BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: SB 406
SENATOR ALAN LOWENTHAL, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: desaulnier
VERSION: 4/13/09
Analysis by: Carrie Cornwell FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: April 28, 2009
SUBJECT:
Land use: environmental quality
DESCRIPTION:
This bill authorizes regions to impose a surcharge on vehicle
registrations to pay for regional land use planning activities.
This bill also makes changes to the membership and duties of the
Office of Planning and Research's Planning Advisory and
Assistance Council.
ANALYSIS:
Fees on vehicle registrations to fund blueprint planning
Existing law establishes a basic vehicle registration fee of
$34, plus a $22 surcharge for additional personnel for the
California Highway Patrol, and authorizes local agencies to
impose separate vehicle registration fee surcharges in their
respective jurisdictions for a variety of special programs,
including:
$1 for service authorities for freeway emergencies;
$1 for deterring and prosecuting vehicle theft;
up to $7 for air quality programs;
$1 for removing abandoned vehicles; and
$1 for fingerprint identification programs.
Existing law permits local agencies to form joint powers
agencies (JPAs). Cities and counties in regions have exercised
this authority to form JPAs called councils of government (COGs)
to implement regional planning activities required under state
law, including regional housing needs assessments and regional
SB 406 (DESAULNIER) Page 2
transportation plans. COGs generally serve as federally
recognized metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) for
transportation planning purposes, although there are exceptions.
For example, in the nine-county San Francisco Bay region, the
Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) is the COG that
prepares the regional housing needs assessment, but the
Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) is the region's
MPO.
SB 375 (Steinberg), Chapter 728, Statutes of 2008, required the
Air Resources Board (ARB), by September 30, 2010, to provide
each region that has a metropolitan planning organization (MPO)
with a greenhouse gas emission reduction target for the
automobile and light truck sector for 2020 and 2035,
respectively. Each MPO, in turn, is required to include within
its regional transportation plan (RTP) a sustainable communities
strategy (SCS) designed to achieve the ARB targets for
greenhouse gas emission reduction. If the SCS does not achieve
the reduction target, the MPO must prepare an alternative
planning strategy.
This bill :
1.Allows an MPO, a COG, or a county transportation commission
and a subregional COG jointly preparing an SCS to impose a
surcharge of up to $2 on vehicles registered in its
jurisdiction to fund the development and implementation of an
SCS or a regional blueprint plan to identify land use
strategies to reduce the use of motor vehicles and thereby
reduce emissions into the environment. The regional entity
shall adopt a resolution imposing the surcharge, except that:
i) In the San Francisco Bay Area, both MTC and ABAG shall
have to adopt a resolution and agree how to divide the
revenue received; and
ii) In the jurisdiction of the Southern California
Association of Governments, both a county transportation
commission and a subregional COG shall have to adopt a
resolution and agree how to divide the revenue received.
2.States that if the surcharge exceeds $1, all amounts above $1
in a jurisdiction with a population greater than 300,000 shall
be used to provide grants to cities and counties for planning
and projects related to implementation of a regional blueprint
plan.
SB 406 (DESAULNIER) Page 3
3.Directs a regional entity imposing a surcharge to remit five
percent of the revenue it derives from the surcharge to the
Planning Advisory and Assistance Council.
4.Directs DMV to collect the surcharge, deduct its costs of
administering the surcharge, and transmit the remaining
revenue quarterly to the MPO, COG, or county transportation
and subregional COG that imposed it.
Planning Advisory and Assistance Council (PAAC)
Existing law establishes the Office of Planning and Research
(OPR) within the governor's office as the state's comprehensive
planning agency, responsible for helping local and regional
officials with land use planning. State law charges OPR with
coordinating state agencies' planning activities, including
directing OPR to prepare every four years a State Environmental
Goals and Policies Report, a 20- to 30-year look ahead at state
growth and development.
Existing law creates the Planning Advisory and Assistance
Council (PAAC) to assist OPR in various land-use planning
related activities, including development of the State
Environmental Goals and Policies Report. OPR's Director appoints
the PAAC members, which must include:
Three city representatives, nominated by the League of
California Cities
Three county representatives, nominated by the
California State Association of Counties
One representative from each of the regional planning
districts designated by OPR
One representative of Indian tribes with reservations in
California
Existing law creates the Strategic Growth Council, consisting
of:
Director of OPR
Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency
Secretary of the Environmental Protection Agency
Secretary of the Business, Transportation and Housing
Agency
Secretary of the California Health and Human Services
Agency
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A public member, appointed by the Governor
The Strategic Growth Council coordinates the activities and
funding programs of its member state agencies to improve air and
water quality, improve natural resources protection, increase
the availability of affordable housing, improve transportation,
meet the state's greenhouse gas emission goals, encourage
sustainable land use planning, and revitalize urban and
community centers. The council must recommend policies to the
governor, state agencies, and the Legislature to encourage the
development of sustainable communities and provide local
governments and regional agencies with data to assist in
planning sustainable communities.
