California Legislature—2015–16 First Extraordinary Session

Assembly Bill No. 23

Introduced by Assembly Members Eduardo Garcia, Burke, and Chiu

(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Alejo)

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bloom, Cristina Garcia, Gatto, Roger Hernández, McCarty, Nazarian, Rendon, Santiago, and Ting)

September 4, 2015

An act to add Section 14528.2 to the Government Code, and to amend Section 2381 of the Streets and Highways Code, relating to transportation.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 23, as introduced, Eduardo Garcia. Transportation.

(1) Existing law requires the Department of Transportation to prepare a State Highway Operation and Protection Program every other year for the expenditure of transportation capital improvement funds for projects that are necessary to preserve and protect the state highway system, excluding projects that add new traffic lanes. Existing law provides for the programming of transportation capital improvement funds for other objectives through the State Transportation Improvement Program administered by the California Transportation Commission, which includes projects recommended by regional transportation planning agencies through adoption of a regional transportation improvement program and projects recommended by the department through adoption of an interregional transportation improvement program, as specified.

This bill, by January 1, 2017, would require the California Transportation Commission to establish a process whereby the department and local agencies receiving funding for highway capital improvements from the State Highway Operation and Protection Program or the State Transportation Improvement Program prioritize projects that provide meaningful benefits to the mobility and safety needs of disadvantaged community residents, as specified.

(2) Existing law creates the Active Transportation Program in the Department of Transportation for the purpose of encouraging increased use of active modes of transportation, such as biking and walking, with specified available funds to be awarded to eligible projects by the California Transportation Commission and regional transportation agencies, as specified.

This bill would specifically require $125,000,000 to be appropriated annually from the State Highway Account to the Active Transportation Program, with these additional funds to be used for network grants that prioritize projects in underserved areas, as specified.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 14528.2 is added to the Government
Code, to read:

14528.2.  

(a) On or before January 1, 2017, the commission
shall establish a process whereby the department and local agencies
receiving funding for highway capital improvements from the State
Highway Operation and Protection Program or the State
Transportation Improvement Program prioritize projects that
provide meaningful benefits to the mobility and safety needs of
disadvantaged community residents as identified by the community
through strong public participation. In that regard, the commission
shall do all of the following:

(1) Establish a funding floor where no less than 35 percent of
rehabilitation and reconstruction projects are located in urban and
rural disadvantaged communities and provide meaningful benefits
to community residents in those disadvantaged communities.

(2) Include robust public stakeholder engagement on the
development of guidelines relating to prioritization of projects in
disadvantaged communities.

(3) Prioritize projects that recruit, hire, and train low-income,
formerly incarcerated, or disconnected youth and adults and other
individuals with barriers to employment pursuant to Section 14005
of the Unemployment Insurance Code, including projects that
utilize community workforce agreements, project labor agreements
with targeted hire commitments, and partnerships with
community-based workforce training entities preparing low-income
youth and adults for employment.

(b) Each project applicant shall provide a description of how a
proposed project located in a disadvantaged community provides
meaningful benefits to the community. The location of a project
in a disadvantaged community by itself does not mean that the
project provides meaningful benefits to that community in the
absence of a well-grounded description. In order for a benefit to
be meaningful, it shall be direct and assured.

(c) As used in this section, “disadvantaged community” means
a community with any of the following characteristics:

(1) An area with median household income less than 80 percent
of the statewide median household income based on the most
current census tract-level data from the American Community
Survey.

(2) An area identified as among the most disadvantaged 25
percent of areas in the state according to the California
Environmental Protection Agency, based on the latest version of
the California Communities Environmental Health Screening Tool
(CalEnviroScreen) scores.

(3) An area where at least 75 percent of public school students
are eligible to receive free or reduced-price meals under the
National School Lunch Program. To the extent the characteristics
of this paragraph are used to determine that an area is
disadvantaged, the applicants shall either demonstrate how the
proposed project benefits those public school students in the project
area or, if the proposed project does not provide meaningful
benefits to those public school students, demonstrate how the
characteristics are applicable in determining that the larger
community is disadvantaged.

