BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 914
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Date of Hearing: April 27, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Jim Frazier, Chair
AB 914
(Brown) - As Amended April 8, 2015
SUBJECT: Toll facilities: County of San Bernardino
SUMMARY: Grants the San Bernardino County Transportation
Commission (Commission) authority to develop HOT lanes and other
facilities, under certain conditions. Specifically, this bill:
1)Defines key terms, most notably:
a) "Transportation corridors" to mean Interstate 10 (I-10)
and Interstate 15 (I-15) in San Bernardino County,
including related approaches and connectors.
b) "Transportation facilities" to mean toll lanes,
high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes, high-occupancy vehicle
(HOV) lanes, lanes or improvements where tolls may be
levied and may vary according to levels of congestion or
according to the type or occupancy of a vehicle,
improvements or lanes utilizing a combination of those
options, and related approaches.
2)Authorizes the Commission, notwithstanding specific provisions
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of existing law related to preferential lanes and tolling, to
finance, plan, develop, design, construct, reconstruct,
rehabilitate, improve, acquire, administer, maintain, lease,
and operate transportation facilities, as defined, in the I-10
and I-15 corridors and connectors (corridors).
3)Grants the Commission the power of eminent domain for purposes
related to the transportation facilities.
4)Grants the Commission authority to set, levy, and collect
tolls, user fees, or similar charges to use the transportation
facilities in San Bernardino County. Also grants the
Commission the authority to collect any other incidental or
related fees or charges in a manner determined by the
Commission and in the amount required for the following
expenditures in the corridors in San Bernardino County:
a) Capital outlay, including design, construction,
right-of-way acquisition, and utilities adjustment;
b) Operations and maintenance;
c) Repair and rehabilitation;
d) Loans, advances, and related financial costs;
e) Reserves; and
f) Administration, not to exceed 3 percent of the toll
revenues.
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5)Directs any excess revenues to be used pursuant to an
expenditure plan adopted by the Commission's governing board
and to the benefit of the corridors, including the following:
a) To enhance transit service designed to reduce traffic
congestion within the corridors in San Bernardino County,
including transit operating assistance, acquisition of
transit vehicles, and transit capital improvements; and
b) To make operations or capacity improvements to reduce
traffic congestion or improve the flow of traffic in the
toll or non-tolled segments of the corridors.
6)Requires the Commission, to the extent it plans to construct
or operate transportation facilities or related connectors in
Los Angeles County and Riverside County, to enter into
agreements with the county transportation commission in those
counties.
7)Requires the Commission to carry out the program authorized by
these provisions in cooperation with the California Department
of Transportation (Caltrans) pursuant to a cooperative
agreement.
8)Authorizes the Commission to issue bonds to finance any costs
related to implementing the transportation facilities and
other capital outlay, operations, maintenance, repair,
rehabilitation, indebtedness, reserve set aside, and
administration purposes related to the corridors; also allows
the commission to issue bonds for purposes otherwise
identified in the expenditure plan.
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9)Limits bond indebtedness to no more than may be serviced from
projected revenues generated by the transportation facilities.
10)Provides that bonds may be issued pursuant to a resolution
adopted by a majority vote of the Commission's governing
board.
11)Requires SANBAG to report to the Legislative Analyst on its
findings, conclusions, and recommendations concerning the
transportation facilities.
12)Explicitly provides that this bill does not limit the
authority of Caltrans or any local agency to construct
improvements in the corridors that compete with the
commission's transportation facilities.
13)Provides that the bill's provisions are severable.
14)Declares that the provisions of this bill do not authorize
the conversion of any existing non-tolled or nonuser-fee
lanes, except than an HOV lane may be converted to a HOT lane.
15) Explicitly provides that the commission is not required to
grant clean air vehicles (i.e., those with white or green HOV
access decals) toll-free or reduce-rate passage on its
transportation facilities authorized by this bill.
EXISTING LAW:
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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 California Transportation Commission (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.)
4)Designates the San Bernardino Associated Governments (SANBAG)
as the county transportation commission and establishes its
membership as follows:
a) Five members of the San Bernardino County Board of
Supervisors;
b) The Mayor of the City of San Bernardino;
c) One member from each of the other incorporated cities of
San Bernardino County, who shall be a mayor or a city
councilman; and
d) One nonvoting member appointed by the Governor.
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5)Requires that clean air vehicles displaying white or green HOV
access decals be granted toll-free or reduced-rate passage in
HOT lanes. This requirement does not extend to toll lanes
that are not HOT lanes.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS: Value-priced toll facilities (e.g., HOT lanes) are
increasingly being implemented in metropolitan areas around the
state and the nation, primarily to deal with increased
congestion. HOT lanes allow single-occupant or lower-occupancy
vehicles to use a HOV lane for a fee while maintaining free or
reduced travel to qualifying HOVs. Although value-pricing
programs 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.
The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) was the first
agency to be granted authority to operate a HOT lane, on I-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.
SANBAG, which is also legally organized as the Commission, is
sponsoring AB 914. The agency is responsible for cooperative
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regional planning and furthering an efficient multi-modal
transportation system countywide. As the county transportation
commission, SANBAG supports freeway construction projects,
regional and local road improvements, train and bus
transportation, railroad crossings, call boxes, ridesharing,
congestion management efforts and long-term planning studies.
