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,








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             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,








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               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  








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            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  








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            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








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          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