BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 738| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 738 Author: Beth Gaines (R) Amended: 7/16/15 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE TRANS. & HOUSING COMMITTEE: 11-0, 7/14/15 AYES: Beall, Cannella, Allen, Bates, Gaines, Galgiani, Leyva, McGuire, Mendoza, Roth, Wieckowski ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 75-0, 5/22/15 - See last page for vote SUBJECT: Sacramento Regional Transit District SOURCE: Sacramento Regional Transit District DIGEST: This bill recasts membership in the Sacramento Regional Transit District and redefines the boundaries of the District. ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1) Establishes the Sacramento Regional Transit (Sacramento RT) District to operate a single unified public transportation system in the Sacramento region in order to meet the present and future public transportation, and mass and rapid transit, needs of the region. 2) Defines member entities of the Sacramento RT District as cities or counties that are annexed to the district. AB 738 Page 2 3) Enables any city or county to annex and become part of the Sacramento RT District following a written request by that city or county and upon approval by the Sacramento Area Council of Governments. 4) Defines the boundaries of the Sacramento RT District as: a) All of the areas of any eligible cities in which a city council has declared the need for the district to operate; and b) Any of the area of a county described in statute within which a board of supervisors has declared the need for the district to operate. 1) Enables Sacramento RT to operate and exercise its powers within any city or county. 2) Restricts Sacramento RT from levying an ad valorem property tax within the boundaries of any city or county unless that city council or county board of supervisors declares that there is a need for Sacramento RT to levy a tax within its boundaries. This bill: 1) Defines member entities of Sacramento RT as any city or county within the district boundaries. 2) Determines the boundaries of Sacramento RT to include: a) The cities of Sacramento and Rancho Cordova; b) The unincorporated territory of Sacramento County within the urban service area, as determined by the Board of Supervisors, and not otherwise divided from the rest of the unincorporated territory by an incorporated city; and c) An eligible city or county that has annexed to the district. 1) Requires that any territory annexed into a city currently included in Sacramento RT also be included in the district. AB 738 Page 3 If a territory within the boundaries of Sacramento RT is annexed to any city that is not a member entity, that territory shall remain part of the district unless no transit service is operated or planned by the district within or near that annexed territory, as defined, subject to a determination by the Sacramento County Local Agency Formation Commission. 2) Requires any new city incorporated on or after January 1, 2016, which has any territory within Sacramento RT boundaries, to be annexed wholly into the district. 3) Declares that any territory included within the district boundaries of Sacramento RT is subject to taxation in accordance with the assessable valuation of the property and that revenue can be used for general purposes and for payment of any district indebtedness. 4) Restricts Sacramento RT from levying an ad valorem property tax on any territory that is not within the district boundaries. 5) Requires the legislative body of any city or county that wishes to be annexed into Sacramento RT to agree in writing upon terms and conditions of annexation with the district's board of directors. 6) Eliminates the Sacramento Area Council of Governments' approval of annexation of any new territory to the district. 7) Requires any territory wishing to detach from the district to obtain a supermajority vote of 80% of the district's board of directors, and a majority of its governing body, in order to no longer be part of the district. 8) Holds any territory that detaches from the district responsible for taxation for the payment of any bonded indebtedness existing at the time of detachment. Background Sacramento RT. The Legislature authorized the creation of the Sacramento RT District in 1971 to operate a comprehensive public AB 738 Page 4 transportation system for the Sacramento region. Sacramento RT serves an area encompassing 418 square miles and 1.4 million people; it operates 67 bus routes and 38.6 miles of light rail service. Sacramento RT is governed by an 11-member board of directors comprised of eight directors that are appointed by the member entities, including Sacramento County and the cities of Sacramento and Rancho Cordova. Additionally, three directors are appointed by non-annexed jurisdictions, which are "participating entities," including the cities of Citrus Heights, Elk Grove, and Folsom. Board members vote based on a weighted vote system established by AB 2137 (Niello, Chapter 227, Statutes of 2008), which is based upon the type of membership and the financial contribution made by each entity to the district. Comments Purpose. According to the author, this bill is attempting to resolve a few problems created by existing law. First, some jurisdictions in Sacramento County, specifically the cities of Folsom, Citrus Heights, and Elk Grove, contract for service with Sacramento RT but are reluctant to annex into the district for fear of losing some existing degree of control over the operations of service within their boundaries. This bill allows entities to negotiate their relationships to Sacramento RT before annexing into the district and therefore allay some concerns. Second, Sacramento RT has invested in some currently unincorporated areas of Sacramento County, and to protect those investments this bill specifies that those areas remain part of the district notwithstanding any new city incorporations in the future. Finally, this bill creates a mechanism for a member city to leave the district if it wishes, which is currently not possible under existing law.Concerns Resolved. Earlier concerns by the City of Elk Grove have been resolved. The City is now neutral. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:NoLocal: No SUPPORT: (Verified8/11/15) AB 738 Page 5 Sacramento Regional Transit District (source) OPPOSITION: (Verified8/11/15) None received ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 75-0, 5/22/15 AYES: Achadjian, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins NO VOTE RECORDED: Alejo, O'Donnell, Olsen, Waldron, Weber Prepared by:Randy Chinn & Eric Thronson / T. & H. / (916) 651-4121 8/13/15 13:10:14 **** END ****