BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 194
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 13, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Frazier, Chair
AB
194 (Frazier) - As Amended April 7, 2015
SUBJECT: High-occupancy toll lanes
SUMMARY: Extends indefinitely the California Transportation
Commission's (CTC's) authority to authorize regional
transportation agencies to develop and operate high-occupancy
toll (HOT) lanes and expands the authority to include other toll
facilities; adds similar authority for the CTC to authorize the
California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to develop
toll facilities. Specifically, this bill :
1)Authorizes Caltrans to apply to CTC to develop and operate HOT
lanes and other toll facilities using essentially the same
process previously used by regional transportation agencies,
as follows:
a) Caltrans, in cooperation with a regional transportation
agency, if applicable, is authorized to apply to CTC to
develop and operate HOT lanes or other toll facilities,
including exclusive or preferential lanes for transit or
freight;
b) CTC is directed to develop guidelines to evaluate and
approve applications submitted by Caltrans, subject to
minimum requirements;
c) For applications submitted by Caltrans, the department
will develop and operate the facilities in cooperation with
regional transportation agencies, as applicable, and with
the active participation of the California Highway Patrol
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(CHP). Furthermore, Caltrans will be responsible for
establishing and collecting tolls;
d) Revenue generated by the facility will be available to
Caltrans for direct expenses related to the upkeep of the
toll facility; and
e) All excess revenue will be used in the corridor from
which it was generated pursuant to an expenditure plan
developed by Caltrans and approved by CTC.
2)Extends indefinitely the process whereby CTC reviews and
approves applications from regional transportation agencies,
in cooperation with Caltrans, to develop and operate HOT lanes
and other toll facilities, including preferential lanes for
transit and freight.
3)Deletes the limitation on the number (four) of HOT lane
applications CTC may approve, thereby granting open-ended
authority to approve applications.
4)Directs a regional transportation agency to reimburse CTC for
its costs and expenses in reviewing a HOT lane application.
5)Directs CTC to develop guidelines to evaluate and approve
applications submitted by regional transportation agencies for
the development and operation of HOT lanes and other toll
facilities, subject to the following minimum requirements:
a) Toll facilities must be developed and operated in
cooperation with Caltrans and with the active participation
of the CHP;
b) Regional transportation agencies will be responsible for
establishing, collecting, and administering tolls and for
paying for the maintenance of the facilities, pursuant to
an agreement with Caltrans;
c) Toll revenue will be available to the regional
transportation agency for direct expenses related to the
upkeep of the facility;
d) Excess revenue will be used in the corridor from which
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it was generated pursuant to an expenditure plan adopted by
the regional transportation agency.
6)Explicitly provides that the authority being granted to
develop toll facilities does not prevent other agencies from
constructing facilities that compete with a toll facility.
7)Authorizes regional transportation agencies to bond against
toll revenue.
8)Requires a regional transportation agency to give a local
transportation agency within its jurisdiction the option to
enter into an agreement to govern a toll project authorized
under provisions of this bill; authorizes a local
transportation agency to be the lead agency for constructing
these projects.
9)Defines regional transportation agencies.
10)Explicitly provides that nothing in the bill authorizes or
prohibits the conversion of any existing nontoll or
nonuser-fee lane into tolled or user-fee lanes, except that a
high-occupancy vehicle lane may be converted into a HOT lane.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Specifically authorizes HOT lane facilities in Alameda, San
Diego, and Santa Clara counties.
2)Until January 1, 2012, authorized any regional transportation
agency to apply to CTC for authority to develop and operate
HOT lanes.
3)Limited CTC to approving no more than four applications: two
in northern California and two in southern California. (CTC
approved HOT lane facilities in the San Francisco Bay Area,
Los Angeles County, and Riverside County under this
provision.)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS: HOT lanes are increasingly being implemented in
metropolitan areas around the state and the nation, primarily to
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deal with increased congestion. HOT lanes allow single-occupant
or lower-occupancy vehicles to use a high-occupancy vehicle
(HOV) lane for a fee, while maintaining free or reduced travel
to qualifying HOVs. The acknowledged benefits of HOT lanes
include enhanced mobility and travel options in congested
corridors and better usage of underutilized HOV lanes.
The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) was the first
agency to be granted authority to operate a HOT lane, on
Interstate 15 [AB 713 (Goldsmith), Chapter 962, Statutes of
1993]. Subsequently, AB 2032 (Dutra), Chapter 418, Statutes of
2004, authorized HOT lane facilities in Alameda, San Diego, and
Santa Clara counties. With the successful implementation of
these programs (which were all originally authorized as
demonstration programs then later extended indefinitely), the
Legislature delegated responsibility for approving toll
facilities under certain conditions to the CTC [AB 1467 (Nunez),
Chapter 32, Statutes of 2005] until January 1, 2012. This
delegation was limited to no more than four projects total.
