BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó






           SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE       BILL NO: AB 1600
          SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN              AUTHOR:  Torres
                                                         VERSION: 
          5/30/2012
          Analysis by:  Art Bauer                        FISCAL:  yes
          Hearing date:  June 26, 2012



          SUBJECT:

          Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Authority

          DESCRIPTION:

          This bill authorizes the extension of the Gold Line light rail 
          line from the City of Claremont in Los Angeles County to the 
          City of Montclair in San Bernardino County.

          ANALYSIS:

          SB 1847 (Schiff), Chapter 1021, Statutes of 1998, created the 
          Pasadena Metro Blue Line Construction Authority, now known as 
          the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority 
          (Authority), to oversee the planning, design, and construction 
          of a light rail line from east Pasadena to Claremont.  
          Currently, the Authority has sufficient resources to build the 
          line as far as Azusa.  The Los Angeles County Metropolitan 
          Transportation Authority (MTA) operates the light rail service 
          and maintains the line to East Pasadena. 

          The Authority's governing board consists of five voting members, 
          three of whom the city councils of the cities of Los Angeles, 
          Pasadena, and South Pasadena appoint, one of whom is appointed 
          by San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments, and one member who 
          is appointed by MTA.  The governor, the City of Pasadena, and 
          the City of South Pasadena each appoint one nonvoting member. 

           This bill  :

          1.Authorizes the Authority to plan, design, and build an 
            extension of the Gold Line from City of Claremont to the City 
            of Montclair.

          2.Authorizes the San Bernardino Associated Governments (SANBAG) 
            to appoint one nonvoting member to the governing board.




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          3.Authorizes MTA to operate each phase of the Gold Line light 
            rail beyond its current terminus in east Pasadena to Azusa and 
            Claremont.

          4.Authorizes MTA to operate the Gold Line light rail trains 
            outside of Los Angeles County, which is its area of 
            jurisdiction, to Montclair in San Bernardino County. 

          5.Prohibits MTA from operating on right-of-way owned by SANBAG 
            without a construction and maintenance agreement between MTA, 
            SANBAG, and the Authority. 

          6.Clarifies that the Authority may accept grants, fees, 
            allocations, and transfer of funds from federal, state, and 
            local agencies. 

          7.States that MTA does not have to allocate funds to extending 
            the light rail line to Montclair beyond the funds that it has 
            allocated as of January 1, 2012. 

          COMMENTS:

           1.Purpose  .  According to the author, this bill increases mass 
            transportation options in the eastern San Gabriel Valley and 
            in western San Bernardino County by authorizing the 
            construction of the Gold Line light rail system to Montclair.  
            In addition, the Authority has determined that the extension 
            of the Gold Line to the City of Montclair will have beneficial 
            environmental and traffic impacts.  The Authority believes 
            that Montclair, with a regional transportation center, is the 
            logical terminus for the Gold Line because it allows for the 
            intermodal interface with the San Bernardino County bus system 
            and with the Metrolink commuter rail system. 

          RELATED LEGISLATION:  

          Currently, the MTA sales tax program allocates $735 million for 
          extending the Gold Line to Azusa.  AB 1446 (Feuer), also on 
          today's agenda, proposes to place on the ballot an authorization 
          to remove the 30-year sunset on Los Angeles County's local  
          percent transportation sales tax, referred to as Measure R, but 
          does not propose to increase the allocation of funds to any 
          project in Los Angeles County.  The Authority is seeking 
          amendments to AB 1446 because MTA's expenditure plan provides no 
          funding to complete the Gold Line project to Claremont.  




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          Pressure may build, therefore, to expend additional Los Angeles 
          County sales tax revenue on the extension from Claremont to 
          Montclair.  

          Assembly Votes:
               Floor:    75-0
               Appr: 17-0
               Trans:    14-0
               Loc Gov: 9-0

          POSITIONS:  (Communicated to the committee before noon on 
          Wednesday, 
                     June 20, 2012)

               SUPPORT:  Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction 
          Authority (sponsor)

               OPPOSED:  None received.