BILL ANALYSIS
------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1175|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1175
Author: Torlakson (D)
Amended: 8/19/09 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMM. : 5-5, 7/7/09 (FAIL)
AYES: Lowenthal, DeSaulnier, Kehoe, Pavley, Wolk
NOES: Huff, Ashburn, Harman, Hollingsworth, Simitian
NO VOTE RECORDED: Oropeza
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMM. : 9-2, 7/14/09
AYES: Lowenthal, Huff, DeSaulnier, Harman, Kehoe, Oropeza,
Pavley, Simitian, Wolk
NOES: Ashburn, Hollingsworth
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 11-2, 8/27/09
AYES: Kehoe, Cox, Corbett, Hancock, Leno, Oropeza, Price,
Walters, Wolk, Wyland, Yee
NOES: Denham, Runner
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 49-29, 6/3/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Bay Area state-owned toll bridges
SOURCE : Metropolitan Transportation Commission
DIGEST : This bill adds the Antioch and Dumbarton bridges
to the Toll Bridge Seismic Retrofit Program and grants
authorization for voter-approved toll increases.
CONTINUED
AB 1175
Page
2
ANALYSIS : The Metropolitan Transportation Commission
(MTC) is designated a multicounty regional transportation
planning agency under state law and a metropolitan planning
organization under federal law. MTC is the transportation
planning, coordinating, and financing agency for the
nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. The counties that
comprise MTC include Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa,
San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma.
MTC is governed by a 19-member policy board. Fourteen
commissioners are appointed directly by local elected
officials. In addition, two members represent regional
agencies - the Association of Bay Area Governments and the
Bay Conservation and Development Commission. Finally,
three nonvoting members have been appointed to represent
federal and state transportation agencies and the federal
housing department.
The Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) is an independent legal
entity governed by the board of MTC. BATA manages and
invests revenues from all tolls levied on the seven
state-owned toll bridges: Antioch, Benicia-Martinez,
Carquinez, Dumbarton, Richmond-San Rafael, San
Francisco-Oakland Bay and San Mateo-Hayward. As part of
these activities, BATA funds the day-to-day operations,
facilities maintenance, and administration of the bridges.
BATA also funds the long-term capital improvement and
rehabilitation of the bridges. The long-term capital
projects are funded Regional Measure (RM) 1 and RM 2,
approved by voters in the seven counties served by the toll
bridges. Two counties in the region, Napa and Solano, are
excluded because they have no toll bridges. Each regional
measure increased the toll by one dollar to fund the
construction of two new bridges and various transportation
projects in the toll bridge corridors.
The Loma Prieta Earthquake of 1989 is the origin of the
existing law governing the management of the seven
state-owned Bay Area toll bridges. After that earthquake,
the Department of Transportation (Caltrans) conducted an
engineering review of the toll bridges and concluded that
five of the seven had to be reconstructed to increase their
structural integrity in the event of similar earthquakes.
By 2005, the program to fund the improvements had a $3.6
billion shortfall. AB 144 (Hancock), Chapter 71, Statutes
AB 1175
Page
3
of 2005, was enacted to address the short fall. It did the
following:
1. Created an $8.685 billion financing plan to fund the
Toll Bridge Seismic Retrofit Program (TBSRP), including
imposing an additional $1 toll on the bridges. The
TBSRP included the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, the
San Mateo Bridge, the San Rafael-Richmond Bridge, the
Carquinez Bridge, and the Benicia-Martinez Bridge. The
Dumbarton and the Antioch bridges were relatively new
and the engineering assessment concluded they did not
require seismic upgrading. (The Golden Gate Bridge is
under the jurisdiction of the Golden Gate Bridge,
Highway, and Transportation District.)
2. Established new project management oversight and
reporting requirements, including the formation of the
Toll Bridge Program Oversight Committee (TBPOC), which
is composed of the executive director of BATA, the
director of Caltrans, and the executive director of the
California Transportation Commission (CTC). The
committee reports quarterly to the Legislature and the
CTC.
3. Assigned responsibility for the administration of all
toll revenues to BATA, established by SB 226 (Kopp),
Chapter 328, Statutes of 1998, created to administer the
$1 base toll on the Bay Area's seven state-owned toll
bridges and oversee the RM 1 and RM 2 programs.
4. Authorized BATA to set the toll schedule as may be
necessary to meet its bond obligations.
5. Required BATA to provide at least 30 days' notice to the
transportation policy committee of each house of the
Legislature, and to hold a public hearing, before
adopting a toll schedule reflecting the increased toll
rate.
This bill adds the Antioch and Dumbarton Bridges to the
TBSRP, including all project management and oversight
provisions. This bill also:
1. Directs the State Controller to collect unpaid bridge
AB 1175
Page
4
tolls, high-occupancy toll lane fees, and any relevant
interest, penalties, fines, or other charges from money
owed a person or entity from state income tax refunds or
State Lottery winnings.
2. Transfers all cost overrun savings remaining upon
completion of the existing TBSRP to the Bay Area Toll
Account for expenditure on the Antioch and Dumbarton
Bridge seismic retrofit projects. Current law requires
any remaining funds be returned to the state and BATA,
pursuant to a specified formula.
3. Requires BATA to provide all other funds to complete
seismic safety retrofit projects on these two bridges.
4. Authorizes BATA to increase the amount of tolls
collected on the seven state-owned San Francisco Bay
Area toll bridges in order to fund the Antioch and
Dumbarton projects, to meet bond obligations, and to
meet other statutory obligations. BATA could raise
tolls after holding a public hearing and providing 30
days notice to the Legislature.
