republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20212022/ab-271.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Santa Clara Valley Water District: contracts: best value procurement."
description: "Existing law authorizes certain local entities to select a bidder for a contract on the basis of \"best value,\" as defined. Existing law governs various types of contract procedures applicable to the Santa Clara Valley Water District and prescribes competitive bidding procedures for any improvement or unit of work over $50,000."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 271"
citation: "California AB 271 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Santa Clara Valley Water District: contracts: best value procurement."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Robert Rivas"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 22
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2021-01-19"
last_action: "2021-07-09"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/30c95a5e-b635-44eb-aaeb-9a14b364d63c"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB271"
source_hash: "016b31fcb6c780a53aa4041a79a06481966e85a62a7ebc9e099df858d37d31c1"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 271 (20212022) — Santa Clara Valley Water District: contracts: best value procurement.

Existing law authorizes certain local entities to select a bidder for a contract on the basis of "best value," as defined. Existing law governs various types of contract procedures applicable to the Santa Clara Valley Water District and prescribes competitive bidding procedures for any improvement or unit of work over $50,000.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **01/19/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB271&version=20210AB27199INT)
2. **03/09/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB271&version=20210AB27198AMD)
3. **04/05/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB271&version=20210AB27197AMD)
4. **07/09/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB271&version=20210AB27195CHP)
5. **AB271** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB271)
6. **06/25/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB271&version=20210AB27196ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading AB271 Robert Rivas et al. By Laird — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 271 Robert Rivas Assembly Third Reading — **76–1** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Robert Rivas — primary (person)
- Berman — coauthor (person)
- Kalra — coauthor (person)
- Laird — principal coauthor (person)
- Nielsen — coauthor (person)
- Stone — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2021-01-19** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2021-01-20** From printer. May be heard in committee February 19.
- **2021-01-25** Introduced measure version corrected. `introduction`
- **2021-01-28** Referred to Com. on L. GOV. `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-09** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on L. GOV. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-03-10** Re-referred to Com. on L. GOV. `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-25** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (March 24). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-04-05** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on APPR. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-04-06** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-14** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (April 14). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-04-15** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-04-19** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 76. Noes 1. Page 1066.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-04-19** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2021-05-12** Referred to Com. on GOV. & F. `referral-committee`
- **2021-06-10** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (June 10). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-06-21** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2021-06-22** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-06-24** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 1632.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-06-24** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2021-06-30** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
- **2021-07-09** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-07-09** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 48, Statutes of 2021. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/30c95a5e-b635-44eb-aaeb-9a14b364d63c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).