BILL NUMBER: SB 1422 CHAPTERED 09/28/08 CHAPTER 547 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 28, 2008 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 28, 2008 PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 30, 2008 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 28, 2008 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 25, 2008 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 22, 2008 AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 7, 2008 INTRODUCED BY Senator Ridley-Thomas (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Nunez) FEBRUARY 21, 2008 An act to add Section 149.9 to the Streets and Highways Code, relating to transportation. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 1422, Ridley-Thomas. High-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes. Existing law authorizes a regional transportation agency, in cooperation with the Department of Transportation, to apply to the California Transportation Commission to develop and operate high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes, including administration and operation of a value-pricing program and exclusive or preferential lane facilities for public transit. Existing law requires the commission to review these applications and submit an eligible application to the Legislature for approval or rejection. Existing law requires approval to be achieved by enactment of a statute. Existing law prohibits approval of an application on or after January 1, 2012. This bill would authorize a value-pricing and transit development demonstration program involving HOT lanes to be conducted, administered, developed, and operated on State Highway Route 110 and Interstate 10 in Los Angeles County by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA). The bill would require the LACMTA and the Department of Transportation to implement the program pursuant to a cooperative agreement that addresses specified matters in connection with the program and to establish appropriate traffic flow guidelines, as specified. The bill would authorize the LACMTA to establish, collect, and administer the toll and to use the revenues for administrative costs, as specified. The bill would require the LACMTA and the department to report to the Legislature by December 31, 2012, on the demonstration program. The bill would make findings and declarations in this regard. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) For two decades, the Los Angeles region has led the nation in traffic congestion and has been identified as the region with the worst air quality and congestion in the United States. (b) The region's population is expected to increase by another 2.4 million by 2030, while the number of registered vehicles in the county has surpassed 7 million. (c) The population growth and economic demands on the region will only continue to deteriorate the air quality and transportation infrastructure within Los Angeles County. (d) The Los Angeles region must find innovative ways to use its current transportation infrastructure in a manner consistent with trying to reduce vehicle miles traveled, and must help the state meet its greenhouse gas reduction goals and air quality improvement goals while increasing its investment in public transportation. (e) The United States Department of Transportation has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) and the Department of Transportation to award $210.6 million in federal transit funding for the purpose of enabling LACMTA to carry out a demonstration program where high-occupancy vehicle lanes on selected freeways in Los Angeles County would be converted into high-occupancy toll lanes during the demonstration period. (f) Value-pricing is an important tool that will allow the Los Angeles region to use its current highway system more efficiently by allowing solo commuters to use designated high-occupancy vehicle lanes on State Highway Route 110 and Interstate 10 where capacity exists to absorb added commuters. (g) Nothing in this act shall be construed to require the Department of Transportation to take any action that is inconsistent with any applicable federal law. (h) It is the intent of the Legislature that the Department of Transportation, in implementing this act and to the extent not inconsistent with any other law, shall consider measures to maximize vehicular travel on Interstate Highway 10 in the vicinity of the El Monte Expressway. These measures may include, but are not limited to, restriping the highway to add an additional lane in both directions of the highway. (i) It is the intent of the Legislature that the LACMTA, to the extent consistent with the purposes of this act, shall use a portion of the tolls collected on Interstate Highway 10 pursuant to this act to fund a bus maintenance facility in El Monte. SEC. 2. Section 149.9 is added to the Streets and Highways Code, to read: 149.9. (a) Pursuant to Section 149.7 and the memorandum of understanding between the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA), the United States Department of Transportation, and the department, as adopted on July 24, 2008, and any subsequent, mutually agreed upon changes to that memorandum, the LACMTA may operate a value-pricing and transit development demonstration program involving high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes to be conducted, administered, developed, and operated on State Highway Route 110 and Interstate Highway 10 in Los Angeles County by the LACMTA. (b) The LACMTA may implement the program in cooperation with the department pursuant to a cooperative agreement that addresses all matters related to design, construction, maintenance, and operation of state highway system facilities in connection with the value-pricing and transit program. With the assistance of the department, the LACMTA may establish appropriate traffic flow guidelines for the purpose of ensuring optimal use of the express lanes by high-occupancy vehicles without adversely affecting other traffic on the state highway system. (c) The LACMTA and the department may implement the demonstration program under the following conditions: (1) The value-pricing program may be operated on State Highway Route 110 and Interstate 10 in Los Angeles County on designated high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes. (2) (A) Single-occupant vehicles, or those vehicles that do not meet minimum occupancy requirements, may be authorized to enter and use the HOV lanes in the identified corridors, under conditions as determined by the LACMTA. (B) The LACMTA may not change the vehicle occupancy requirement for access to the HOV lanes in the identified corridors during the demonstration period that is authorized under this section. (3) As part of the demonstration program, each proposed HOT lane shall have nontolled alternative lanes available for public use in the same corridor as the proposed HOT lanes. (4) The LACMTA shall implement a public outreach and communications plan in order to solicit public input into the development of the demonstration program. (5) In implementing the program, the LACMTA shall identify the affected communities in the respective corridors and work with those communities to identify impacts and develop mitigation measures. (6) The amount of the toll shall be established by the LACMTA, and collected and administered in a manner determined by the LACMTA. The LACMTA shall conduct a public hearing 30 days prior to setting or increasing the toll. (7) The LACMTA shall assess the impacts of the program on commuters of low income and shall provide mitigation to those impacted commuters. Mitigation measures may include, but are not limited to, reduced toll charges and toll credits for transit users. Eligible commuters for reduced toll charges or toll credits for transit users shall meet the eligibility requirements for assistance programs under Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) or Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 12000) of Part 3 of, Part 5 (commencing with Section 17000) of, or Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 18900), Chapter 10.1 (commencing with Section 18930), or Chapter 10.3 (commencing with Section 18937) of Part 6 of, Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. (8) Toll paying commuters shall have the option to purchase any necessary toll paying equipment, prepay tolls, and renew toll payments by cash or by using a credit card. (9) The LACMTA may operate the demonstration program until January 15, 2013, during which time it may not issue bonds for the demonstration program. (10) The LACMTA and the department shall report to the Legislature by December 31, 2012. The report shall include, but not be limited to, a summary of the demonstration program, a survey of its users, the impact on carpoolers, revenues generated, how transit service or alternative modes of transportation were impacted, any potential effect on traffic congestion in the HOV lane and in the neighboring lanes, the number of toll paying vehicles that utilized the HOT lanes, any potential reductions in the greenhouse gas emissions that are attributable to congestion reduction resulting from the HOT lane demonstration project, and a description of the mitigation measures on the affected communities and commuters in this demonstration program. (11) Pursuant to Section 149.7, the revenue generated from the program may be available to the LACMTA for the direct expenses related to the maintenance, administration, and operation, including collection and enforcement, of the demonstration program. Administrative expenses shall not exceed 3 percent of the revenues. (12) All remaining revenue generated by the demonstration program shall be used in the corridor from which the revenue was generated exclusively for preconstruction, construction, and other related costs of high-occupancy vehicle facilities and the improvement of transit service in the corridor, including, but not limited to, support for transit operations pursuant to an expenditure plan adopted by the LACMTA.