BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 613
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 613 (DeSaulnier)
As Amended April 23, 2013
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :35-0
TRANSPORTATION 14-0
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|Ayes:|Lowenthal, Linder, | | |
| |Achadjian, Ammiano, | | |
| |Bloom, Bonta, Daly, | | |
| |Gordon, Gatto, Holden, | | |
| |Morrell, Nazarian, | | |
| |Patterson, Quirk-Silva | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Places limitations on the use of toll revenues from
the seven state-owned toll bridges within the jurisdiction of
the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA). Specifically, this bill :
1)Prohibits BATA from acquiring any office space or facility in
addition to the offices it recently acquired in San Francisco.
2)Limits BATA's authority to contribute to the Metropolitan
Transportation Commission (MTC) to no more than 1% of the
gross annual bridge revenues, as defined.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Creates MTC as a local area planning agency to provide
comprehensive regional transportation planning for the
nine-county Bay Area region comprised of the City and County
of San Francisco and the Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa,
Marin, Napa, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma.
2)Creates BATA to administer all toll revenues for the
state-owned Bay Area toll bridges (except for revenues derived
from the $1 seismic toll surcharge). BATA is governed by the
same board as MTC.
SB 613
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3)Grants BATA broad authority, including the authority to:
a) Acquire, construct, manage, maintain, lease, or operate
any public facility or improvements;
b) To invest any money not required for its immediate
necessities, as determined by BATA; and,
c) Make contributions to MTC in furtherance of BATA's
powers, including contributions of personnel services,
office space, overhead, and other funding necessary to
carry out the function of the authority.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS : In 2011, MTC and BATA formed a joint powers agency,
the Bay Area Headquarters Authority 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 and may later house the Association
of Bay Area Governments and the San Francisco Bay Area
Conservation and Development Commission.
MTC's purchase of the building entailed significant controversy.
Questions were raised as to why bridge toll revenues from BATA
were used to purchase a building that is much larger than the
amount of office space the co-locating agencies need, with the
intent to rent out extra space.
In response to concerns regarding the purchase and planned
moved, the Joint Legislative Audit Committee requested the State
Auditor to investigate the proposed move and specifically the
use of toll revenues to fund the purchase and improvements of
the office building. The audit was released in August 2012 and
found, in part, that BATA's use of toll bridge revenues to
purchase a regional headquarters building in San Francisco is
likely legally permissible. However, the audit raised concerns
that MTC may not realize anticipated cash flow needs sufficient
to repay contributed toll revenues by a range of $1.5 million to
$53.7 million over 30 years.
SB 613
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Ultimately, the State Auditor recommended to the Legislature
that, if it believes state law provides BATA too much discretion
over its use of toll revenues, then the Legislature 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.
This bill implements that recommendation by limiting the amount
of money BATA can contribute to MTC and by clarifying that the
contributions must be necessary to carry out BATA's functions.
Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
FN: 0001392