SANBAG also administers Measure I, the half-cent transportation
sales tax approved by county voters in 1989.
SANBAG is proposing two projects for which it is seeking
authority to impose tolls:
1)The proposed I-10 Corridor Project consists of improving all
or a portion of the existing 35-mile stretch of I-10 from the
City of Pomona to the City of Redlands. As a major regional
east-west freeway corridor, I-10 is heavily used by travelers
between Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties and it is also
a major truck route between southern California and the rest
of the nation.
2)The proposed I-15 Corridor Project consists of improvements on
the 35-mile stretch of I-15 in San Bernardino County. As a
major regional north-south freeway corridor, I-15 is heavily
used by commuters and recreational travelers, and is also a
major goods-movement corridor.
SANBAG hopes to have statutory authority in place to develop
toll facilities (including HOT lanes) before it begins the
process of applying for financing under the federal
Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act
(TIFIA). The TIFIA program provides federal credit assistance
in the form of direct loans, loan guarantees, and standby lines
of credit to finance surface transportation projects of national
and regional significance. In the case of HOT lanes, the
federal government requires legal authority to be established
prior to beginning the process of applying for TIFIA financing.
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According to the author, the I-10 and I-15 corridors are
increasingly urbanized, making continued expansion a challenge.
The author notes that these particular corridors are amongst
the most congested in the state, and are likely to become even
more congested as San Bernardino County's population is expected
to grow from 2.1 million to 3.4 million by 2050. The author is
pursuing AB 914 to provide an alternative way of managing
congestion to serve the growing needs of the area.
Supporters believe AB 914 will give the Commission the tools its
needs to better manage its existing congestion as well as
accommodate future growth in these commuter and trade corridors.
The bill is opposed by one individual who objects to the
imposition of debt that will be needed to finance the
value-pricing program.
Committee concerns and suggested amendments:
1)AB 914 grants significantly broader authorities than has been
included in previous legislation authorizing value-pricing
programs. For example, previous legislation granted regional
transportation agencies the authority to conduct, administer,
develop, and operate toll facilities. AB 914, on the other
hand, includes authority for the commission to construct,
reconstruct, rehabilitate, improve, acquire, maintain, and
lease transportation facilities, potentially including
non-tolled facilities. This scope of authority is too broad
and should be pared down to focus on activities related
specifically to establishing a value-pricing program for the
two corridors.
2)Similarly, the types of projects that the bill authorizes
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include HOV lanes or other lanes or improvement that may (or
may not) include tolls. The Commission already has broad
authority to do this type of work. It would be confusing to
grant duplicative authority in this bill. Consequently, AB
914 should be narrowed to authorize SANBAG to develop and
operate the value-pricing program generally and not specific
elements, some of which it already has the authority to do
(such as, additional lanes of improvement).
3)Last year, the Legislature passed and the Governor signed AB
1721 (Linder), Chapter 526, Statutes of 2014, that allows HOT
lane operators to impose a reduced rate for clean air vehicles
displaying a green or white HOV access decal. Previous to AB
1721, these vehicles were required to be granted toll-free
passage. The intent behind AB 1721 was to balance the state's
interests in incentivizing the purchase clean air vehicles
with the needs of HOT lane operators to manage financial risks
associated with having to offer free or reduced toll rates to
these vehicles.
AB 914 exempts the toll facilities in SANBAG entirely from
these provisions. As a result, clean air vehicles with green
or white HOV access decals in San Bernardino would not enjoy
the benefits of free or reduced toll rates. This is
inconsistent with the Legislature's action just last session
and stifles the state's policies goals related to
incentivizing purchase of clean air vehicles.
The author intends to request author's amendments in committee
to address these concerns by:
1)Recasting the tolling authority to reflect a value-pricing
program, rather than individual components that would in sum
comprise a program; and
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2)Striking provisions dealing with toll-free or reduce-rate
passage for clean air vehicles, thereby leaving the Commission
to comply with existing law pursuant to last year's AB 1721.
Related legislation: AB 194 (Frazier) extends indefinitely
CTC's authority to administratively authorize high-occupancy
toll (HOT) lanes and expands the authority to include other toll
facilities. AB 194 passed out of this committee on a vote of
14-1 and is currently in Appropriations. If AB 194 is
successfully enacted, it could provide an avenue for the
Commission to seek authority to develop a value-pricing program.
However, AB 194 could not practically be implemented in time to
give the Commission the statutory authority it needs to apply
for TIFIA financing in a timely manner; hence the Commission is
seeking the standalone authority in this bill.
Previous legislation: AB 1721 (Linder), Chapter 526, Statutes
of 2014, allowed clean air vehicles displaying a white or green
HOV access decal to be charged a reduced rate in HOT lanes.
AB 2250 (Daly), Chapter 500, Statutes of 2014, required 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,
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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 I-15.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
San Bernardino Associated Governments (sponsor)
American Council of Engineering Companies of California
California Asphalt Pavement Association
CH2MHill
City of Ontario
City of San Bernardino
Inland Empire Chapter of Women In Transportation
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Mobility 21
Orange County Business Council
San Diego Association of Governments
Self-Help Counties Coalition
Southern California Association of Governments
Opposition
One private citizen
Analysis Prepared by:Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
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