BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 664
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Date of Hearing: April 8, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
AB 664 (Williams) - As Amended: April 10, 2013
SUBJECT : Gold Coast Transit District
SUMMARY : Establishes the Gold Coast Transit District (District)
in the County of Ventura. Specifically, this bill :
1)Establishes the Gold Coast Transit District Act; specifies the
purposes of the District; and provides definitions of terms as
identified.
2)Creates the District to include the Cities of Oxnard, Ventura,
Port Hueneme, and Ojai and the unincorporated areas of the
County of Ventura. Authorizes other cities in the County of
Ventura to subsequently join the District.
3)Dissolves the existing joint powers agency known as Gold Coast
Transit, and would create the District, on July 1, 2014.
4)Provides for the transfer of assets from Gold Coast Transit to
the District and provides for the member agencies of the
District to claim local transit funds as apportioned by the
Ventura County Transportation Commission.
5)Provides for the governance of the District and specifies the
voting procedures for the taking of certain actions by
District.
6)Specifies the powers and duties of the District to operate
transit services, especially in areas on nonmember cities, and
authorizes it to seek voter approval of tax measures and to
issue revenue bonds.
7)Enacts other related provisions related to claims,
detachments, and dissolution.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Creates various local agencies to perform specified
transactions and duties within a prescribed area of
jurisdiction, including transit agencies and transit
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districts.
2)Authorizes, under the Joint Exercise of Powers Act, two or
more public agencies (i.e. federal government, any state, any
state department or agency, county, county board of education,
county superintendent of schools, city, public corporation,
public district, and regional transportation commission in any
state) to enter into a joint powers agreement to exercise
jointly any power common to the contracting agencies that it
can do by itself.
3)Earmarks 0.25% of the state sales tax for transit and created
a local transportation fund (LTF) in each county to receive
the money.
4)Vests regional transportation planning agencies with the
responsibility to allocate LTF funds, generally to cities,
counties, and transit districts by population.
5)Authorizes the use of LTF funds for a wide variety of
transportation programs, including planning and program
activities, pedestrian and bicycle facilities, community
transit services, public transportation, and bus and rail
projects.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : According to the author, Gold Coast Transit (GCT)
currently is a joint powers agency that provides fixed-route bus
and paratransit services in the cities of Ojai, Oxnard, Port
Hueneme, and Ventura and in the unincorporated county areas
between the cities. GCT operates 19 local bus routes in a 91
square-mile service area with a population of over 375,000
people. The agency is a critical part of Ventura County's
transportation network - transporting tens of thousands of
passengers to work, school and medical appointments each day.
This bill would dissolve the existing GCT and create a new
transit district in the western portion of Ventura County in
order to provide more flexibility in the organization of transit
services and the development of local funding sources. This
bill would provide the District with new authority to levy
special taxes, which require a two-thirds voter approval to be
imposed. Further, along with such taxes, the bill will provide
the District with the concomitant authority to issue revenue
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bonds to finance major capital projects, such as bus
replacements. This bill is patterned after prior legislation
creating other transit districts such as Yolo County and
Monterey-Salinas.
The author asserts that one of the other major benefits of
dissolving the existing joint powers agency and instead forming
a transit district is that the new district will receive local
transit funds for its members directly from the Ventura County
Transportation Commission and allocate back to them any funding
necessary to operate local services and maintain local transit
facilities. Also, with the ability to pool funds, the District
can look beyond jurisdictional borders and more effectively
allocate services to meet the needs and demands of the area.
Services will no longer be restricted to how much money is
available from each individual member but open up the ability to
fund the greatest transit needs from a regional perspective.
Related bills : AB 2420 (Hannigan), Chapter 457, Statutes of
1996, created the Yolo County Transportation District Act.
AB 644 (Caballero), Chapter 460, Statutes of 2009, created the
Monterey-Salinas Transit District Act.
SB 204 (Pavley) of 2013, would repeal provisions relating to the
expenditure of Ventura County's local transportation funds.
That bill is scheduled to be heard in the Senate Transportation
and Housing Committee.
SB 716 (Wolk) Chapter 609, Statutes of 2009, among its other
provisions, prescribes how Ventura County's local transportation
funds should be spent.
Double-referral : This bill is double-referred and will be heard
next in the Assembly Local Government Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Gold Coast Transit (Sponsor)
Alliance for Sustainable Equitable Regional Transportation
Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy
Coalition for Sustainable Transportation
Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District
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SEIU 721
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Ed Imai / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093