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 23, 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)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. 2)Requires SANDAG to post its detailed budget and expenditures related to its role as the SAFE for San Diego County. 3)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 motorist safety purposes, as prescribed. 4)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 AB 1572 Page 2 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 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 AB 1572 Page 3 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 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. REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION : Support City of El Cajon The Honorable Sherri Lightner, Councilmember, City of San Diego City Council of the City of National City San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce AB 1572 Page 4 Opposition None on file Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093