BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 1204
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:  January 13, 2010

                       ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
                             Anna Marie Caballero, Chair
              AB 1204 (Huber and Gaines) - As Amended:  January 4, 2010
           
          SUBJECT  :  El Dorado County Transportation Commission.

           SUMMARY  :  Revises the membership of the El Dorado County  
          Transportation Commission (EDCTC).  Specifically,  this bill  :  

          1)Adds an additional member to EDCTC to be appointed by the  
            county board of supervisors, revising the number of  
            representatives that are appointed by the county board of  
            supervisors from three to four members.

          2)Revises the appointments made by incorporated cities within El  
            Dorado County to specify that there shall be two members  
            appointed by the city council of each incorporated city  
            (excluding cities in the Tahoe Basin), unless there is only  
            one incorporated city, in which case that city shall have  
            three appointed members.

          3)Declares that if the Commission on State Mandates determines  
            that this bill contains costs mandated by the state,  
            reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those  
            costs shall be made pursuant to state law.

           EXISTING LAW  :

          1)Creates the El Dorado County Transportation Planning Agency,  
            otherwise known as the 
          El Dorado County Transportation Commission, to provide regional  
            transportation planning for the area of El Dorado County,  
            exclusive of the Tahoe Basin.

          2)Provides EDCTC is composed of six members, with three members  
            appointed by the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors and  
            three members appointed by the city council of the City of  
            Placerville.

          3)Provides for the composition of other county transportation  
            commissions.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  Unknown








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           COMMENTS  :

          1)EDCTC was designated as the Regional Transportation Planning  
            Agency (RTPA) for 
          El Dorado County on July 23, 1975.  In 1993, EDCTC was  
            administratively reorganized and separated from El Dorado  
            County, actions that were codified in state statute by SB 902  
            (Leslie), Chapter 436, Statutes of 1996.

          2)As the RTPA, EDCTC serves as the planning and programming  
            authority for transportation projects on the western slope of  
            El Dorado County (County), excluding those areas within the  
            Tahoe Regional Planning Agency boundaries.  EDCTC is the forum  
            for making policy decisions about the regional transportation  
            system in the County, and is responsible for allocating local,  
            state, and federal funds for a variety of transportation  
            projects including highway improvements and road maintenance,  
            relief of traffic congestion, and promotion of economic  
            development.  EDCTC's funding streams come from the State  
            Transportation Improvement Program (STIP), the Regional  
            Surface Transportation Program (RSTP), the Congestion  
            Mitigation and Air Quality Program (CMAQ), and the  
            Transportation Development Act (TDA).

          3)AB 1204 is an author-sponsored bill introduced for the purpose  
            of revising the membership of EDCTC in order to represent the  
            heavily populated El Dorado Hills region of the County, an  
            area that is currently underrepresented, in terms of  
            population, on EDCTC.  The author notes that "the population  
            of El Dorado Hills, in the unincorporated area of El Dorado  
            County, is approximately 35,000, while the population of the  
            City of Placerville is approximately 10,000."  Moreover, "with  
            the rapid growth in El Dorado Hills, the population trends and  
            transportation needs within the county have changed  
            dramatically since the structure for the agency was adopted 13  
            years ago."

          4)In July of 2009, EDCTC established a 14-person advisory  
            committee, made up of citizens from throughout El Dorado  
            County, for the purpose of discussing the current composition  
            of EDCTC and providing a recommendation with respect to the  
            future representative composition of EDCTC.  The advisory  
            committee held eight meetings over a three-month period,  
            including town hall meetings held at various locations  








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            throughout the County.  The recommendations developed by the  
            advisory committee were presented to the EDCTC on December 3,  
            2009.  In addition, the Policy Advisory Committee to EDCTC  
            (comprised of technical staff from the County, City of  
            Placerville, the County's Transit Authority, CalTrans, and the  
            Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) also developed  
            a recommendation which was presented at the meeting.  EDCTC  
            voted unanimously to adopt language which is substantially  
            similar to the contents of AB 1204.

          5)The current EDCTC makeup consists of three members of the El  
            Dorado County Board of Supervisors and three members of the  
            Placerville City Council.  The Caltrans District 3 Director  
            and a City of South Lake Tahoe Council member serve as  
            ex-officio members of the Commission.

          6)AB 1204 would revise the membership of EDCTC by adding one  
            member from the county board of supervisors, increasing from  
            three to four representatives. Right now there is only one  
            incorporated city - Placerville - in the County (outside of  
            the Tahoe Basin), and thus under AB 1204, the number of  
            appointments from the City of Placerville would remain at the  
            current level of three members.  AB 1204 plans for future  
            growth by giving any newly incorporated city two seats on  
            EDCTC.  A newly incorporated city in the future means that the  
            City of Placerville would reduce its number of appointments  
            from three to two members, and then two members would be  
            appointed by the new city.

           7)COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS  :  The committee may wish to ask the  
            author to take the following committee amendments to specify  
            that the change to the membership of EDCTC contained in AB  
            1204 does not constitute a reimbursable mandate because the  
            local governments in El Dorado County are requesting the  
            statutory change.



            Strike Section 2 of the bill and instead replace with:

            No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6  
            of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the  
            only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school  
            district are the result of a program for which legislative  
            authority was requested by that local agency or school  








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            district, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the  
            Government Code and Section 6 of Article XIII B of the  
            California Constitution.

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :

           Support 
           
          El Dorado County Transportation Commission
          Four Seasons Civic League
          Individual letters (4)

           Opposition 
           
          None on file
           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Debbie Michel / L. GOV. / (916)  
          319-3958