BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: AB 2382
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: gordon
VERSION: 6/26/12
Analysis by: Eric Thronson FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: July 3, 2012
SUBJECT:
Transportation project delivery demonstration program
DESCRIPTION:
This bill establishes, until January 1, 2020, the Innovative
Delivery Team Demonstration Program between the Department of
Transportation (Caltrans) and the Santa Clara Valley
Transportation Authority (VTA), shifting certain project
delivery responsibilities from the state to VTA.
ANALYSIS:
Under existing law, Caltrans is responsible for overseeing the
design, construction, maintenance, and operation of the
California state highway system. Caltrans maintains 12 district
offices to work more closely with regional and local
transportation agencies. Caltrans' District 4, responsible for
delivering projects and working with partners in the nine-county
Bay Area from Santa Clara to Sonoma, is currently involved in
over 750 projects across its jurisdiction.
Existing law establishes VTA as a congestion management agency
with responsibility for countywide transportation planning,
including congestion management and design and construction of
specific highway, pedestrian, and bicycle improvement projects.
In 1984, voters in Santa Clara County approved the first cent
sales tax measure in California dedicated to fund transportation
improvements. According to its long-range, countywide
transportation plan, VTA will manage a transportation program
expected to cost more than $15 billion over the next 25 years.
This bill establishes, until January 1, 2020, the Innovative
Delivery Team Demonstration Program between Caltrans and VTA,
which shifts certain responsibilities from Caltrans to the local
agency in order to improve delivery of transportation projects.
Specifically, the bill:
AB 2382 (GORDON) Page 2
Requires Caltrans and VTA, on or before July 1, 2013, to enter
into a memorandum of understanding to implement the
demonstration program, defining features of the program such
as roles, responsibilities, and performance metrics;
Requires Caltrans to co-locate and house some state staff in
VTA headquarters to help implement the demonstration program;
and
Assigns responsibility to VTA for preparing project study
reports, acquiring rights of way, serving as lead agency
during the environmental review process, administering
construction contracts, and managing the local assistance
process with respect to all projects on the state highway
system in Santa Clara County.
Finally, this bill requires VTA, in consultation with Caltrans,
to submit two reports to the Legislature: an interim report,
due July 1, 2015, describing the activities undertaken to date
and the progress of the demonstration program; and a full
evaluation of the program due July 1, 2018.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . According to the author, this bill will save money
and time on transportation projects in Santa Clara County by
improving communication between Caltrans and VTA and
addressing challenges arising from Caltrans' organizational
structure. VTA's interest in sponsoring this bill is borne
out of its frustration in working with Caltrans. VTA cites
specific frustrations with Caltrans that include chronic
delays from Caltrans in getting project reviews and approvals,
stifling risk aversion, and ineffective, decentralized
decision making.
According to the author, as California's transportation needs
continue to outpace available revenues, counties such as Santa
Clara, that have taxed themselves to pay for transportation
improvements, will need to develop improved partnerships with
Caltrans. The author believes that the demonstration program
in this bill will help expedite project delivery and generate
ideas for increasing the efficiency of the department, which
could result in long-term savings to the state.
2.Does this program address the problem ? The demonstration
AB 2382 (GORDON) Page 3
program in this bill seeks to address a widely recognized set
of problems with Caltrans and the state's transportation
project delivery system. The author argues that Santa Clara,
the home of innovation, is the ideal place to experiment with
the state's current project delivery model. Essentially, this
proposal attempts to find efficiencies through the shifting of
responsibilities from a state agency to a local transportation
agency, with streamlined decision making more closely aligned
with the affected population.
While the proposed demonstration program is likely to lead to
more quickly delivered projects through reduced reliance on
state approvals to move forward, it is unclear whether the
effort will result in real cost savings. In order to
demonstrate value, the project's evaluation will need to
answer a number of questions, including:
Does the program result in reduced overall workload
necessary to deliver projects or just shift work from state
to local agency employees?
Does the program sufficiently shift liability concerns
from the state to VTA along with the responsibility of
approving development of transportation projects on the
state highway system?
If this leads to cost savings, to whom do the savings
flow? In other words, does the program lead to an overall
reduction in the cost of delivering projects, or just shift
costs from the state to the local agency or vice versa?
Is this a successful model that can be replicated in
other parts of the states, or does it only address issues
facing Santa Clara County alone?
1.Caltrans' local assistance process . Caltrans' local
assistance program helps local and regional transportation
agencies apply for and deliver projects in accordance with
federal and state requirements tied to various available
funding sources. According to Caltrans, this program oversees
more than $1 billion annually that is available to over 600
cities, counties and regional agencies for the purpose of
improving their transportation infrastructure or providing
transportation services. This funding comes from various
federal and state programs specifically designed to assist the
transportation needs of local agencies. Caltrans authorizes
AB 2382 (GORDON) Page 4
over 1,200 new projects annually through its local assistance
program of which approximately 700 are construction projects.
Citing frustration with Caltrans' local assistance, VTA wishes
to take over from the state the responsibility for managing
the local assistance process in Santa Clara County. This bill
shifts this responsibility to VTA, but only with respect to
projects on the state highway system. This means that VTA
would be handling some local assistance work for the county,
while Caltrans would continue to be responsible for other
local project work. This could lead to redundancy and
confusion, and the proponents indicate that was not what they
intended to accomplish with this bill. Therefore, the
committee and author may consider amending the bill to move to
VTA the responsibility of managing the local assistance
process for all projects in Santa Clara County.
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 63 - 10
Appr: 15 - 2
Trans: 10 - 1
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday, June 27,
2012)
SUPPORT: Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority
(sponsor)
City of San Jose
Cities Association of Santa Clara County
Council of San Benito Governments
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors
Silicon Valley Leadership Group
South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council
Transportation Agency for Monterey County
OPPOSED: None received.