General Services may establish a procedure for the payment and collection of this filing fee.

(g) The Department of General Services may assess a fee on a participating school district to cover the unreimbursed costs of the department incurred pursuant to that school 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 of General Services shall also refer the necessary project documents to the selected qualified plan review firm for plan review. The Department of General Services shall establish procedures governing the use of this article by applicant school districts for the selection of a qualified plan review firm.

(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 19, Sec. 4. (AB 111) Effective June 27, 2017.)