For more information contact Jim Burton 
Executive Vice President
323-726-3511

 For immediate release

SCCA adds support to opposition on Prop. B.

The Southern California Contractors Association (SCCA) acted today to support a request for a recount of the March 2^nd election, supporting opposition to Proposition B, a measure sponsored by the City of San Diego to change its method of contracting for public works projects.

SCCA stood with San Diego contractor Pete Spencer in making the request for a recount at the Registrar of Voters office Monday, the deadline for such action. Other local trade associations, including ASA, EGCA and NECA expressed opposition to Prop. B in the official ballot statement.

“This measure could be a huge set back for San Diego public construction,” said Jim Burton, SCCA executive vice president. “Our attorneys advise, that if implemented, Prop. B could end competitive bidding as we know it for public works, increase costs for taxpayers and severely impact small and midsize contractors.”

“The only beneficiaries will be a few, giant national construction companies and their ‘friends.’” Burton added. “This scheme will offer the appearance of corruption in the public construction process, since it states that price is no longer the deciding factor. It will make San Diego just like big cities back east, where a very few big companies control both the public works projects and the political apparatus.”

“We recognize the usefulness of modern construction management practices,” Burton said. “Unfortunately the San Diego proposition, as presented to the voters did not spell out the details of the proposal and as we all know, the devil is in the details.”

“Our association is dedicated to protecting the interests of our members and contractors throughout Southern California. State law does not currently allow cities to engage in Construction Management at Risk schemes. We think the City of San Diego should continue to follow state public contracting laws,” Burton concluded.

Prop. B, which was losing public support on the night of the election, squeaked by on a 50.12% to 49.88% margin after the 90,000 provisional and late absentee ballots were counted. The late ballots account for nearly 20% of all votes cast and were a result of failures in a new, untried voting system implemented by San Diego County. According to local news reports, 36% of the precincts in San Diego County suffered some form of irregularity in the March 2^nd election.

SCCA is a 30-year-old local construction trade association that represents the interest of contractors in 12 counties in southern California, from San Diego to San Luis Obispo. For more information, contact Jim Burton at 858-527-1004 or by email at jbscca@sbcglobal.com. Visit SCCA’s web site, http://www.sccaweb.org for more information on our activities in support of local contractors.

-30-

Assignment editors—a meeting on the scope of the recount is scheduled for Thursday, April 8, 2004 at 1:30 p.m. at the Registrar of Voters office. The principals on the recount request will be available for comment after the meeting.

All SCCA News Releases are downloadable. simply use cut and paste into your word processing program.