Senate Bill No. 110

Introduced by Senator Steinberg

January 14, 2013

An act to add Section 14521.5 to the Government Code, relating to transportation.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 110, as introduced, Steinberg. California Transportation Commission: guidelines.

Existing law generally provides for programming and allocation of state and federal funds available for transportation capital improvement projects by the California Transportation Commission, pursuant to various requirements. Existing law authorizes the commission, in certain cases, to adopt guidelines relative to its programming and allocation policies and procedures.

Existing law, the Administrative Procedure Act, generally governs the procedure for the adoption, amendment, or repeal of regulations by state agencies and for the review of those regulatory actions by the Office of Administrative Law. Existing law, in certain instances, exempts state agencies from these requirements.

This bill would establish specified procedures that the commission would be required to utilize when it adopts guidelines, except as specified, and would exempt the adoption of those guidelines from the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:

(a) From time to time, the Legislature has authorized the
California Transportation Commission to adopt guidelines for the
development and administration of statutorily created transportation
programs.

(b) Examples of the legislative authorization described in
subdivision (a) include, but are not limited to, the authority for
guidelines for the administration of transportation programs funded
by the Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality, and Port
Security Bond Act of 2006 (Chapter 12.49 (commencing with
Section 8879.20) of Division 1 of Title 2 of the Government Code),
including the Corridor Mobility Improvement Account (CMIA)
and the Highway-Railroad Crossing Safety Account.

(c) In 2009, the commission also adopted program guidelines
for the implementation of the public-private partnership authority
the Legislature granted to the Department of Transportation
(Caltrans) and to regional transportation planning agencies pursuant
to Section 143 of the Streets and Highways Code.

(d) The Legislature has exempted program guidelines adopted
by the commission from the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter
3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of
Title 2 of the Government Code) so that the commission may adopt
guidelines quickly and may amend adopted guidelines in response
to quickly changing circumstances.

(e) On some occasions, the commission’s process for adopting
program guidelines has lacked transparency and has not provided
the public with ample opportunity to fully review and comment
on proposed guidelines.

(f) To ensure the commission’s process for the adoption of
program guidelines is understandable, predictable, and transparent,
and to ensure the commission’s process provides ample opportunity
for public review and comment on proposed guidelines, it is
necessary to place into statute a process for the adoption of program
guidelines by the commission.

SEC. 2.  

Section 14521.5 is added to the Government Code, to
read:

14521.5.  

(a) Notwithstanding any other law, the adoption of
guidelines by the commission shall be exempt from the rulemaking
provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5
(commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1). Except for the State
Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) guidelines adopted
pursuant to Sections 14526, 14527, and 14529, on or after January
1, 2014, the commission shall adopt guidelines using the
procedures established pursuant to this section.

(b) The commission’s legal counsel shall review the proposed
guidelines for matters such as necessity, authority, clarity,
consistency, reference, and nonduplication, and recommend any
proposed action to the commissioners. For purposes of this section,
“necessity,” “authority,” “clarity,” “consistency,” “reference,” and
“nonduplication” shall each have the same meaning as defined in
Section 11349. The commission’s legal counsel’s recommendations
and communications to the commission concerning the results of
the review shall be subject to the attorney-client privilege, unless
otherwise waived. The commission’s executive director shall cause
the recommendations and communications to be distributed to all
commissioners.

(c) Program or policy guidelines shall first be presented at a
commission meeting for purposes of receiving public comment.
At least 45 days prior to the meeting, the proposed or draft
guideline shall be sent to any person who has requested notices of
the meetings of the commission and shall be available to the public
in electronic format. The proposed or draft guideline shall include
notice of the right of the public to comment orally on the proposed
or draft guideline during the public meeting or to comment in
writing at any time prior to the meeting or within seven business
days following the meeting, at which time the written comment
period shall be closed.

(d) Following the close of the written comment period, the
commission staff shall review all written and oral comments and
shall prepare a summary of the objections and recommendations
made in those comments and an explanation of how the proposed
guideline is proposed to be changed to accommodate the objections
or recommendations, or the reason or reasons for proposing no
change.

(e) The staff recommendations and summary described in
subdivision (d) shall be made publicly available at least 15 days
prior to a subsequent regular meeting of the commission. At that
subsequent public meeting, the commission shall consider the staff
recommendations and any additional public comment made at the
meeting prior to voting on the adoption of the proposed guideline.
A program or policy guideline adopted by the commission shall
be adopted by an affirmative vote of a majority of the commission
membership.

(f) The commission shall maintain a guideline adoption file
containing the public notice, public comments, and minutes of the
public meeting, including the action taken by the commission, and
a letter from the commission’s legal counsel confirming that he
or she reviewed the proposed guidelines for compliance with the
standards set forth in subdivision (b).

(g) The guideline adoption file shall contain a summary of each
objection or recommendation made and an explanation of how the
proposed guideline was changed to accommodate each objection
or recommendation, or the reason or reasons for making no change.

(h) The commission shall include in its annual report to the
Legislature, required pursuant to Section 14535, a summary of its
activities related to the adoption of program or policy guidelines
during the previous calendar year, including, but not limited to, a
summary of the proposed guidelines considered by the commission,
a description of the actions taken by the commission, and the votes
of the commission on matters it considered.