BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: sb 613
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: desaulnier
VERSION: 4/23/13
Analysis by: Eric Thronson FISCAL: no
Hearing date: April 30, 2013
SUBJECT:
Restricting the use of Bay Area toll bridge revenues
DESCRIPTION:
This bill restricts the use of toll revenues in the San
Francisco Bay Area.
ANALYSIS:
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) is the
transportation planning, coordinating and financing agency for
the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. MTC is governed by a
19-member policy board primarily comprised of local elected
officials.
The Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) is an independent legal
entity governed by the board of MTC. BATA manages and invests
revenues from all tolls levied on the state-owned toll bridges
in the Bay Area. As part of these activities, BATA funds the
administration of day-to-day operations and maintenance, as well
as the long-term capital improvement and rehabilitation of the
bridges.
Existing law authorizes BATA to do all acts necessary for the
exercise of its power, including, but not limited to:
Entering into contracts;
Employing agents or employees;
Acquiring, constructing, leasing or operating any public
facility or improvements;
Suing or being sued in its own name;
Issuing bonds or other obligations of debt;
Receiving funds from federal or state agencies; and
Investing any money not immediately required to fulfill
its duties.
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Further, existing law authorizes BATA to make contributions to
MTC without limit to support BATA in its fulfillment of its
responsibilities.
This bill restricts BATA's use of toll revenues. Specifically,
this bill:
Restricts BATA from purchasing or otherwise acquiring any
office space in addition to the facilities located at 390 Main
Street in San Francisco.
Restricts BATA's contributions to MTC to no more than one
percent of the gross annual bridge revenues.
Allows BATA to loan up to an additional one percent of the
gross annual bridge revenues beyond its contribution to MTC,
to be repaid with interest.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . According to the author, this bill is necessary to
clear up the purpose of toll revenues and ensure that these
revenues are not used in the future to purchase property that
is not "solely for the management of state-owned toll
bridges." With the recent use of toll revenues to purchase a
building much larger than the amount of office space necessary
to house MTC and BATA, the author questions why MTC is
entering the real estate business and becoming a commercial
landlord. This bill enacts the following recommendation from
the State Auditor: "If the Legislature believes state law
provides the toll authority with too much discretion over its
use of toll revenues, it should consider amending state law to
more narrowly define how toll revenues that are not
immediately needed for bridge maintenance or debt service may
be spent or invested."
2.The building controversy . In 2011, MTC and BATA formed a
joint powers agency for the purposes of acquiring an office
building in San Francisco to create a joint regional
government co-location facility. The building is initially to
serve as a regional headquarters for MTC, the Bay Area Air
Quality Management District, and the Bay Conservation and
Development Commission. It may later house the Association of
Bay Area Governments.
In spring of 2012, in response to legislative concerns
regarding the use of toll revenues for the planned relocation,
SB 613 (DESAULNIER) Page 3
the Joint Legislative Audit Committee requested that the State
Auditor investigate the purchase of the building and
specifically the use of toll revenues to fund the proposed
move. The Auditor concluded that MTC's decision to acquire a
new headquarters building likely was legally permissible.
At the same time, upon request of the author of this bill,
Legislative Counsel opined that the information regarding the
purchase of the building could serve as a basis for judicial
determination that the use of the bridge toll revenues to fund
the purchase of the new building was not authorized by law.
Legislative Counsel based this opinion, at least in part, on
the fact that MTC and BATA plan to occupy less than half of
the planned office space and, instead, use the building
primarily for operation of a regional governance co-location
facility. As MTC and BATA do not have legislative authority
to provide a regional governance co-location facility,
Legislative Counsel believes the purchase of the building
using toll revenues may be an impermissible use of those
revenues.
This bill removes the ambiguity of existing law and restricts
the future use of toll revenues in an effort to resolve this
controversy. While enacting this bill will not affect the
purchase of the new MTC/BATA headquarters, it will limit the
use of toll revenues for the purchase of future office
facilities.
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday, April 24,
2013.)
SUPPORT: None received.
OPPOSED: None received.