BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 57
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 57 (Beall)
As Amended April 27, 2011
Majority vote
TRANSPORTATION 13-0 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 9-0
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|Ayes:|Bonnie Lowenthal, |Ayes:|Smyth, Alejo, Bradford, |
| |Jeffries, Achadjian, | |Campos, Davis, Gordon, |
| |Blumenfield, Bonilla, | |Hueso, Knight, Norby |
| |Buchanan, Eng, Furutani, | | |
| |Galgiani, Logue, Norby, | | |
| |Portantino, Solorio | | |
| | | | |
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APPROPRIATIONS 16-1
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|Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, | | |
| |Blumenfield, Bradford, | | |
| |Charles Calderon, Campos, | | |
| |Davis, Donnelly, Gatto, | | |
| |Hall, Lara, Mitchell, | | |
| |Nielsen, Norby, Solorio, | | |
| |Wagner | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Hill | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Revises the membership and appointments of the
Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). Specifically,
this bill:
1)Expands the membership of MTC to include two additional
members representing, separately, the Counties of Alameda and
Santa Clara.
2)Requires that the new members on MTC representing the Counties
of Alameda and Santa Clara be either the mayors of the Cities
of Oakland and San Jose or an appointee of the mayors from
their respective city councils.
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3)Effective with the MTC term commencing February 2015,
prohibits more than three members of MTC from being residents
of the same county.
4)Requires that the initial terms of the commissioners
appointed, including self-appointments, by the mayors of the
Cities of Oakland and San Jose terminate in February 2015.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes MTC as the regional transportation planning agency
in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area with comprehensive
regional transportation planning and other related
responsibilities. Specifies that MTC consists of 19 members
and establishes four-year terms of office for its members.
2)Requires two members from the Counties of Alameda, Contra
Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara. Requires
one member each from Marin, Napa, Solano, and Sonoma Counties.
For San Francisco, requires the mayor to appoint one member
and the board of supervisors to appoint the other.
3)Requires one representative each appointed by the Association
of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and the San Francisco Bay
Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC).
4)Requires three nonvoting members appointed separately by the
Secretary of the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency,
the federal transportation and housing and urban development
departments.
5)Limits each term of office to four years.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, the bill would have negligible state costs. Any
costs associated with the expanded MTC are not reimbursable
because the MTC has requested the authority provided in this
bill.
COMMENTS : According to MTC, it was "created by an act of the
State Legislature in 1970. The composition of the commission
was established in that original enabling statute and has not
been changed since that time? At the time the Legislature was
crafting MTC's governing board structure in 1970, the five
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southern counties were closer in population than they are today.
According to 2010 Department of Finance data, however, both
Alameda and Santa Clara counties are significantly more populous
than the other three."
MTC serves as both the regional transportation planning agency,
a state designation, and as the metropolitan planning
organization (MPO) for federal purposes. The agency is
responsible for the regional transportation plan, a
comprehensive long range planning document which establishes
planning and funding goals for the development of mass transit,
highway, airport, seaport, railroad, bicycle, and pedestrian
facilities. Other responsibilities include distributing certain
state and federal transportation funds to local agencies
reviewing local projects to determine their compatibility with
the regional transportation plan.
Changes over the years in state and federal laws have
strengthened the roles of regional transportation planning
agencies and MPOs, and have given MTC an increasingly important
role in financing Bay Area transportation improvements.
Further, MTC is a part of the joint coordinated regional
planning effort in conjunction with ABAG, the Bay Area Air
Quality Management District, and BCDC. The joint policy group's
initiatives are: focused growth, climate protection, and
development of a sustainable communities strategy, pursuant to
SB 375 (Steinberg), Chapter 728, Statutes of 2008.
Of the 19 members on the MTC governing board, 16 are voting
members as follows:
a) Two each from the five larger counties in the southern
part of the region (Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco,
San Mateo, and Santa Clara);
b) One each representing the four smaller counties in the
northern part of the region (Marin, Napa, Solano, and
Sonoma); and,
c) One representative from ABAG and BCDC. The remaining
three members are nonvoting members as identified in the
above "EXISTING LAW" section.
The author indicates that the intent of this bill is to adjust
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the composition of the MTC governing board in order to make it
more reflective of the population distribution in the region as
identified in the recent population census. Accordingly, this
bill seeks changes to reflect significant population increases
in Alameda and Santa Clara Counties in comparison to the three
other large counties (Contra Costa, San Francisco, and San
Mateo). Further, this bill would limit the representation of
MTC voting members to no more than three who reside in the same
county. In effect, if this bill is enacted, a person residing
in either Alameda or Santa Clara Counties could not be appointed
as either the ABAG or BCDC representative.
Writing in support of this bill, the County of Santa Clara Board
of Supervisors indicates that the "two most populous counties,
Alameda and Santa Clara, currently have the same level of
representation on MTC despite having at least 40% more residents
that the other "larger" counties. AB 57 would provide the
Cities of San Jose and Oakland with proportional representation
on MTC. As a result, the two cities would have fair
representation on this important Commission to help ensure that
their transportation needs receive appropriate consideration and
funding."
In opposition to this bill, the San Francisco Transportation
Authority indicates that it is "very concerned that the bill, as
proposed, will make it difficult for the region to have a
productive conversation about the Sustainable Communities and
the Regional Transportation Plan, and exacerbate tensions
related to the distribution of transportation funding in the Bay
Area. The arguments that have been put forth about the need for
the bill do not add up. Since its inception, representation on
MTC has not been proportional to population. The essence of
MTC's dynamics has always been broad consensus. The change
sought by AB 57, which would make Alameda and Santa Clara
Counties the only ones in the region with three votes, will
dilute the voting representation of the other counties and it
has the potential to really destabilize the consensus dynamics
evolved over the four decades' history of MTC."
MTC resolution: At its January 26, 2011 meeting, the MTC
approved the proposal to increase the representation by the
Counties of Alameda and Santa Clara (by including a new mayoral
vote). The resolution indicated that a strong case can be made
that the three largest cities in the region - San Jose, San
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Francisco, and Oakland - should be represented directly on the
MTC governing board and listed six supportive factors. The San
Francisco representative and the two Contra Costa
representatives voted against the resolution. The other San
Francisco representative was absent from the meeting.
Double-referral : This bill was also approved by the Assembly
Local Government Committee.
Analysis Prepared by : Ed Imai / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
FN: 0000483