5. Authorizes BATA to vary the toll structure on each
bridge, provide for a cash-based account for toll
payment, and provide a discount for high-occupancy
vehicle lanes. This bill prohibits BATA from reducing
tolls to encourage electronic toll payment.
6. Continuously appropriates funds paid to Caltrans by BATA
for planning, design, construction, operation,
maintenance, repair, replacement, rehabilitation, and
seismic retrofit of state-owned toll bridges pursuant to
the TBSRP or other programs.
7. Eliminates the three-year time constraint for use of $20
million in RM 2 funds for TransLink, a smart card system
for use on Bay Area transit systems.
8. Authorizes BATA to contribute to MTC, without
limitations, in the form of personnel services, office
space, and funding.
9. Requires BATA to contract with an independent entity
AB 1175
Page
5
with specified privacy expertise to conduct a review and
analysis of privacy issues associated with its
electronic toll payment collection system, and report to
the Legislature by January 31, 2011.
Comments
Better understanding of seismic risks . The Antioch and
Dumbarton bridges were constructed in 1978 and 1982,
respectively, and designed to seismic standards developed
after the 1971 Sylmar earthquake in Los Angeles County.
When the TBSRP was crafted after the 1989 Loma Prieta
Earthquake, Caltrans considered the bridges too new and up-
to-standard to be included in the program. The
geotechnical and engineering research initiated after the
Loma Prieta Earthquake, the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, and
the 1995 earthquake in Kobe, Japan resulted in the
revamping of the standards governing seismic engineering
for bridges. A two-year evaluation conducted by BATA and
Caltrans in 2008 concluded both bridges needed significant
strengthening to protect public safety. The cost of
upgrading the Antioch Bridge is estimated to be $313
million, and the estimate for the Dumbarton Bridge is $637
million. The cost estimates include a 40 percent
contingency to account for unanticipated issues during the
four-year construction project.
Regionalization of tolls . Beginning in the 1980s, the
state initiated a policy to shift responsibility for
funding state and local transportation improvements to
local agencies by authorizing county transportation
agencies to seek voter approval for local transportation.
These local taxes have become the principle source of
revenue for new state highway and mass transit facilities,
as the state highway program supported by the existing
excise tax on gasoline is almost entirely focused on
maintenance and rehabilitation. The state last authorized
increasing the gas tax in 1990, and most of the revenue
from that nine-cents per gallon increase was initially used
to improve the seismic integrity of state highway bridges
throughout California.
Consistent with the theme local responsibility for the
development of the transportation system, MTC introduced
AB 1175
Page
6
the concept of voter-approved toll increases as a means of
funding improvements to the toll bridges and in the
corridors serving the bridges. The tolls, classified as
fees and not taxes, only require a majority vote to be
imposed.
In November 1988, the voters of the seven Bay Area counties
connected by the toll bridges approved RM 1, which
authorized a standard auto toll of $1 for all seven
state-owned Bay Area toll bridges. The additional revenues
raised by the toll financed several major projects,
including a new west span between Vallejo and Crockett and
the east span of the Benicia-Martinez Bridge. Bay Area
voters approved RM 2 in March 2004. This bill increased
the toll by an additional dollar and funds the Regional
Traffic Relief Plan, which includes a variety transit and
highway projects in corridors leading to the bridges.
The current toll on the state-owned bridges is $4. The
toll is comprised of $1 RM 1, $1 RM 2, and $2 for the
seismic retrofit program. BATA can increase tolls to fund
additional seismic improvements for the five bridges in the
TBSRP program. The Antioch and Dumbarton Bridges are not
TBSRP bridges.
Related legislation . AB 744 (Torrico) authorizes BATA to
acquire, construct, administer, and operate a value pricing
for a high-occupancy vehicle network within the geographic
jurisdiction of MTC.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Fund
Transfer of contingency unknown foregone revenue,
potentially Special*
in the tens of millions, in 2013-14
Caltrans/CTC: TBPOC Annual costs of up to $700
AB 1175
Page
7
annually for Special**
continued participation in the
Oversight
Committee, beginning in 2013-14
Bridge seismic retrofits $950,000 to retrofit the
Antioch and Special**
Dumbarton bridges
Potential mandate unknown, probably minor,
reimbursableGeneral
mandate costs
* State Highway Account, Motor Vehicle Account by specified
formula
**Bay Area Toll Account (bridge toll revenues)
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/27/09)
Metropolitan Transportation Commission (source)
Bay Area Rapid Transit
California Transportation Commission
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Ammiano, Arambula, Beall, Blumenfield, Brownley,
Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro,
Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, Eng, Evans, Feuer,
Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Hall, Hayashi,
Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jones, Krekorian, Lieu,
Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Monning, Nava, John A.
Perez, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas,
Saldana, Skinner, Solorio, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres,
Torrico, Bass
NOES: Adams, Anderson, Bill Berryhill, Tom Berryhill,
Blakeslee, Conway, Cook, DeVore, Duvall, Emmerson,
Fletcher, Fuller, Gaines, Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman,
Harkey, Jeffries, Knight, Logue, Miller, Nestande,
Niello, Nielsen, Silva, Smyth, Audra Strickland, Tran,
Villines
NO VOTE RECORDED: Block, Yamada
JJA:mw 8/28/09 Senate Floor Analyses
AB 1175
Page
8
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****