BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



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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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