Amended in Senate September 4, 2015

Amended in Senate September 3, 2015

Amended in Senate June 30, 2015

Amended in Assembly April 29, 2015

Amended in Assembly April 8, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 914

Introduced by Assembly Member Brown

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Chang, Linder, Mayes, Obernolte, Rodriguez, and Steinorth)

(Coauthor: Senator Leyva)

February 26, 2015

An act to add Section 149.11 to the Streets and Highways Code, relating to transportation.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 914, as amended, Brown. Toll facilities: County of San Bernardino.

Existing law provides for the Department of Transportation and local authorities, with respect to highways under their respective jurisdictions, to authorize or permit exclusive or preferential use of highway lanes for high-occupancy vehicles (HOVs). Existing law authorizes the development and implementation of a value-pricing program consisting of high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes in various corridors under certain circumstances, pursuant to which vehicles that do not meet the vehicle occupancy requirements for use of an HOV lane may use the lane upon payment of a toll.

This bill would authorize the San Bernardino County Transportation Commission to conduct, administer, and operate a value-pricing program that includes HOT lanes and other toll facilities on Interstate Highway Routes 10 and 15 in the County of San Bernardino and, with the agreement of affected transportation agencies, specified extensions and connections into the Counties of Los Angeles and Riverside. The bill would require the toll revenues to be spent for specified transportation purposes and would authorize the commission to issue revenue bonds payable from toll revenues. The bill would require the commission to report to the Legislative Analyst on specified matters within 3 years of commencement of revenue collection from the value-pricing program. The bill would enact other related provisions.

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This bill would become operative only if AB 194 is also enacted and becomes operative on or before January 1, 2016.

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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 149.11 is added to the Streets and
Highways Code, to read:

149.11.  

(a) (1) Notwithstanding Sections 149 and 30800 of
this code, and Section 21655.5 of the Vehicle Code, the San
Bernardino County Transportation Commission, created pursuant
to Section 130054 of the Public Utilities Code, may conduct,
administer, and operate a value-pricing program in the Interstate
10 and Interstate 15 corridors in the County of San Bernardino.
The value-pricing program may include high-occupancy toll lanes
or other toll facilities. The San Bernardino County Transportation
Commission may also extend the program to include the
approaching and departing connectors on Interstate 10 extending
into the County of Los Angeles, as designated by an agreement
with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation
Authority, and the connection to the Interstate 15 express lanes
project in the County of Riverside, as designated by an agreement
with the Riverside County Transportation Commission. The San
Bernardino County Transportation Commission may exercise its
existing powers of eminent domain pursuant to Section 130220.5
of the Public Utilities Code to acquire property necessary to carry
out the purposes of the value-pricing program.

(2) The value-pricing program authorized pursuant to paragraph
(1) may only be implemented upon a determination that the
program and the resulting facilities will improve the performance
of the affected corridors. Improved performance may be
demonstrated by factors that include, but are not limited to,
increased passenger throughput or improved travel times. The San
Bernardino County Transportation Commission shall make the
determination required by this paragraph in a public meeting prior
to operation of the value-pricing program.

(3) The San Bernardino County Transportation Commission
shall have the authority to set, levy, and collect tolls, user fees, or
other similar charges payable for the use of the toll facilities in the
County of San Bernardino, and any other incidental or related fees
or charges, and to collect those revenues, in a manner determined
by the San Bernardino County Transportation Commission, in
amounts as required for the following expenditures relative to the
program and for the purposes of paragraph (4):

(A) Development, including the costs of design, construction,
right-of-way acquisition, and utilities adjustment.

(B) Operations and maintenance, including, but not limited to,
insurance, collection, and enforcement of tolls, fees, and charges.

(C) Repair, rehabilitation, and reconstruction.

(D) Indebtedness incurred and internal loans and advances,
including related financial costs.

(E) Administration, which shall not exceed 3 percent of the
revenues of toll facilities and associated transportation facilities.

(F) Reserves for the purposes described in subparagraphs (A)
to (E), inclusive.

(4) All revenue generated pursuant to paragraph (3) in excess
of the expenditure needs of that paragraph shall be used exclusively
for the benefit of the transportation corridors included in the
value-pricing program created pursuant to this section. These
excess revenue expenditures shall be described in an excess revenue
expenditure plan developed in consultation with the department
and adopted and periodically updated by the board of directors of
the San Bernardino County Transportation Commission and may
include, but need not be limited to, the following eligible
expenditures:

(A) Expenditures to enhance transit service designed to reduce
traffic congestion within the transportation corridors included in
the value-pricing program created pursuant to this section. Eligible
expenditures include, but are not limited to, transit operating
assistance, the acquisition of transit vehicles, and transit capital
improvements otherwise eligible to be funded under the state
transportation improvement program pursuant to Section 164.

