BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
518 (Lowenthal)
Hearing Date: 05/28/2009 Amended: 05/06/2009
Consultant: Mark McKenzie Policy Vote: T&H 6-4, ED 5-3
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BILL SUMMARY: SB 518 would limit funding for subsidized
parking and provide incentives for adopting certain measures
that account for the full cost of parking. Specifically, this
bill would:
Require cities and counties located within a metropolitan
planning organization (MPO) to adopt and implement 20 points
worth of parking measures from a points-based menu of
alternatives by January 1, 2012.
Authorize community college districts to charge a specified
fee on students and staff for recovering transportation costs
or costs related to subsidized transit passes.
Authorize cities and counties to use gas tax revenues
allocated from the Highway Users Tax Account (HUTA) for the
adoption or implementation of transportation demand measures,
including those identified in the points-based menu.
Require a local authority to either fix parking meter rates by
ordinance or specify targets in an ordinance and allow the
fees to be adjusted administratively.
Authorize fees from parking meter zones to be used for parking
benefit districts or programs that reduce parking demand, as
specified.
Defines the "full cost of parking" as the sum of the
annualized land cost, the annualized construction cost, and
the annualized operations and maintenance cost.
Prohibit the use of state funds to directly or indirectly
subsidize the construction or operations of parking on or
after January 1, 2011, with specified exceptions.
Authorize the Air Resources Board (ARB) to approve and award
points, in addition to those items on the menu, for other
measures that reduce or eliminate subsidies that fail to
charge users for the full cost of parking, as specified.
Require ARB to consider eligibility for carbon reduction
credits through a cap-and-trade program for cities or counties
that implement parking measures that exceed 20 points.
Require cities and counties that implement measures that
achieve at least 50 points to receive 5% bonus points when
their applications are considered for allocations of state
loan and grant program funds.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Fund
Local mandate Unknown, potentially significant
costsGeneral
----------see staff comments----------
ARB monitoring $85 $85 Special*
State funding prohibition Unknown cost savings General/
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Special
* Air Pollution Control Fund
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STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE.
Page 2
SB 518 (Lowenthal)
This bill would impose a state-mandated local program by
requiring cities and counties within an MPO to adopt and
implement parking measures from the point-based menu. Local
agencies have the authority to charge fees to cover costs for
preparation and revision of land use plans and policies, and
some of the items from the points-based menu have fee authority
attached to them. There have been occasions, however, when the
Commission on State Mandates (COSM) has determined that some
specific duties related to local planning are reimbursable. One
example of this is the Airport Land Use Commission (ALUC)
Mandate. Even though an ALUC has the authority to charge fees
related to planning activities around airports, the COSM
determined that this fee authority does not disclaim state
responsibility to reimburse local entities for certain costs
related to the establishment or re-establishment of an ALUC.
While this mandate has been suspended in each Budget Act from
2005-06 to 2008-09, costs incurred in fiscal years 1997-98
through 2004-05 were $10,825,000.
There are approximately 400 cities and counties located within
the jurisdiction of an MPO. Potentially reimbursable costs
related to SB 518 are unknown, but if each eligible local entity
successfully filed a claim with the COSM for $10,000 each, this
bill would have a General Fund impact of $4 million. These
costs could be lower to the extent that the COSM restricted
reimbursement to certain administrative costs related to the
process of selecting and implementing these parking policies.
If the COSM decided that broader activities would be eligible
for reimbursement, such as those related to the environmental
review process, these costs could be significantly higher.
SB 518 would authorize ARB to award points for other measures
that reduce or eliminate parking subsidies, if points are
assigned in proportion to the estimated impact on vehicle miles
traveled. The bill also requires ARB to consider making a local
entity that adopts over 20 points worth of parking measures
eligible for carbon reduction credits as part of any
cap-and-trade program that is implemented. ARB indicates that
it would require about PY of staff time to monitor local
agencies actions with respect to these parking measures and
track the potential reduction in VMT on a region by region basis
to account for any greenhouse gas emission reductions. Costs
associated with these new and ongoing duties would be in the
range of $85,000 annually.
SB 518 would also prohibit the use of state funds to directly or
indirectly subsidize the construction or operation of parking on
and after January 1, 2011, as specified. Under current law,
state funds may be used for these purposes. The volume of state
funds used to subsidize parking is unknown, but this provision
would result in some unquantifiable savings to the state,
probably from the General Fund and special funds.
It is unclear whether a single agency or each applicable agency
would be required to monitor the point system to comply with the
provisions that allow local agencies that adopt 50 points from
the menu to be awarded bonus funds when applying for various
state grant and loan programs. Lastly, this bill would
authorize HUTA funds to be used for transportation demand
measures, including those identified in the points-based menu.
To the extent that this creates a new use for gas tax revenues
that is not currently authorized, this bill would create special
fund cost pressures.