BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 289|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 289
Author: Galgiani (D), et al
Amended: 8/17/10 in Senate
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 8-0, 6/29/10
AYES: Lowenthal, Huff, DeSaulnier, Harman, Kehoe, Pavley,
Simitian, Wolk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Ashburn
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-3, 8/12/10
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Corbett, Leno, Price, Wolk, Yee
NOES: Emmerson, Walters, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Ashburn
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 72-3, 5/18/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : High-speed rail
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill authorizes the Governor to appoint up
to six additional civil service-exempt staff for the
management and administration of the High-Speed Rail
Authority (HSRA), and appropriates $144,071,000 in
high-speed rail bond funds and $77,500,000 in specified
federal funds to the HSRA for high-speed rail purposes.
ANALYSIS : SB 1420 (Kopp), Chapter 796, Statutes of 1996,
creates the High-Speed Rail Authority. In 2008,
CONTINUED
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California voters approved the Safe, Reliable High-Speed
Passenger Train Bond Act, Proposition 1A, which was put on
the ballot by AB 3034 (Galgiani), Chapter 276, Statutes of
2008. The bond measure makes available $9 billion for the
development of a high-speed rail system and $950 million
for improvements to existing passenger rail systems that
will offer feeder services to the high-speed rail service.
Proposition 1A identified Phase I of the high-speed rail
(HSR) project as Anaheim-Los Angeles-Bakersfield-Fresno-San
Jose-San Francisco Transbay Terminal. Although planning
can proceed on the San Diego and Sacramento lines,
construction may occur only after Phase I is under
construction and funding is available for these two
additional segments.
In January of 2010, the Federal Railroad Administration
(FRA) awarded the HSRA a $2.25 billion American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) grant, the largest HSR grant
award in the country. Included in the grant is $400
million for the San Francisco Transbay Terminal joint
powers agency, which submitted a separate ARRA application,
but FRA consolidated its grant with the state's. The
actual amount of ARRA funds available to the HSR project is
$1.85 billion. The ARRA grant is for assisting in funding
the preliminary engineering and environmental work on Phase
I and to assist with the construction of the following
Phase I segments: Los Angeles-Anaheim, Fresno-Bakersfield,
Fresno-Merced, and San Jose-San Francisco. As a condition
of the grant, the HSRA must obtain environmental clearances
for the corridors by September 30, 2011, and construction
must be completed by September 30, 2017. In addition to
the Proposition 1A authorization and the ARRA funds, the
HSRA also has $336 million of other public funds. The
total amount of funding currently available to the HSRA is
$11.2 billion. The HSRA's current estimate for
constructing Phase I is $42.6 billion.
Management of the HSRA . Existing law establishes the HSRA
with a nine member governing board, including five members
appointed by the governor, two members appointed by the
Senate Rules Committee, and two members appointed by the
Speaker of the Assembly. The board is authorized to
appoint an executive director, who is exempt from the state
civil service, at a salary established by the board and
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approved by the Department of Personnel Administration.
With the approval of the board, the executive director may
appoint staff to assist him.
This bill:
1. Authorizes the governor, upon the recommendation of the
executive director of the HSRA, to appoint up to six
exempt employees who shall serve at the pleasure of the
executive director, and who shall serve in the following
positions:
Chief program officer
Regional directors (up to three)
Chief financial officer
Director of risk management and project controls
2. Authorizes the compensation of all exempt employees to
be set by the governing board based on a salary survey
conducted by independent outside advisors of state,
regional and local transportation agencies with
responsibilities comparable to the HSRA, and other
relevant labor pools.
3. Requires the Department of Personnel Administration
(DPA) to review the methodology used in the survey and
to approve the salaries set by the governing board. DPA
may accept a previously completed salary survey if it so
desires.
State Funds . Existing law establishes an annual budgetary
process managed by the Budget and Fiscal Committee in the
Senate and the Budget Committee in the Assembly to
determine the level of appropriations for all state
programs for the fiscal year.
This bill:
1. Appropriate $144,071, 000 from the High-Speed Passenger
Train Bond Fund to the HSRA for high-speed rail purposes
of which $57,321,000 is for support of the HSRA.
2. Specifies that federal ARRA funds received on a
reimbursement basis would be deposited into the federal
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trust fund, and appropriates $77,500,000 in federal ARRA
funds to the HSRA for high-speed rail purposes.
3. Specifies any appropriation in the 2010 Budget Act from
these sources to the HSRA supersedes the appropriations
in this bill.
Federal Funds . Existing law authorizes the HSRA to accept
federal grants; however, the grant revenues cannot be
expended nor can state funds be expended in anticipation of
being reimbursed from a federal grant, until there is an
appropriation of funds by the Legislature. In addition,
existing law requires the HSRA to adopt a funding plan that
identifies all existing funds for expenditure in a corridor
as an element of the pre-appropriation process and the plan
must be reviewed by a peer review group.
This bill:
1. Requires the HSRA take those actions necessary to ensure
that federal ARRA funds awarded to the state are
expended and used in a manner that meets all applicable
federal guidelines, rules and regulations.
2. Requires the HSRA to create an expenditure plan, in
consultation with the Federal Railroad Administration,
for the ARRA funds and submit the plan to the Director
of Finance and to the transportation and fiscal
committees of both houses of the Legislature.
3. Requires funds received by the HSRA from the Passenger
Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (PRIIA) be
used for planning and engineering of future high-speed
rail service in the Merced to Sacramento Corridor, Los
Angeles to San Diego Corridor, and the Altamont
Corridor. PRIIA is the act governing the use of federal
rail improvement funds.
4. Specifies the bill does not apply to ARRA funds awarded
to the Transbay Joint Powers Authority for purposes of
constructing the Transbay Terminal in San Francisco.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
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According to the Senate Appropriations Committee analysis:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2010-11 2011-12
2012-13 Fund
Exempt staff $413 $825 $825 Bond*
Appointments
Bond appropriations:
Capital outlay $86,750 Bond*
HSRA operations $57,321 Bond*
ARRA appropriation $77,500 Federal**
*High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Fund
** American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Funds, in Federal
Trust Fund
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Arambula, Beall, Bill Berryhill, Tom
Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield, Brownley,
Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro,
Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, Duvall,
Emmerson, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fuentes, Fuller,
Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman,
Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman,
Jeffries, Jones, Krekorian, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie
Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nestande,
Niello, Nielsen, John A. Perez, V. Manuel Perez,
Portantino, Ruskin, Salas, Silva, Skinner, Smyth,
Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres,
Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, Bass
NOES: Anderson, Knight, Nava
NO VOTE RECORDED: DeVore, Eng, Fong, Price, Saldana
JJA:do 8/17/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
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