BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 203
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Date of Hearing: August 14, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
SB 203 (Pavley) - As Amended: July 3, 2013
Policy Committee:
TransportationVote:15-0 (Consent)
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill:
1)Repeals provisions regarding use of local transportation funds
(LTFs) that were unique to Ventura County, thus treating this
county similar to other counties whose populations have grown
to exceed 500,000 since the 1970 census.
2)Requires the Ventura County Transportation Commission (VCTC),
by September 1, 2014 and annually for four years thereafter,
to post on its website specified information regarding its
transit operations.
FISCAL EFFECT
Any costs to VCTC should be minor and are nonreimbursable, as
the county has requested this legislation.
COMMENTS
1)Background . Current law earmarks -cent of the state sales tax
for transit and directs the revenue to the LTF in each county.
Urban counties (those with populations over 500,000) are
required to use their LTFs for public transportation and
community transit purposes. Rural counties (those with a
population under 500,000) are authorized to use their LTFs for
purposes other than public transportation and community
transit services, such as local streets and roads, but only
after the regional transportation planning agency for the
county holds public hearings and makes a finding that all
reasonable transit needs in the county have been met. The
SB 203
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urban/rural designation for each county was established based
on the most recent (1970) census data available at the time
the LTFs were first established.
SB 716 (Wolk)/Chapter 609 of 2009, updated counties'
designation as either rural or urban for purposes of using
LTFs, based on the 2000 (and subsequent) census. For those
counties whose designation changed, SB 716 provided a hybrid
use of the LTFs-urban cities within the county would be
required to use LTFs for public transportation or community
transit services and rural areas of the county could continue
to use LTFs for other purposes, assuming certain conditions
were met. The operative date of these changes was July 1,
2014, to give the counties an opportunity to adjust to the new
LTF requirements.
SB 716, however, set forth unique provisions for Ventura
County by providing an opportunity for the VCTC to submit a
plan to the Legislature (and to secure subsequent legislation)
that would set forth an alternative means of distributing LTFs
throughout the county. VCTC had until December 31, 2011, to
submit the plan and until the end of the 2011-12 Session to
secure subsequent legislation to implement the plan, otherwise
all of the county's LTF funds would be directed to public
transportation or community transit service as of July 1,
2014. Neither of these two conditions was met.
According to the author, Ventura County's difficulties in
developing an integrated transit system are due, in part, to
differences between the east and the west cities of the
county, including size, ridership demographics, and commuter
trends. Furthermore, the author asserts that the county's
expansive farmlands, mountains, and large open space demands
make it difficult for transit operators to maintain fare box
return ratios sufficient to be eligible for state transit
assistance funding.
2)Purpose . SB 203 grants Ventura County the same flexibility to
meet its transit and local road needs provided to the other
counties that grew from rural to urban since 1970. SB 203 is
intended to complement efforts already undertaken by VCTC to
improve the quality and quantity of transit in Ventura County,
specifically including a comprehensive review and
re-evaluation of its unmet transit needs process.
SB 203
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Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081