Governor to Sign Bill Allowing Caltrans to Contract Out Work : Legislature: The measure, authored by state Sen. Marian Bergeson of Newport Beach, will allow engineering and architectural deals to resume that had been halted by an employees’ union suit.

Gov. Pete Wilson pledged Friday to quickly sign a bill by an Orange County lawmaker allowing the California Department of Transportation to resume contracting out engineering work, a practice the agency halted because of legal action brought by a state employees’ union.

The state Senate voted 28-5 late Thursday to send a bill by Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) to the governor’s desk. Bergeson’s bill got the required two-thirds vote needed in both houses to qualify as an urgency measure, meaning it goes into effect as soon as the governor signs it.

Jan Dana, a spokeswoman for the governor, said it remained unclear Friday--amid the flurry of activity as the Legislature closed out its 1993 session--exactly when the governor would sign the measure. But she promised the matter would be handled “expeditiously.”

Under provisions of the measure, Caltrans can once again contract out work to the 600 architectural and engineering companies throughout the state that were slated for $159 million worth of projects before a freeze was ordered in May by agency Director James W. van Loben Sels.

He was forced to halt the contract work after a judge ruled against the agency in a lawsuit brought by a union representing the transportation department’s in-house staff of 8,000 highway designers, who felt they--not outside consultants--should be crafting the highway projects.

During the freeze, major design firms expressed fears they might have to lay off up to 20% of their staffs, and smaller minority and women-owned firms warned that they might have to drop up to 80% of their employees or close up shop.

“I think it’s a good resolution,” said Daryle Bailey, a vice president in the Orange County office of Parsons, Brinkerhoff, Quade & Douglas Inc. “I think it’s good for the public, the private sector and, frankly, Caltrans staff. We in Southern California woefully need some of these transportation projects.”

Bailey said the New York-based firm, which employs 3,500 worldwide, was forced to lay off or furlough nearly 100 people in California because of “the significant piece of business we lost” with the freeze. As Caltrans begins to revive projects, the firm will bring back staff to suit those needs, he said.

The freeze also threatened to slow design work on a host of road projects--like the elevated Harbor Freeway transit-way and the interchange widening at the Santa Ana, Garden Grove and Orange freeways. While the agency allocated only 11% of its architectural and engineering budget this year to outside contractors, those firms were involved in 80% of the agency’s projects.

Leaders of the Professional Engineers in California Government, the union that has been battling Caltrans in court over contracting out design work, said they were not surprised by the success of Bergeson’s measure, but contend legislators were misled.

“They were told projects would be stopped or delayed, and it caused a stampede of support for the bill,” said Richard T. Baker, executive assistant for the union. “I think it was an inaccurate perception.” Baker said in-house engineers were more than capable of taking up the slack.

The engineers union now plans to press ahead with further legal challenges. They believe outside contracting conflicts with provisions of the state Constitution designed to halt cronyism and other unethical conduct. Said Baker: “The Legislature has changed the law, but they haven’t changed the Constitution.”