BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 613
Author: DeSaulnier (D)
Amended: 8/26/13
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 11-0, 4/30/13
AYES: DeSaulnier, Gaines, Beall, Cannella, Galgiani, Hueso,
Lara, Liu, Pavley, Roth, Wyland
SENATE FLOOR : 35-0, 5/6/13
AYES: Anderson, Beall, Block, Calderon, Cannella, Corbett,
Correa, De León, DeSaulnier, Emmerson, Evans, Fuller, Gaines,
Galgiani, Hancock, Hernandez, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson,
Knight, Lara, Leno, Lieu, Liu, Monning, Nielsen, Padilla,
Pavley, Price, Roth, Steinberg, Walters, Wright, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Berryhill, Wolk, Yee, Vacancy, Vacancy
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 9/3/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Restricting the use of Bay Area toll bridge revenues
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill prohibits the Bay Area Toll Authority
(BATA) from purchasing or otherwise acquiring, directly or
indirectly, office space and office facilities in addition to
the office space and office facilities located at 390 Main
Street in San Francisco.
Assembly Amendments make a technical change.
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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.
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:
1. Entering into contracts;
2. Employing agents or employees;
3. Acquiring, constructing, leasing or operating any public
facility or improvements;
4. Suing or being sued in its own name;
5. Issuing bonds or other obligations of debt;
6. Receiving funds from federal or state agencies; and
7. Investing any money not immediately required to fulfill its
duties.
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:
1. Restricts BATA from purchasing or otherwise acquiring,
directly or indirectly, any office space in addition to the
facilities located at 390 Main Street in San Francisco.
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2. Restricts BATA's contributions to MTC to no more than 1% of
the gross annual bridge revenues.
3. Allows BATA to loan up to an additional 1% of the gross
annual bridge revenues beyond its contribution to MTC, to be
repaid with same interest rate that applies for toll bridge
revenue bonds of the same duration.
Purpose . According to the author's office, 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's office 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."
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, the Joint
Legislative Audit Committee requested that the 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 (LC) opined that the information regarding
the purchase of the building could serve as a basis for judicial
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determination that the use of the bridge toll revenues to fund
the purchase of the new building was not authorized by law. LC
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, LC believes the purchase of the building
using toll revenues may be an impermissible use of those
revenues.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local:
No
SUPPORT : (Verified 9/3/13)
City of Oakland
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 09/03/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Ian Calderon,
Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Dahle, Daly,
Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Beth Gaines,
Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Grove,
Hagman, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer,
Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor,
Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi,
Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel
Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone,
Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams,
Yamada, John A. Pérez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Buchanan, Hall, Vacancy, Vacancy
JA:k 9/3/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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