California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1098

Introduced by Assembly Member Bloom

February 27, 2015

An act to amend Section 65089 of the Government Code, relating to transportation.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1098, as introduced, Bloom. Transportation: congestion management.

Existing law requires a congestion management plan to be developed, adopted, and updated biennially by a designated agency for every county that includes an urbanized area.

This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 65089 of the Government Code is
amended to read:

65089.  

(a) A congestion management program shall be
developed, adopted, and updated biennially, consistent with the
schedule for adopting and updating the regional transportation
improvement program, for every county that includes an urbanized
area, and shall include every city and the county. The program
shall be adopted at a noticed public hearing of the agency. The
program shall be developed in consultation with, and with the
cooperation of, the transportation planning agency, regional
transportation providers, local governments, the department, and
the air pollution control district or the air quality management
district, either by the county transportation commission, or by
another public agency, as designated by resolutions adopted by
the county board of supervisors and the city councils of a majority
of the cities representing a majority of the population in the
incorporated area of the county.

(b) The program shall contain all of the following elements:

(1) (A) Traffic level of service standards established for a
system of highways and roadways designated by the agency. The
highway and roadway system shall include at a minimum all state
highways and principal arterials. No highway or roadway
designated as a part of the system shall be removed from the
system. All new state highways and principal arterials shall be
designated as part of the system, except when it is within an infill
opportunity zone. Level of service (LOS) shall be measured by
Circular 212, by the most recent version of the Highway Capacity
Manual, or by a uniform methodology adopted by the agency that
is consistent with the Highway Capacity Manual. The
determination as to whether an alternative method is consistent
with the Highway Capacity Manual shall be made by the regional
agency, except that the department instead shall make this
determination if either (i) the regional agency is also the agency,
as those terms are defined in Section 65088.1, or (ii) the department
is responsible for preparing the regional transportation
improvement plan for the county.

(B) In no case shall the LOS standards established be below the
level of service E or the current level, whichever is farthest from
level of service A except when the area is in an infill opportunity
zone. When the begin delete level of service end delete begin insert LOS end insert on a segment or at an
intersection fails to attain the established level of service standard
outside an infill opportunity zone, a deficiency plan shall be
adopted pursuant to Section 65089.4.

(2) A performance element that includes performance measures
to evaluate current and future multimodal system performance for
the movement of people and goods. At a minimum, these
performance measures shall incorporate highway and roadway
system performance, and measures established for the frequency
and routing of public transit, and for the coordination of transit
service provided by separate operators. These performance
measures shall support mobility, air quality, land use, and economic
objectives, and shall be used in the development of the capital
improvement program required pursuant to paragraph (5),
deficiency plans required pursuant to Section 65089.4, and the
land use analysis program required pursuant to paragraph (4).

(3) A travel demand element that promotes alternative
transportation methods, including, but not limited to, carpools,
vanpools, transit, bicycles, and park-and-ride lots; improvements
in the balance between jobs and housing; and other strategies,
including, but not limited to, flexible work hours, telecommuting,
and parking management programs. The agency shall consider
parking cash-out programs during the development and update of
the travel demand element.

(4) A program to analyze the impacts of land use decisions made
by local jurisdictions on regional transportation systems, including
an estimate of the costs associated with mitigating those impacts.
This program shall measure, to the extent possible, the impact to
the transportation system using the performance measures
described in paragraph (2). In no case shall the program include
an estimate of the costs of mitigating the impacts of interregional
travel. The program shall provide credit for local public and private
contributions to improvements to regional transportation systems.
However, in the case of toll road facilities, credit shall only be
allowed for local public and private contributions which are
unreimbursed from toll revenues or other state or federal sources.
The agency shall calculate the amount of the credit to be provided.
The program defined under this section may require
implementation through the requirements and analysis of the
California Environmental Quality Act begin insert (Division 13 (commencing
with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code) end insert , in order to
avoid duplication.

(5) A seven-year capital improvement program, developed using
the performance measures described in paragraph (2) to determine
effective projects that maintain or improve the performance of the
multimodal system for the movement of people and goods, to
mitigate regional transportation impacts identified pursuant to
paragraph (4). The program shall conform to transportation-related
vehicle emission air quality mitigation measures, and include any
project that will increase the capacity of the multimodal system.
It is the intent of the Legislature that, when roadway projects are
identified in the program, consideration be given for maintaining
bicycle access and safety at a level comparable to that which
existed prior to the improvement or alteration. The capital
improvement program may also include safety, maintenance, and
rehabilitation projects that do not enhance the capacity of the
system but are necessary to preserve the investment in existing
facilities.

(c) The agency, in consultation with the regional agency, cities,
and the county, shall develop a uniform data base on traffic impacts
for use in a countywide transportation computer model and shall
approve transportation computer models of specific areas within
the county that will be used by local jurisdictions to determine the
quantitative impacts of development on the circulation system that
are based on the countywide model and standardized modeling
assumptions and conventions. The computer models shall be
consistent with the modeling methodology adopted by the regional
planning agency. The data bases used in the models shall be
consistent with the data bases used by the regional planning agency.
Where the regional agency has jurisdiction over two or more
counties, the data bases used by the agency shall be consistent with
the data bases used by the regional agency.

(d) (1) The city or county in which a commercial development
will implement a parking cash-out program that is included in a
congestion management program pursuant to subdivision (b), or
in a deficiency plan pursuant to Section 65089.4, shall grant to
that development an appropriate reduction in the parking
requirements otherwise in effect for new commercial development.

(2) At the request of an existing commercial development that
has implemented a parking cash-out program, the city or county
shall grant an appropriate reduction in the parking requirements
otherwise applicable based on the demonstrated reduced need for
parking, and the space no longer needed for parking purposes may
be used for other appropriate purposes.

(e) Pursuant to the federal Intermodal Surface Transportation
Efficiency Act of 1991 and regulations adopted pursuant to the
act, the department shall submit a request to the Federal Highway
Administration Division Administrator to accept the congestion
management program in lieu of development of a new congestion
management system otherwise required by the act.