BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: sb 792
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: desaulnier
VERSION: 4/10/13
Analysis by: Mark Stivers FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: April 16, 2013
SUBJECT:
Bay Area regional governance
DESCRIPTION:
This bill adds to the duties of the Bay Area's Joint Policy
Committee and requires the Legislative Analyst to report on
voting power disparities on the governing boards of Bay Area
regional agencies.
ANALYSIS:
The San Francisco Bay Area is comprised of nine counties:
Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo,
Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma.
The Bay Area has four major regional institutions: the
Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), the San Francisco
Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), the Bay Area
Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), and the Association of
Bay Area Governments (ABAG).
Each agency has a unique responsibility. MTC is responsible for
regional transportation planning, the programming and funding of
major transportation projects, and when acting as the Bay Area
Toll Authority, managing and establishing the tolls for the
seven state-owned toll bridges. BCDC regulates the land uses of
the bay shoreline. BAAQMD implements federal and state air
quality laws through regulation. ABAG analyzes and forecasts
the region's population, provides advisory services on regional
land use planning to MTC and other agencies, and allocates
shares of the regional housing need to each city and county.
In an effort to coordinate the planning activities of ABAG, MTC,
and BAAQMD, SB 849 (Torlakson), Chapter 791, Statutes of 2004,
created the Joint Policy Committee (JPC), comprised of members
of each agency. Subsequent legislation, AB 2094 (DeSaulnier),
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Chapter 442, Statutes of 2008, added BCDC representation to the
JPC. Each of the four agencies has five appointments from their
respective governing boards to the JPC. The appointees must be
representatives of local governments.
The purpose of the JPC is to coordinate various regional
planning documents, including the regional transportation plan
prepared by MTC, BAAQMD's ozone attainment plan and clean air
plan, ABAG's housing needs plan, and BCDC's San Francisco Bay
Plan. The JPC is essentially an advisory agency.
This bill :
Requires the JPC, by June 30, 2015, to adopt a regional
organization plan to include both of the following:
A plan for integrating, by July 1, 2016, the major
planning documents of the four regional agencies into a
comprehensive regional plan that also addresses priority
infrastructure needs; goals and policies related to
economic development opportunities; and social equity goals
to ensure that people of all income levels, races, and
ethnicities share fairly in the benefits and burdens
associated with the comprehensive regional plan and its
implementation.
A plan for consolidating the functions that are common
to the regional entities, such as personnel and human
resources, budget and financial services, electronic data
and communications systems, legal services, contracting and
procurement, public information, intergovernmental
relations, and forecasting.
Until the adoption of a comprehensive regional plan, requires
the JPC to review both draft and adopted versions of the major
planning documents of the four regional agencies and the
policies, plans, and associated regulations of each regional
entity associated with the major planning documents for
consistency with each other, with the requirements of SB 375
(Steinberg), Chapter 728, Statutes of 2008, and with the JPC's
goals and policies related to economic development
opportunities. The JPC must issue a consistency report
describing the findings of each review, which each regional
agency shall consider.
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Requires all cost savings derived from the consolidation of
common functions through the regional organization plan to be
directed to the JPC's general fund.
Requires the JPC, by October 31, 2014, to adopt public and
community outreach and participation policies to govern
meetings and workshops of the JPC and the regional agencies
and their committees.
Requires the JPC to maintain an Internet Web site containing
relevant information pertaining to the JPC's activities.
Clarifies that the JPC is subject to the open meeting
requirements of the Brown Act.
Requires the JPC to appoint an advisory committee on economic
competitiveness with members from the business community,
community colleges, public and private universities, labor
organizations, local governments, and community organizations
with an interest in expanding economic opportunity for
low-income populations and communities.
Requires the JPC, in consultation with the advisory committee,
to adopt goals and policies related to the inclusion of
economic development opportunities in the plans of the
regional entities and the comprehensive regional plan.
Requires the Legislative Analyst Office (LAO), by July 1,
2014, to analyze and report to the Legislature on the voting
power that each city and county in the San Francisco Bay Area
has on the governing board of each of the regional entities,
including an analysis of any voting power disparities based on
population, race, and ethnicity. The LAO shall recommend
changes to agency governance and voting that would lessen
disparities, if any, to insignificant levels.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose of the bill . According to the author, the JPC
currently is dependent on staffing and funding from its
constituent regional agencies, none of which wishes to cede
authority to the JPC. As a result, the JPC is a forum for
discussion, but does not play a true coordinating role between
the regional agencies. At the same time, business and
community groups have expressed concerns about the lack of a
regionwide economic development plan and consideration of how
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regional plans and regulations affect the region's economic
competitiveness. This bill seeks to strengthen the
coordinating role of the JPC, improve community outreach
procedures employed by the Bay Area regional agencies, and
ensure consideration of the economic impacts of regional plans
and regulations.
2.Directing savings to the JPC . This bill directs the cost
savings derived from consolidating the common functions of the
existing regional agencies to JPC's general fund. The intent
of this provision is ensure some level of independence for the
JPC by providing the JPC with its own resources, as opposed to
being dependent on funding from its constituent agencies.
With greater independence, JPC will be in a better position to
realize its mission of coordinating the activities of the
regional agencies.
3.Informational hearings . The Senate Transportation and Housing
Committee held a series of three informational hearings in the
fall of 2011 on the subject of regional governance in the Bay
Area. This bill seeks to address a number of the themes that
emerged from witness testimony in those hearings.
4.Previous legislation . Last year, the author of this bill
carried a related piece of legislation, SB 1149, which was
much more ambitious in scope. That bill sought to create a
25-member directly elected Bay Area Regional Commission (BARC)
to replace the JPC and reorganized the existing regional
agencies as divisions of BARC. The author agreed to hold SB
1149 in the Senate Appropriations Committee to facilitate
further dialogue with regional agencies.
5.Double-referral . The Senate Rules Committee has referred this
bill to both this committee and the Committee on Governance
and Finance.
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday, April 10,
2013.)
SUPPORT: Public Advocates
Urban Habitat
OPPOSED: None received.
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