This bill :
1.Changes the PAAC's membership to be:
Three city representatives, nominated by the League of
California Cities
Three county representatives, nominated by the
California State Association of Counties
Seven representatives of specified regional planning
organizations
One member of the State Air Resources Board
One member of the California Transportation Commission
One member of the California Energy Commission
One member appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly
One member appointed by the Senate Rules Committee
One representative of Indian tribes with reservations in
California
1.Assigns the PAAC five new duties, as follows:
i) Work with the Strategic Growth Council to facilitate the
implementation of regional blueprint projects.
ii) Facilitate coordination between regional blueprint plans
and state growth and infrastructure funding plans by
developing recommendations to specified state agencies.
iii) Receive reports, including the state's five-year
infrastructure plan.
iv) Report to the Legislature on how state agencies
implement the state's planning priorities.
v) Report to the Legislature on regional performance
measures that evaluate each region based on the PAAC's
criteria for improving the regions' employment,
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environmental protection, education, housing, and mobility.
2.Directs the PAAC to start performing these new duties when it
receives sufficient funding from MPOs, COGs, or county
transportation commissions and subregional councils of
government jointly preparing an SCS.
3.Directs the Strategic Growth Council in performing its duties
to consult with the PAAC.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . The author notes that SB 375 requires that each MPO
and COG develop an SCS reflecting preferred land uses as part
of its regional transportation plan. The SCS will build on
regional blueprints already being prepared in these regions.
Regional blueprints are the result of voluntary cooperative
efforts by cities and counties in a region to develop a
coordinated and integrated approach to land use planning.
Regional blueprints seek to address the following: mobility,
congestion, transit use, infill development, housing supply,
and the presence of farmland and habitat in our communities.
With California's population predicted to grow by 16 million
over the next two decades, successfully accommodating this
growth depends upon the ability of regional and local
governments to attract development projects that promote the
goals of regional planning. Regions and cities need state
agencies to act in concert with local officials to accomplish
these goals and the larger regional and state goals of
improved quality of life, air quality, and economic growth.
To successfully implement SB 375 and its required regional
transportation plans that will address greenhouse gas
emissions, regional and local governments need resources for
strategic planning and opportunities for coordination with
state agencies. The author introduced this bill to provide
those resources and the opportunity for greater coordination.
2.Round numbers, please . DMV reports that it is difficult to
impose and collect fees that are not round dollar amounts.
This bill allows the imposition of a surcharge of up to $2 ,
which means that a region could impose a surcharge of $1.67 or
any other amount, and in fact, all of the surcharges could
vary, further complicating DMV's collection responsibilities
for the many jurisdictions that could impose a surcharge under
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this bill. The author or committee, therefore, may wish to
amend the bill to allow for the imposition of either a $1 or
$2 surcharge.
3.Effective date of surcharge . It is unclear under the bill when
DMV would begin collecting the surcharge once a jurisdiction
imposes it. Other legislation that this committee has passed
authorizing similar surcharges commence collection six months
after the date the governing body passes the resolution
imposing the surcharge. The author or committee may wish to
amend the bill to set as the date DMV will begin collecting a
surcharge as six months after the resolution imposing it
passes.
4.Arguments in opposition . The California New Car Dealers
Association states that California motorists are already
overburdened with hidden vehicle fees. In addition to the
annual Vehicle License Fee (VLF), which will increase from
0.65 percent to 1.15 percent of a vehicle's value next month,
and annual $34 vehicle registration fees, vehicle owners are
also subject to "add-on" fees: $1-7 annual air quality
district fee, $20 smog abatement fee for vehicles four
model-years old or newer, $1 annual abandoned vehicle trust
fee, $22 annual CHP fee; $1 annual freeway call box fee; $1
annual theft deterrence fee; $1 annual fingerprint
identification fee; and, the $1.75 per tire California tire
fee. The dealers believe there continues to be no reason to
further increase the cost of vehicle ownership in California,
unless the voters within the jurisdictions affected elect to
tax themselves.
The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) opposes the
bill because it would rather have the state impose a uniform
fee for the purpose of funding blueprint and SCS work.
5.Committee of second referral . The Rules Committee referred
this bill to the Local Government Committee and to the
Transportation and Housing Committee. This bill passed that
committee on April 15, 2009 by a 3 to 2 vote. The Local
Government Committee's analysis and hearing of the bill dealt
primarily with the provisions of the bill related to the
Planning Advisory and Assistance Council, leaving the vehicle
registration surcharge provisions for review in this
committee.
6.Technical amendments .
SB 406 (DESAULNIER) Page 7
On page 6, line 36, after "the" insert "Office of Planning and
Research for its work assisted by the "
On page 9, delete lines 23 -30, inclusive
On page 9, line 39, delete "or" and insert a comma
On page 9, line 40, after "governments" insert ", or the
county transportation commission and the subregional council
of governments jointly preparing a subregional sustainable
communities strategy"
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday,
April 22, 2009)
SUPPORT: California Association of Councils of Governments
(sponsor)
Association of Bay Area Governments
American Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees
California League of Conservation Voters
OPPOSED: California New Car Dealers Association
San Diego Association of Governments
California Taxpayers Association