Although to date only a handful of regional transportation
agencies have authority to operate HOT lanes and only on a
limited number of corridors, it is clear that California is in
the embryonic stage of what promises to be a substantial
build-out of toll facilities in the very near future. In fact,
as part of the Governor's proposed budget in 2013, the Governor
directed the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) to
convene a workgroup consisting of state and local transportation
stakeholders to, among other tasks, explore long-term,
pay-as-you-go funding options. As a result, CalSTA released in
February of last year its vision and interim recommendations in
a report entitled California Transportation Infrastructure
Priorities: Vision and Interim Recommendations, commonly
referred to as CTIP. Two of the recommendations were:
1)Work with the Legislature to expand Caltrans' use of pricing
and express lanes to better manage congestion and the
operation of the state highway system while generating new
revenues for preservation and other corridor improvements.
2)Support efforts to maintain and expand the availability of
local funds dedicated to transportation improvements.
AB 194 is consistent with this direction. It expands the
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potential for toll facilities in California by granting CTC
broad, indefinite authority to review and approve toll facility
applications submitted by regional transportation agencies and
by Caltrans. AB 194 builds on the authority previously granted
to regional transportation agencies and is consistent with
protocols that have evolved to guide development of the HOT lane
programs, such as the requirement that any excess revenue be
used in the corridor in which it was generated.
Regional transportation agencies up and down the state, as well
as Caltrans, struggle with meeting the challenges of increasing
traffic congestion and decreasing transportation revenue.
Although HOT lanes should be primarily a congestion management
tool, they may have the added benefit of generating net revenue
that can be put back into the corridor from which it was
generated for additional improvements or other benefits. Given
the success of multiple HOT lane demonstration programs to date,
it is appropriate now to provide an administrative process
whereby regional transportation agencies and Caltrans can work
together with CTC to develop and operate toll facilities.
AB 194 defines clear roles and responsibilities between Caltrans
and regional transportation agencies in the development of toll
facilities. In cooperation with one another, AB 194
appropriately places control of a facility's tolling policy and
toll revenue with whatever agency is bearing the responsibility
and financial risk to develop the program, under prescribed
requirements. Furthermore, AB 194 includes provisions that
ensure that not only do Caltrans and regional transportation
agencies work cooperatively but that a regional transportation
agency and local transportation agencies within its jurisdiction
work cooperatively as well. Finally, AB 194 makes it clear that
the authority to develop toll lanes does not in any way include
the conversion of existing nontolled or nonuser-fee lanes into
tolled or user-fee lanes, either by authorizing them or
prohibiting them. Any efforts to implement such a conversion
will require separate statutory authority.
Writing in support of the bill, the California Pavement
Association asserts that "HOT lanes have proven to be an
important tool in the transportation management toolbox,
maximizing the utilization of selected corridors while helping
traffic engineers manage peak traffic flow and returning badly
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needed dollars to depleted transportation funds designated to
the maintenance of the system." Furthermore, the bill's
sponsor, the Self-Help Counties Coalition suggests that "AB 194
rightfully requires that revenue allocation and tolling policies
should rest with the agency assuming the project development,
construction, and financing risk."
Previous legislation: AB 2250 (Daly), Chapter 500, Statutes of
2014, requires any revenue generated in managed lanes to be used
in the corridor in which it was generated.
SB 983 (Hernández) of 2014 was similar to this bill. SB 983
passed out of this committee but was held in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee on the suspense file.
SB 1298 (Hernández), Chapter 531, Statutes of 2014, repealed and
recast specific authority for the Los Angeles County
Metropolitan Transportation Authority to operate a value-pricing
and transit development program, including HOT lanes on State
Routes 10 and 110.
AB 1467 (Nunez), Chapter 32, Statutes of 2005, originally
granted authority to the CTC to review regional transportation
agencies' applications for HOT lanes, for up to four projects,
until January 1, 2012.
AB 2032 (Dutra), Chapter 418, Statutes of 2004, authorized HOT
lane facilities in Alameda,
San Diego, and Santa Clara counties.
AB 713 (Goldsmith), Chapter 962, Statutes of 1993, granted
SANDAG authority to operate a HOT lane on Interstate 15.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Self-Help Counties Coalition (Sponsor)
American Council of Engineering Companies of California
Bay Area Council
California Asphalt Pavement Association
California Transportation Commission
AB 194
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Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared
by: Janet Dawson/TRANS./(916) 319-2093