BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND HOUSING
Senator Jim Beall, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 914 Hearing Date: 6/23/2015
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|Author: |Brown |
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|Version: |4/29/2015 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant|Eric Thronson |
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SUBJECT: Toll facilities: County of San Bernardino
DIGEST: This bill authorizes the San Bernardino County
Transportation Commission to conduct, administer, and operate a
value-pricing program on Interstate 10 and Interstate 15 in San
Bernardino County.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Generally restricts the state and regional transportation
agencies from collecting tolls on public highways without
explicit statutory authority. For example, in 1989, the
Legislature authorized the California Department of
Transportation (Caltrans) to enter into contractual agreements
with private entities for the construction and operation of
toll roads. The toll facility on State Route 91 in Orange
County is a result of this authorization.
2)Specifically authorizes a particular type of toll facility,
called high-occupancy toll (HOT) lane facilities, in Alameda,
San Diego, and Santa Clara counties. An agency operating a
HOT lane essentially sells excess capacity in undersubscribed
high-occupancy vehicle lanes to single-occupant vehicle
drivers by charging a toll. HOT lanes typically employ a
pricing method known as value pricing or congestion pricing.
Under this scheme, the amount of the toll varies in accordance
with the level of congestion in that particular lane, such
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that as congestion increases, so too will the toll amount. As
the price to use the lane goes up, fewer people presumably
will choose to use it, thereby reducing demand for the
facility and maintaining free-flow travel conditions. With
this mechanism, an agency can ensure that operation of the
toll facility does not undermine the intended benefits of
promoting carpooling with access to the faster high-occupancy
vehicle lane.
3)In addition to the three counties with specific HOT lane
authority, existing law authorized regional transportation
agencies to apply to the California Transportation Commission
(CTC) to develop and operate HOT lanes until 2012. This
authority limited CTC to approving up to four HOT lane
projects, two in Northern California and two in Southern
California. The CTC approved HOT lane facilities in the San
Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles County, and Riverside County
under this provision.
4)Creates the San Bernardino County Transportation Commission
(also known as San Bernardino Association of Governments or
SANBAG) to oversee transportation planning and coordination in
the county.
This bill:
1)Authorizes SANBAG to conduct, administer, and operate a
value-pricing program on Interstate 10 and Interstate 15 in
San Bernardino County, including HOT lanes or other toll
facilities.
2)Authorizes SANBAG to set and levy tolls in amounts to cover at
least the following expenses:
a) Capital outlay including design, right-of-way
acquisition, and construction.
b) Operations and maintenance of the facilities.
c) Repair and rehabilitation.
d) Indebtedness, including related financial costs.
e) Reserves.
f) Administration, not to exceed 3% of the revenues.
1)Requires SANBAG to use any excess revenues exclusively for the
benefit of the corridors and to adopt an expenditure plan
describing how it plans to spend excess revenue.
AB 914 (Brown) Page 3 of ?
2)Requires SANBAG to enter into agreements with neighboring
counties providing for the coordination of the toll facilities
operated by each county, and to develop the projects pursuant
to a cooperative agreement with Caltrans.
3)Authorizes SANBAG to issue bonds to finance the projects
pursuant to a majority vote of its governing board.
4)Requires SANBAG to submit a report to the Legislative Analyst
not later than three years after beginning toll collection
that summarizes its findings, conclusions, and recommendations
relating to the value-pricing program.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, the Inland Empire is the
fastest growing region in Southern California. As a result,
the Interstate 10 and Interstate 15 corridors are amongst the
most congested in the state, seeing up to 260,000 and 223,000
vehicles per day respectively. In 2045, these volumes are
expected to reach 668,500 vehicles per day combined, a 38%
increase.
These routes are also utilized as important goods movement
corridors, seeing up to 47,500 trucks per day combined. The
author argues that alternative ways of managing congestion
must be utilized to serve the growing needs in this area.
This bill - by authorizing SANBAG to establish an express lane
program - will work to meet these growing needs and help
alleviate congestion.
2)Similar legislation. AB 194 (Frazier) extends indefinitely
CTC's authority to administratively authorize HOT lanes and
expands the authority to include other toll facilities. If
enacted, AB 194 could provide an avenue for SANBAG to seek
authority to develop a value-pricing program. However, AB 194
could not practically be implemented in time to give SANBAG
the statutory authority it needs to apply for federal
financing programs in a timely manner; hence SANBAG is seeking
the standalone authority in this bill.
3)HOT lanes vs. express lanes. While similar, HOT lanes and
express lanes are at the heart very different. HOT lanes are
high-occupancy vehicle lanes that, when not fully subscribed
by high-occupancy vehicles, can be accessed by single-occupant
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vehicles for a toll. Express lanes, on the other hand, are
toll roads that may allow high-occupancy vehicles access for a
reduced rate or no toll. HOT lanes are designed to maximize
passenger throughput; if successful then a HOT lane collects
few tolls and moves the most people through a corridor.
Express lanes are more focused on raising revenues through
tolls, resulting in moving more vehicles through a corridor,
and not necessarily more people.
According to SANBAG, with this authority it intends to convert
roughly 8 miles of an existing high-occupancy vehicle lane to
a HOT lane and then construct 62 miles of additional tolled
express lanes. While the planning process isn't complete,
SANBAG suggests that it may only allow reduced-rate access to
its express lanes for vehicles with three or more occupants.
Some would argue that this type of scheme does not really
encourage carpooling, but does ensure more capacity for
single-occupant toll payers and therefore more revenue
generation.
Studies show that building more lanes to increase the number
of vehicles through a corridor does not ultimately reduce
congestion but instead inevitably induces more demand for the
facility. This higher vehicle throughput can lead to
expansive land use characterized by sprawl. Alternatively,
focusing on better corridor management and the effective
throughput of people and goods can lead to less environmental
impacts and better land management, consistent with the
Legislature's priorities of the last 15 years. In order to
try to partially mitigate this concern, the committee and
author may wish to amend the bill to require SANBAG to make a
determination that their tolling program will improve corridor
performance in ways such as increased passenger throughput or
improved travel times.
4)Technical amendments.
Page 3, line 40, strike "commission" and replace with
"San Bernardino County Transportation Commission"
Page 4, line 16, following "corridors" add "included in
the value pricing program created by this section."
Page 4, lines 23 and 24, strike "in the County of San
Bernardino" and replace with "included in the value pricing
program created by this section."
Page 4, line 31, strike "in the County of San
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Bernardino" and replace with "included in the value pricing
program created by this section."
Page 4, lines 36 and 37, strike "in the County of San
Bernardino" and replace with "included in the value pricing
program created by this section."
Related Legislation:
AB 2250 (Daly, Chapter 500, Statutes of of 2014) - required any
revenue generated in toll lanes to be used in the corridor in
which it was generated.
SB 983 (Hernández, 2014) - was similar to AB 194. SB 983 was
held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
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 of 2004) - authorized HOT lane
facilities in Alameda, San Diego, and Santa Clara counties.
AB 713 (Goldsmith, Chapter 962, Statutes of 1993) - authorized a
HOT lane facility in San Diego County.
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 69-7
Appr: 17-0
Trans: 15-0
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday,
July 17, 2015.)
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SUPPORT:
American Council of Engineering Companies of California
California Asphalt Pavement Association
City of Ontario
City of San Bernardino
CH2MHILL
Inland Empire Chapter of Women in Transportation
Inland Action
Mobility 21
Orange County Business Council
Riverside County Transportation Commission
San Bernardino Associated Governments
San Diego Association of Governments
Self Help Counties Coalition
Southern California Association of Governments
OPPOSITION:
None received
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