BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 935 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 10, 2013 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT K.H. "Katcho" Achadjian, Chair AB 935 (Frazier) - As Amended: March 18, 2013 SUBJECT : San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority: terms of board members. SUMMARY : Revises the membership of the Board of the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority. Specifically, this bill : 1)Increases from five to seven, the number of board members on the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA) by giving one additional appointment each to the Senate Committee on Rules and the Speaker of the Assembly. 2)Establishes requirements for the existing appointments to WETA made by the Governor, as specified: a) Requires the Governor to appoint one resident of Contra Costa County selected from a list of three nominees provided by the Contra Costa Transportation Authority; b) Requires the Governor to appoint one resident of San Mateo County selected from a list of three nominees provided by the San Mateo County Transportation Authority; and, c) Requires the Governor to appoint one resident of Solano County selected from a list of three nominees provided by the Solano Transportation Authority. 3)Requires the Governor to appoint a resident of the counties, as specified in 2) above, if the respective authorities fail to submit the list of three nominees within 45 days of a vacancy. 4)Establishes the initial terms for the additional appointees, as follows: a) A two-year term for the additional member appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules; and, AB 935 Page 2 b) A six-year term for the additional member appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly. EXISTING LAW : 1)Repealed the San Francisco Bay Area Water Transit Authority (BAWTA) and establishes a new replacement entity, WETA, to consolidate and operate ferry services in the San Francisco Bay Area and to plan and respond to emergencies or disasters affecting the transportation system in the San Francisco Bay Area. 2)Requires the WETA board to consist of five members, as follows: a) Three members appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate; b) One member appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules; and, c) One member appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly. 3)Requires the Governor to make the initial appointments of the three members no later than January 11, 2008. 4)Requires each member of the board to be a resident of a county in the Bay Area region. 5)Requires the Governor to designate the chairperson and the vice chairperson of the board. 6)Establishes a six-year term for board members and staggers the terms following the expiration of the terms of the initial appointments as follows: a) Two years for two of the members appointed by the Governor; b) Six years for one of the members appointed by the Governor; c) Four years for the member appointed by the Senate Rules Committee; and, AB 935 Page 3 d) Four years for the member appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly. 7)Requires the members appointed following the expiration of terms established in 6) above, to serve six years. 8)Requires the appointing entity to immediately fill a vacancy for the unexpired portion of the term in which the vacancy occurs. FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown COMMENTS : 1)BAWTA was established by SB 428 (Perata), Chapter 1011, Statutes of 1999, to develop a comprehensive plan for developing and enhancing ferry services throughout the Bay Area. When Bay Area interests realized that implementation of the plans required an organization focused on operations and emergency water transit services, they successfully enacted SB 976 (Torlakson), Chapter 734, Statutes of 2007 that replaced BAWTA with WETA. The BAWTA board consisted of 11 members, four gubernatorial appointments, two Senate Rules Committee appointments, two Assembly Rules Committee appointments, and three members from an established community advisory committee. SB 796 (Torlakson) replaced the 11-member BAWTA board with a five-member WETA board, as specified in current law. 2)This bill expands the membership of the WETA board from five to seven members to include two additional appointments, one by the Senate Committee on Rules and one by the Speaker of the Assembly. Current law requires that all of the appointed members are residents of a Bay Area county. This bill would require that the three gubernatorial appointments are residents from Contra Costa County, San Mateo County, and Solano County. Additionally, this bill requires that the Governor select each member from a list of three nominees created by the transportation authority in each of the three respective counties. This bill limits the Governor's appointment selection from any Bay Area county resident to a list of nine potential members if the Contra Costa, San Mateo, and Solano Transportation AB 935 Page 4 Authority provide the list within 45 days of a vacancy. If the list is not provided within the 45 day time frame established by this bill then the Governor can appoint one member who is a resident of Contra Costa County, one member who is a resident of San Mateo County, and one member who is a resident of Solano County. The author and supporters argue that this bill will provide representation for the counties served by the nine existing terminals and the seven expansion sites considered in WETA's recently adopted Short Range Transit Plan. This bill is author-sponsored. 3)The author argues that the three counties to which the Governor must limit his appointments to are all counties that play an important role in WETA and have increasing interests in the new routes that are being determined to each of the respective counties. Currently WETA has nine ferry terminals, one in Solano County, four in the City and County of San Francisco, one in San Mateo County, and three in Alameda County. Proposed routes include four in Contra Costa County, one in San Mateo County, one in Alameda County, and one in the City and County of San Francisco. 4)According to WETA, the Contra Costa County Ferry Subcommittee includes WETA staff, the Contra Costa Transportation Authority, and representatives from the cities of Antioch, Martinez, Hercules and Richmond. The goal of the Subcommittee is to study the implementation of ferry expansion services to Contra Costa County. The Committee may wish to consider whether it is timely for this bill to require representation of a board member from a county that currently does not have a ferry route while other counties like the City and County of San Francisco, which is the destination for every ferry route, are not guaranteed representation on the board under this bill. AB 2433 (Hill), Chapter 305, Statutes of 2012, established a schedule for staggering the terms of WETA board members. The analysis for the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee noted that the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors requested an amendment to promote direct geographic representation on the WETA board; however, the amendment was never taken by the author. 5)Furthermore, if the WETA board is to be established based on county representation, the Committee may wish to consider AB 935 Page 5 other factors like the number of terminals, the number of ferry routes per year, or the percentage of total ridership in each county when evaluating which counties should be guaranteed representation on the WETA board. Opponents also argue that while various factors could be used in determining the makeup of the board in terms of geographical importance, this bill fails to include other stakeholders like organized labor. 6)The Committee may wish to ask the author to discuss the concerns with the existing board membership that necessitates this bill. The author's office argues that the current board does not specifically represent counties affected by WETA board decisions; however, this bill will only ensure that representation for three counties. 7)The Committee may wish to ask the author if there is consensus from interested stakeholders on the proposed changes to WETA's board membership. The Committee has heard other bills that revise membership of the governing body, and has generally only supported those bills that have brought forward a change that is met with consensus. This bill could create winners and losers on what is essentially a regional issue. 8)Support arguments : Supporters argue that it is important for the board to represent the counties affected by WETA board decisions, including those counties with expansion sites under consideration. Opposition arguments : Opponents argue that this bill will change the governing board of WETA from five at-large members to a seven-member board with three geographical stakeholders. Additionally, if the board is to become a stakeholder board then all interests should be represented including all counties served by the Bay Area ferry system and organized labor. REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION : Support City of Antioch City of Hercules Contra Costa Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO Contra Costa Transportation Authority AB 935 Page 6 Pittsburg Chamber of Commerce San Mateo County Board of Supervisors Solano Transportation Authority Opposition International Longshore and Warehouse Union Analysis Prepared by : Misa Yokoi-Shelton / L. GOV. / (916) 319-3958