(B) Expenditures to make operational or capacity improvements
designed to reduce traffic congestion or improve the flow of traffic
in the transportation corridors included in the value-pricing
program created pursuant to this section. Eligible expenditures
include, but are not limited to, any phase of project delivery to
make capital improvements to on ramps, off ramps, connector
roads, roadways, bridges, or other structures that are necessary for
or related to the tolled or nontolled transportation facilities in the
transportation corridors included in the value-pricing program
created pursuant to this section.

(5) To the extent the San Bernardino County Transportation
Commission plans to extend the value-pricing program into the
Counties of Los Angeles or Riverside, it shall enter into an
agreement with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan
Transportation Authority or the Riverside County Transportation
Commission, as applicable, subject to approval of the board of
directors of the San Bernardino County Transportation Commission
and the board of directors of the affected entity. If the value-pricing
program developed and operated by the San Bernardino County
Transportation Commission connects to, or is near, similar toll
facilities constructed and operated by the Los Angeles County
Metropolitan Transportation Authority or the Riverside County
Transportation Commission, the respective entities shall enter into
an agreement providing for the coordination of the toll facilities
operated by each entity.

(b) (1) The San Bernardino County Transportation Commission
shall carry out the program in cooperation with the Department of
the California Highway Patrol pursuant to an agreement that
addresses all matters related to enforcement on state highway
system facilities in connection with the value-pricing program,
and with the department pursuant to an agreement that addresses
all matters related to the design, construction, maintenance, and
operation of state highway system facilities in connection with the
value-pricing program, including, but not limited to, financing,
repair, rehabilitation, and reconstruction.

(2) The San Bernardino County Transportation Commission
shall be responsible for reimbursing the department and the
Department of the California Highway Patrol for costs related to
the toll facility pursuant to an agreement between the San
Bernardino County Transportation Commission and the department
and between the San Bernardino County Transportation
Commission and the Department of the California Highway Patrol.

(c) Single-occupant vehicles that are certified or authorized by
the San Bernardino County Transportation Commission for entry
into, and use of, the high-occupancy toll lanes implemented
pursuant to this section are exempt from Section 21655.5 of the
Vehicle Code, and the driver shall not be in violation of the Vehicle
Code because of that entry and use.

(d) (1) The San Bernardino County Transportation Commission
may issue bonds at any time to finance any costs necessary to
implement the program established pursuant to this section and
any expenditures provided for in paragraphs (3) and (4) of
subdivision (a), payable from the revenues generated from the
program and any other sources of revenues available to the San
Bernardino County Transportation Commission that may be used
for these purposes, including, but not limited to, sales tax revenue,
development impact fees, or state and federal grants.

(2) The maximum bonded indebtedness that may be outstanding
at any one time shall not exceed an amount that may be serviced
from the projected revenues available as described in paragraph
(1).

(3) The bonds shall bear interest at a rate or rates not exceeding
the maximum allowable by law, payable at intervals determined
by the San Bernardino County Transportation Commission.

(4) Any bond issued pursuant to this subdivision shall contain
on its face a statement to the following effect:

“Neither the full faith and credit nor the taxing power of the
State of California is pledged to the payment of principal of, or
interest on, this bond.”

(5) Bonds shall be issued pursuant to a resolution of the
governing board of the San Bernardino County Transportation
Commission adopted by a majority vote of its governing board.
The resolution or bond authorizing instrument shall state all of the
following:

(A) The purposes for which the proposed debt is to be incurred.

(B) The estimated cost of accomplishing those purposes.

(C) The amount of the principal of the indebtedness.

(D) The maximum term of the bonds and the maximum interest
rate.

(E) The denomination or denominations of the bonds, which
shall not be less than five thousand dollars ($5,000).

(F) The form of the bonds.

(e) Not later than three years after the San Bernardino County
Transportation Commission first collects revenues from the
program authorized by this section, the San Bernardino County
Transportation Commission shall submit a report to the Legislative
Analyst on its findings, conclusions, and recommendations
concerning the program. The report shall include an analysis of
the effect of the transportation facilities on the adjacent mixed-flow
lanes and any comments submitted by the department and the
Department of the California Highway Patrol regarding operation
of the transportation facilities.

(f) This section shall not prevent the department or any local
agency from constructing improvements in the transportation
corridors that compete with the program, and the San Bernardino
County Transportation Commission shall not be entitled to
compensation for the adverse effects on toll revenue due to those
competing improvements.

(g) If any provision of this section or the application thereof is
held invalid, that invalidity shall not affect other provisions or
applications of this section that can be given effect without the
invalid provision or application, and to this extent the provisions
are severable.

(h) Nothing in this section shall authorize the conversion of any
existing nontoll or nonuser-fee lanes into tolled or user-fee lanes,
except that a high-occupancy vehicle lane may be converted into
a high-occupancy toll lane.

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begin insert SEC. 2. end insert   

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begin insert This act shall become operative only if Assembly Bill end insert
begin insert 194 of the 2015-16 Regular Session is also enacted and becomes
operative on or before January 1, 2016. end insert