BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 528
Author: Lowenthal (D)
Amended: 6/4/13 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 10-0, 6/11/13
AYES: DeSaulnier, Gaines, Beall, Cannella, Galgiani, Hueso,
Lara, Liu, Pavley, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Roth
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 53-20, 5/20/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : State rail planning
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill makes several changes to the required
contents of and timelines for the state rail plan and the
high-speed rail business plan.
ANALYSIS :
California State Rail Plan
Since 2008, federal law has required states to adopt
comprehensive rail plans in order to be eligible for new federal
rail capital grants.
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The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) must
submit biennially a 10-year state rail plan to the Legislature,
governor, California Public Utility Commission, and California
Transportation Commission (CTC). Existing law requires Caltrans
to submit the plan to the CTC for its advice and consent six
months prior to submission to the other recipients.
The rail plan consists of a passenger and a freight element and
existing law is very prescriptive as to the plan's contents.
Specifically, the passenger element of the plan must, among
other things, include:
Actual capital and operating expenditures and revenues by
source for the prior two years;
Proposed capital and operating expenditures for the next ten
years;
Identification and cost of capital facilities necessary to
enhance the state intercity rail program's competitiveness;
A discussion of fare policies and practices, including
proposals that would maximize ridership and revenues;
A performance evaluation of all intercity rail services over
the prior two years;
A map showing all existing and proposed intercity and commuter
rail routes and services;
An evaluation of reports by regional planning agencies on
commuter service alternatives; and
A report on overall marketing strategy and marketing activity
expenditures.
Existing law requires CTC to include capital investments in the
intercity passenger rail plan and in regional and urban rail
transit programs in the State Transportation Improvement Program
(STIP), the state's five-year transportation capital outlay
program. The CTC updates and adopts the STIP every two years.
High-Speed Rail Business Plan
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The Legislature created the High-Speed Rail Authority (HSRA) to
direct the development and implementation of a fully integrated
intercity high-speed rail service in the state. In 2009, the
Legislature passed and the governor signed into law SB 783
(Ashburn, Chapter 618, Statutes of 2009), requiring HSRA to
submit to the Legislature a business plan by January 1, 2012,
and every two years thereafter.
Specifically, existing law requires the high-speed rail business
plan to include:
Identification of the type of service HSRA plans to develop;
A description of primary benefits the service will provide;
A forecast of anticipated ridership, as well as capital,
operating, and maintenance costs;
An estimate and description of total anticipated federal,
state, local, and other funds intended to fund the
construction and operation of the system;
The proposed construction timeline for all eligible corridors
statewide;
A discussion of all reasonably foreseeable risks, including
financial, ridership, right-of-way acquisition, environmental
clearances, construction, equipment, and technology; and
The authority's strategies or processes to manage those risks
identified.
This bill makes several changes to required contents of and
timelines for the state rail plan and the high-speed rail
business plan, as follows:
1.Related to the state rail plan, this bill:
A. Designates Caltrans as the state rail transportation
authority pursuant to federal law;
B. Requires the plan to be updated, at a minimum, every
five years instead of every two years;
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C. Requires the Secretary of the Transportation Agency to
approve the plan before submittal; and
D. Requires the passenger rail element to include:
A statement of compliance with federal law;
Plans for a comprehensive and integrated statewide
passenger rail system, including a discussion of the
performance of and recommendations for the intercity
passenger rail program;
A review of all high-speed rail routes, the rail
freight system, conventional intercity and commuter rail
systems; and
A freight rail element discussing various financial
and service issues.
1.Related to the high-speed rail business plan, this bill:
A. Moves the deadline for the plan from January 1 to May 1
of every even year; and
B. More clearly describes the required elements of the
plan.
Comments
According to the author, statutes describing the Caltrans rail
plan and HSRA's business plan are in need of revision to reflect
new federal requirements, as well as to make the development of
the plans more streamlined and efficient. Successful rail
development depends on the integration of various modes of
transportation, and these plans are critical to the state's
integration efforts of these modes.
Changes to state rail plan should improve it. The Legislature
added many of the requirements in existing law for the state
rail plan in the mid-1990's, so they are focused on specific
issues Caltrans faced then relating to the intercity rail
program that Caltrans has since addressed. For example,
existing law requires Caltrans to include in its biennial rail
plan a discussion of the impacts of adding checked baggage and
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dining service to the intercity rail service through the Central
Valley. Caltrans has extensively studied the issue, and it is
no longer necessary to include it in the rail plan. In
addition, the federal government now includes requirements for
all state rail plans that are not included in existing state
law. This bill removes many of the unnecessary state rail plan
requirements and better aligns state law with federal
requirements.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/25/13)
Union Pacific Railroad
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 53-20, 5/20/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bloom, Blumenfield,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chesbro, Cooley, Daly, Dickinson,
Eggman, Fong, Frazier, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gray,
Hall, Roger Hernández, Levine, Linder, Lowenthal, Medina,
Mitchell, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan,
Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Skinner,
Stone, Ting, Weber, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A.
Pérez
NOES: Allen, Bigelow, Chávez, Conway, Dahle, Donnelly, Beth
Gaines, Grove, Hagman, Harkey, Jones, Maienschein, Mansoor,
Melendez, Morrell, Patterson, Salas, Wagner, Waldron, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Fox, Gorell, Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Logue,
Vacancy, Vacancy
JA:nl 6/25/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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