BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 914
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(Without Reference to File)
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB
914 (Brown)
As Amended September 4, 2015
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: | 69-7 | (May 28, |SENATE: | | (September 11, |
| | |2015) | | |2015) |
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(vote not available)
Original Committee Reference: TRANS.
SUMMARY: Grants the San Bernardino County Transportation
Commission (Commission) authority to develop high-occupancy toll
(HOT) lanes and other facilities, under certain conditions.
The Senate amendments:
1)Limit the authority for the Commission to operate toll
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facilities only if the program will improve the performance of
the affected corridor.
2)Provide technical clarifications regarding toll revenue
expenditures.
3)Clarify the Commission's responsibility to enter into
agreements with the California Highway Patrol (CHP) and to
reimburse the CHP as well as the California Department of
Transportation (Caltrans) for costs related to the toll
facility.
4)Make enactment of the bill contingent upon enactment of AB 194
(Frazier) of the current legislative session, which
establishes a process whereby regional transportation agencies
or Caltrans may develop toll facilities.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee:
1)Unknown costs and revenue gains for the Commission to develop
and operate HOT lanes and express lanes (local funds). For
illustrative purposes, HOT lanes administered by the Los
Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Agency generate
approximately $17 million annually.
2)Caltrans costs for ongoing maintenance and CHP costs for
ongoing enforcement of new toll lane facilities would be fully
recovered from toll revenues, pursuant to required agreements
with the Commission.
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
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vehicles to use a high-occupancy vehicle (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.
San Bernardino Associated Governments (SANBAG), which is also
legally organized as the Commission, is sponsoring this bill.
The agency is responsible for cooperative 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 Interstate 10 (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
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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.
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 this bill to provide an alternative way of managing
congestion to serve the growing needs of the area.
Supporters believe this bill 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.
This bill is opposed by one individual who objects to the
imposition of debt that will be needed to finance the
value-pricing program.
There is no opposition on file.
Analysis Prepared by:
Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093 FN:
0002310
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