SEC. 2.  

Section 2381 of the Streets and Highways Code is
amended to read:

2381.  

(a) The Active Transportation Program shall be funded
by state and federal funds from appropriations in the annual Budget
Act. Funds for the program shall be appropriated to the department,
for allocation by the commission. The amount to be appropriated
begin insert each year end insert shall include 100 percent of the federal Transportation
Alternative Program funds, except for any federal Recreational
Trails Program funds appropriated to the Department of Parks and
Recreation; twenty-one million dollars ($21,000,000) of federal
Highway Safety Improvement funds or other federal funds; and
begin insert one hundred twenty-five million dollars ($125,000,000) of end insert State
Highway Account funds. Future funding may be augmented if
state or federal funds increase, or if other funding sources are
identified. Funds appropriated for the Active Transportation
Program shall be distributed as follows:

(1) Forty percent to metropolitan planning organizations in
urban areas with populations greater than 200,000, in proportion
to their relative share of population. Funds allocated under this
paragraph shall be obligated for eligible projects selected through
a competitive process by the metropolitan planning organizations
in consultation with the department and the commission and in
accordance with guidelines established pursuant to this chapter.

(2) Ten percent to small urban and rural regions with populations
of 200,000 or less, with projects competitively awarded by the
commission to projects in those regions.

(3) Fifty percent to projects competitively awarded by the
commission on a statewide basis.

(b) For the purpose of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a), the
following shall apply in the region served by the multicounty
designated transportation planning agency described in Section
130004 of the Public Utilities Code:

(1) The multicounty designated transportation planning agency
shall consult with the county transportation commissions created
pursuant to Sections 130050, 130050.1, and 132800 of the Public
Utilities Code, the commission, and the department in the
development of competitive selection criteria to be adopted by the
multicounty designated transportation planning agency, which
should include consideration of geographic equity, consistent with
program objectives.

(2) The multicounty designated transportation planning agency
shall place priority on projects that are consistent with plans
adopted by local and regional governments within the county where
the project is located.

(3) The multicounty designated transportation planning agency
shall obtain concurrence from the county transportation
commissions, adopt the projects selected in a comprehensive
program of projects, and make funds available to selected project
recipients.

begin insert

(c) For each two-year program of projects, network grants shall
be awarded to eligible applicants from the one hundred twenty-five
million dollars ($125,000,000) appropriated annually to the
program from the State Highway Account. Network grants shall
be in an amount of between twenty-five million dollars
($25,000,000) and fifty million dollars ($50,000,000), and shall
be awarded consistent with the percentage allocation requirements
in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of subdivision (a). Network grants
shall be available to applicants that prioritize projects in
underserved areas that lack pedestrian or bicycle facilities, or
both, that address the least-safe intersections and corridors
identified through community input or within the local master
plans for pedestrian or bicycle facilities, trails, or safe routes to
school, and that advance the interests of metropolitan planning
organizations to achieve greenhouse gas reduction goals in
sustainable communities strategies in regional transportation
plans adopted pursuant to Section 65080 of the Government Code.
A minimum of one-third of funding available for network grants
shall be used for safe routes to school projects and, of that amount,
a minimum of 10 percent and a maximum of 30 percent shall be
used to fund noninfrastructure programs that support education,
community engagement, evaluation, and traffic enforcement. The
commission shall amend the guidelines adopted pursuant to Section
2382 in the manner specified in Section 2383 consistent with the
requirements of this subdivision.

end insert begin delete

(c)

end delete

begin insert (d) end insert  The Legislature finds and declares that the program described
in this chapter constitutes a highway purpose under Article XIX
of the California Constitution and justifies the expenditure of
highway funds therefor, and all expenditures of Article XIX funds
under this program shall be consistent with Article XIX.