BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 935
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          Date of Hearing:   May 1, 2013

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                  Mike Gatto, Chair

                   AB 935 (Frazier) - As Amended:  April 25, 2013 

          Policy Committee:                              Local  
          GovernmentVote:7-2

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:              

           SUMMARY  

          This bill revises the membership of the Board of the San  
          Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority  
          (WETA).  Specifically, this bill:    

          1)Increases from five to seven, the number of board members on  
            WETA.

          2)Increases from one to two each the number of board members  
            appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules and the Speaker of  
            the Assembly.  Requires the appointments of Senate Rules to be  
            from Contra Costa and San Mateo Counties, respectively and  
            requires the appointments of the Speaker to be from Solano and  
            Alameda Counties respectively.

          3)Establishes requirements two of the three existing  
            appointments to WETA made by the Governor. 

             a)   Requires the Governor to appoint one resident of the  
               City and County of San Francisco.

             b)   Requires the Governor to appoint one representative of  
               labor.  

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Negligible fiscal impact.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Purpose  .  The author argues this bill gives the affected  








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            counties a voice on the board which is appropriate given that  
            all these 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.  According to  
            the author, the current board does not specifically represent  
            those counties affected by WETA board decisions.  
               
           2)Support  .  Supporters, including the transportation authorities  
            from the counties of San Mateo, Contra Costa and Solano, argue  
            the proposed expansion of the Bay Area's ferry system will  
            necessitate adequate representation from the counties that  
            will be affected by WETA decisions.  
                
            3)Background  .  AB 428 (Perata), Chapter 1011, Statutes of 1999,  
            established the WETA to develop a comprehensive plan for  
            developing and enhancing ferry services throughout the  
            nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.  SB 976 (Torlakson),  
            Chapter 734, Statutes of 2007, expanded its responsibilities  
            to integrate emergency waterborne transit services in the  
            event of catastrophic emergency road closures. WETA  
            administers Proposition 1B (Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction,  
            Air Quality, and Port Security Bond Act of 2006) funds  
            allocated for waterborne transit security.

            Currently, the five members of the board of directors each  
            serve six-year terms.  The governor appoints three board  
            members, the Senate Rules Committee appoints one, and the  
            Speaker of the Assembly appoints one.  The governor designates  
            the chair and vice-chair.   This bill changes the board of  
            directors from a majority appointed by the Governor to a  
            majority appointed by the Legislature.
           
            Within the WETA boundaries, there are 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.  WETA states there are six proposed ferry routes, four  
            traveling from Contra Costa County to San Francisco, one in  
            San Mateo County going to San Francisco, one and Alameda  
            County to San Francisco route and one within the City and  
            County of San Francisco













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           Analysis Prepared by  :    Roger Dunstan / APPR. / (916) 319-2081