BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1572
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 16, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
AB 1572 (Fletcher) - As Amended: April 10, 2012
SUBJECT : Service Authorities for Freeway Emergencies: San
Diego County
SUMMARY : Makes the San Diego Association of Governments
(SANDAG) the successor agency to the San Diego County Service
Authority for Freeway Emergencies (SAFE). Specifically, this
bill :
1)Explicitly prohibits the San Diego County SAFE from imposing a
$1 vehicle registration fee, until January 1, 2015; provides
that collection of the $1 fee may resume after that date.
2)Dissolves the San Diego County SAFE on the date that the bill
becomes operative; names SANDAG as the successor agency and
vests it with responsibility for all operational,
administrative, and maintenance tasks for the San Diego County
call box system.
3)Requires SANDAG to post its detailed budget and expenditures
related to its role as the SAFE for San Diego County.
4)Caps at $4 million the amount of money that SANDAG, as the
successor to the SAFE, can keep in reserve from fees collected
for call boxes.
5)Limits the use of the reserved funds to the following:
a) Call boxes;
b) Debt service on bonds used to finance call box systems;
c) Changeable message signs;
d) Lighting for call boxes;
e) Support for traffic operations centers; and,
f) Services to remove disabled vehicles from the right of
way, including freeway service patrols.
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6)Directs any reserves in excess of $4 million to be
distributed, by January 1, 2013, to San Diego County and to
cities within the county to be used solely for public and
motorist safety purpose.
7)Limits the ongoing reserve that may be held by SANDAG for
purposes of the SAFE to $4 million and requires any revenues
collected in excess of that amount to be distributed to the
county and to cities within the county within one year of
accrual of the excess, for use solely for public and motorist
safety purposes; allows the reserve limit to be adjusted based
on the Consumer Price Index.
8)Directs SANDAG, if the amount of money held in reserve is
below (or projected to be below) $4 million, to notify the
Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) at least six months prior
to the beginning of the next fiscal year that collection of
fees is to be resumed, for one fiscal year only.
9)Requires that SANDAG reimburse DMV for administrative costs up
to $50,000 associated with the collection of these fees.
10)Is an urgency statute.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Authorizes the establishment of SAFEs in any county upon
approval of the county board of supervisors and city councils
of a majority of the cities within a county.
2)Generally provides that county transportation commissions or
councils of governments may be designated as SAFEs.
3)Declares that it is the Legislature's intent in authorizing
SAFEs to encourage the placement of call boxes along
California's freeways and expressways to enable motorists in
need of aid to obtain assistance.
4)Authorizes SAFEs to impose a $1 annual fee on vehicles
registered within the county to cover the costs of the
program.
5)Specifically authorizes SAFEs to implement, maintain, and
operate a motorist aid system of call boxes within their
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respective counties.
6)Authorizes the use of any revenue derived from the $1 fee,
above that needed to cover the full costs of the call boxes,
for additional motorist aid services, including but not
limited to the following:
a) Changeable message signs;
b) Lighting for call boxes;
c) Support for traffic operations centers; and,
d) Freeway service patrols.
7)Establishes SANDAG as a consolidated transportation and
planning agency with responsibilities for transit planning,
funding allocation, project development, and construction in
the San Diego region and prescribes its membership, roles, and
responsibilities.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Since SAFE programs were authorized in the late
1980s, California has installed over 15,000 call boxes on 6,300
miles of highway. Call boxes provide a direct communication
link to the California Highway Patrol and are available to
motorists to seek assistance for, for example, mechanical
breakdowns, flat tires, traffic accidents, or other incidents.
The San Diego SAFE is governed by a seven-member board of
directors whose members are appointed by the San Diego County
Board of Supervisors and the 18 cities within the county. The
SAFE contracts with TeleTranTek Services (T-Cubed) for its
staffing requirements. In fact, the owner of T-Cubed serves as
the Executive Director of the SAFE.
San Diego County was the first county to implement a SAFE. At
its height, the San Diego call box system had almost 1,800 call
boxes on state highways and county roads. Since then, the
number of call boxes in place has declined by approximately 400
call boxes. Further reductions that would bring the total
installed call boxes down to just over 900 are being considered
by the SAFE's board, due in part to the high cost of maintaining
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the call boxes and the drop in motorists' usage of the call
boxes. (A recent article published in the U-T San Diego cited a
drop in the San Diego call box usage of over 90% between 1990
and 2010.)
The author has introduced AB 1572 in response to what he
believes is "a reckless disregard of taxpayer money" by the
SAFE. The author offers as evidence of this the fact that the
SAFE contracted with a private company (T-Cubed) to manage the
county's call boxes and renewed the contract six times "without
once having a fair and competitive bid process" and that, in
spite of a dramatic decline in call box use, the SAFE has
consistently increased annual payments to the managing firm.
Furthermore, the SAFE has approximately $12 million sitting idly
in reserves.
AB 1572 dissolves the SAFE and names SANDAG as the successor
agency. SANDAG is governed by a board of directors composed of
mayors, councilmembers, and county supervisors from each of the
region's 19 local governments. As the regional planning agency
for transportation, SANDAG allocates millions of dollars
annually in local, state, and federal funds for the region's
transportation network. SANDAG is also responsible for
developing the regional transportation plan to implement a
long-range vision for buses, rail, highways, and major streets.
Naming SANDAG as the successor to the SAFE is consistent with
how SAFEs are administered throughout the state. In fact, the
San Diego SAFE is the only stand-alone SAFE-all others SAFEs are
administered by a transportation planning agency.
Committee concerns:
1)The bill requires that monies held in reserve, beyond that to
be transferred to SANDAG to assume responsibility for the SAFE
or approximately $8 million, be distributed to the county and
to cities within San Diego County and suspends collection of
the $1 vehicle registration fee for an unspecified period of
time.
While it is understandable that the funds should be put to use
and not continue to be held in reserve with no foreseeable
purpose, there exists sufficient need in San Diego County,
within the current statutory framework of the call box
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provisions, to put the money to use as originally intended.
In fact, there exists sufficient enough need in the region
that to suspend collection of the fee for some unspecified
length of time is imprudent.
2)With the advent of Proposition 26 (approved by voters in 2010)
it is questionable whether the $1 vehicle registration fee
could be resumed. Proposition 26 broadened the definition of
taxes to include many payments that are currently considered
to be fees or charges. For example, to be a fee under
Proposition 26, the fee must specifically benefit those that
pay the fee and not benefit those that do not pay the fee.
The $1 vehicle registration fee for SAFEs would probably not
be considered a fee therefore it is uncertain that it could be
resumed.
Given that there are immense, unfunded transportation needs in
California, now is not the time to suspend, or jeopardize,
legitimate fees the revenues from which can be used to meet
some of those needs.
3)The bill expands the purposes for which the money could be
used to include, in addition to motorist aid services and
support, public safety. This amorphous expenditure category
is so broad as to threaten the nexus between how the fee was
collected (on motor vehicle registration) and the use of
revenues generated.
To address these concerns, the author has agreed to amend the
bill to strike the problematic provisions. Consequently, as
proposed to be amended, the bill would:
1)Dissolve the San Diego SAFE and name SANDAG as the successor
agency;
2)Distribute, for one time only, any reserves in excess of $4
million to the cities and to the county for use consistent
with existing law (i.e., for motorist aid services).
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
City of El Cajon
The Honorable Sherri Lightner, Councilmember, City of San Diego
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City Council of the City of National City
San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093