BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: ab 1550
SENATOR ALAN LOWENTHAL, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: arambula
VERSION: 6/7/06
Analysis by: Mark Stivers FISCAL: no
Hearing date: June 13, 2006
SUBJECT:
California Transportation Commission (CTC) membership
DESCRIPTION:
This bill adds the Central Valley as one of the areas to be
considered for geographical balance for CTC appointees and
requires the governor to appoint persons to the CTC with a
demonstrated background related to transportation.
ANALYSIS:
The CTC is responsible for programming and allocating funds used
in the construction of highway, intercity passenger rail, and
transit improvements throughout California. If voters approve
the transportation bond pending on the November ballot, the CTC
will program funds related to goods movement and play an even
larger role in selecting highway congestion relief projects.
The CTC also advises the Secretary of Business, Transportation
and Housing Agency and the Legislature in formulating and
evaluating state policies and plans for California's
transportation programs.
Since its establishment in 1978, the CTC has been composed of
nine voting members appointed by the governor and two
ex-officio, non-voting members of the Legislature appointed one
each by the Senate Rules Committee and the Assembly Speaker.
Traditionally, the two ex-officio seats have been filled by the
chairs of the Senate and Assembly Transportation Committees.
The terms of the voting members are four years in length and are
staggered.
While members of the CTC represent the entire state, current law
requires the governor to "make every effort to assure that there
is a geographic balance of representation on the commission as a
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whole, with members from the northern and southern areas and
from the urban and rural areas of the state."
This bill adds to the language requiring the governor to make
every effort to assure a geographic balance of representation on
the CTC a reference to the Central Valley in addition to
northern, southern, urban, and rural areas. The bill further
requires that the governor make every effort to consider that
members of the CTC have a demonstrated background related to
meeting the state's transportation needs, including road
construction, mass transportation, transportation planning and
project design, public policy decision-making, and budgetary
oversight.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose of the bill . According to the author, current law
regarding CTC membership, which requires representation from
the northern, southern, urban, and rural areas of the state,
"ignores the significant and unique transportation needs of
the Central Valley, through which two major highway arteries
run." Additionally, with the CTC having ongoing
responsibility for the allocation of billions of dollars in
transportation expenditures, the author believes the governor
should be encouraged to appoint individuals with an
appropriate level of relevant experience.
2.Current representation . At the present time, one of the eight
members of the CTC hails from Riverbank (Stanislaus County), a
relatively rural area in the Central Valley. The others are
from urban or suburban areas in both Northern and Southern
California, including Newport Beach, Pleasanton, San Diego,
Oakland, San Francisco, Riverside, West Covina, and Glendale.
Given that one of the nine members of the commission is
already from the Central Valley, it is not clear that there is
a problem with current law. Moreover, while it is hard to
argue with the notion of promoting representation for a region
as large as the Central Valley, by naming a specific region,
this bill sets a precedent for citing specific geographic
areas which could lead other regions to seek an explicit
reference in statute as well. The committee may wish to
consider whether or not this bill is necessary and whether or
not it is appropriate to reference specific regions of the
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state with respect to geographic distribution.
In regard to their relevant expertise, one current member is
from the construction industry, one is in real estate
development, two are former legislators, one is from labor,
one is from a trucking company, one is in insurance, one is in
finance, and one is an attorney. Many of these members,
however, have served on a variety of local transportation
boards and commissions. In February, 2007, three CTC seats
will become vacant.
3.More guidance than requirement . While the author's intent may
be to ensure greater representation on the CTC for the Central
Valley and greater experience in transportation for
appointees, the language of the bill falls more along the
lines of guidance than a real requirement. First, the
governor must "make every effort" but is not absolutely
required to achieve a geographic balance or any particular
level of appointee expertise. Second, the operative language
in both provisions is loose. The language refers to assuring
a geographic balance generally, not necessarily to providing
guaranteed seats to any particular region. Similarly, the
language relating to experience is undefined, granting the
governor a lot of discretion over what type of experience
would meet the requirements. Third, it is not clear what
remedies are available for failure to meet the modest
requirement of the bill. An interested party could surely
file a lawsuit, but given the loose language of the statute,
most courts would probably defer to the governor's judgment
instead of unseating an appointee.
PREVIOUS VOTES
Assembly Floor: 75-0
Assembly Transportation: 13-0
RELATED LEGISLATION
SB 1703 (Lowenthal) replaces two voting members CTC appointed by
the governor with one member appointed by Senate Rules Committee
and one member appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly.
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday,
June 7, 2006)
AB 1550 (ARAMBULA) Page 4
SUPPORT: County of Fresno
OPPOSED: None received.