BILL NUMBER: SB 582	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 25, 2011
	AMENDED IN SENATE  MARCH 29, 2011

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Emmerson
   (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Huffman)

                        FEBRUARY 17, 2011

   An act to add  and repeal  Section 65081  to
  of  the Government Code, relating to
transportation.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 582, as amended, Emmerson. Commute benefit policies.
   Existing law requires transportation planning agencies to
undertake various transportation planning activities, including
preparation of a regional transportation plan. Existing law requires
transportation planning agencies that are designated under federal
law as metropolitan planning organizations to include a sustainable
communities strategy as part of the regional transportation plan for
their region. Existing law creates air quality management districts
with various responsibilities relative to reduction of air pollution.

   This bill, beginning on January 1, 2013, would authorize a
metropolitan planning organization jointly with the local air quality
management district to adopt a commute benefit ordinance that
requires covered employers operating within the common area of the
organization and district with a specified number of covered
employees to offer those employees certain commute benefits. The bill
would require that the ordinance specify certain matters, including
any consequences for noncompliance  , and would impose a
specified reporting requirement  . The bill would provide for
the ordinance to be adopted by the county transportation commission
rather than the metropolitan planning organization in those counties
where the Southern California Association of Governments is the
designated metropolitan planning organization.  The bill would
make its provisions inoperative on January 1, 2017. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 65081 is added to the Government Code, to read:

   65081.  (a) It is the intent of the Legislature to encourage
metropolitan planning organizations and local air quality management
districts to work with local employers to adopt policies that
encourage commuting by means other than driving alone.
   (b) Notwithstanding Section 40717.9 of the Health and Safety Code,
and except as otherwise provided in subdivision (e), on or after
January 1, 2013, a metropolitan planning organization and a local air
quality management district with respect to the common area within
their respective jurisdictions may jointly adopt a commute benefit
ordinance that requires covered employers operating within the common
area of the organization and district to offer all covered employees
one of the following choices:
   (1) A pretax option: a program, consistent with Section 132(f) of
the Internal Revenue Code, allowing covered employees to elect to
exclude from taxable wages employee commuting costs incurred for
transit passes or vanpool charges, or bicycle commuting, up to the
maximum amount allowed by federal tax law.
   (2) Employer-paid benefit: a program whereby the covered employer
offers employees a subsidy to offset the monthly cost of commuting
via public transit or by vanpool. In 2013, the subsidy shall be equal
to either the monthly cost of commuting via transit or vanpool, or
seventy-five dollars ($75), whichever is lower. This amount shall be
adjusted annually consistent with the California Consumer Price
Index.
   (3) Employer-provided transit: transportation furnished by the
covered employer at no cost, or low cost as determined by the
metropolitan planning organization, to the covered employee in a
vanpool or bus, or similar multipassenger vehicle operated by or for
the employer.
   (c) An employer offering, or proposing to offer, an alternative
commuter benefit on the employer's own initiative, or an employer
otherwise required to offer an alternative commuter benefit as a
condition of a lease, original building permit, or other similar
requirement, if the alternative is not one of the options identified
in subdivision (b), may seek approval of the alternative from the
metropolitan planning organization. The metropolitan planning
organization may approve an alternative if it determines that the
alternative provides at least the same benefit in terms of reducing
single-occupant vehicle trips as any of the options in subdivision
(b). An employer that offers an approved alternative to covered
employees in a manner otherwise consistent with this section is not
required to offer one of the options in subdivision (b).
   The commute benefit ordinance shall provide covered employers with
at least six months to comply after the ordinance is adopted.
   (d) A commute benefit ordinance adopted pursuant to this section
shall specify all of the following: (1) how the implementing agencies
will inform covered employers about the ordinance, (2) how
compliance with the ordinance will be demonstrated, (3) the
procedures for proposing and the criteria that will be used to
evaluate an alternative commuter benefit pursuant to subdivision (c),
and (4) any consequences for noncompliance.
   (e) In the region served by the multicounty transportation
planning agency described in Section 130004 of the Public Utilities
Code, the county transportation commission created in each county
within that region, rather than the multicounty transportation
planning agency, shall be the agency authorized to adopt the commute
benefit ordinance pursuant to subdivision (b) in conjunction with the
local air quality management district.
   (f) Nothing in this section shall limit or restrict the statutory
or regulatory authority of a metropolitan planning organization or
 an  air quality management district. 
   (g) On or before July 1, 2016, a metropolitan planning
organization and an air quality management district that implement a
commute benefit ordinance as provided under this section shall submit
a report to the transportation policy committees of each house of
the Legislature that includes, but is not limited to, the following
elements:  
   (1) A description of the program, including enforcement procedures
and any sanctions to be imposed on noncomplying employers. 

   (2) Number of employers confirmed to have complied with the
ordinance that did not previously  offer a commute benefit consistent
with those required by the ordinance.  
   (3) Number of employees who stopped driving alone to work in order
to take transit or a vanpool, or to commute by bicycle, as a result
of the commute benefit ordinance.  
   (4) Number of single-occupant vehicle trips reduced per month,
week, or day as a result of the commute benefit ordinance.  

   (5) Vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and greenhouse gas emission
reductions associated with implementation of the commute benefit
ordinance.  
   (6) Greenhouse gas emission reductions associated with
implementation of the commute benefit ordinance as a percentage of
the region's greenhouse gas emission target established by the State
Air Resources Board.  
   (7) Number of businesses that received a penalty for not complying
with the ordinance and a description of the penalties imposed. 

   (g) 
    (h)   As used in this section, the following terms have
the following meanings:
   (1) "Covered employer" means any employer for which an average of
20 or more employees per week perform work for compensation within
the area where the ordinance adopted pursuant to this section
operates, except that a metropolitan planning organization, at its
option, may provide for the ordinance to apply solely to employers
with 50 or more employees otherwise meeting the requirements of this
paragraph. In determining the number of employees performing work for
an employer during a given week, only employees performing work on a
full-time basis shall be counted.
   (2) "Covered employee" means an employee who performed at least
 an average of  20 hours of work per week within the
previous calendar month within the area where the ordinance adopted
pursuant to this section operates. 
   (i) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2017, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2017, deletes or extends
that date.