BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND HOUSING
Senator Jim Beall, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 1284 Hearing Date: 6/23/2015
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|Author: |Baker |
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|Version: |4/8/2015 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant|Eric Thronson |
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SUBJECT: Bay Area state-owned toll bridges: Toll Bridge
Program Oversight Committee
DIGEST: This bill subjects the Toll Bridge Program Oversight
Committee to the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Generally requires, under the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act,
that all meetings of a state body be open and public and that
all persons be permitted to attend and participate in any
meeting of a state body.
2)Similarly requires, under the Ralph M. Brown Act, that all
meetings of a local government body be open and public and
that all persons be permitted to attend and participate in any
meeting.
3)Establishes the Toll Bridge Program Oversight Committee
(TBPOC) consisting of the Director of the California
Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the Executive
Directors of the California Transportation Commission and the
Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
4)Assigns to the TBPOC the responsibility of reviewing project
status, costs, and schedules; evaluating project changes and
resolving project issues; and providing program direction for
AB 1284 (Baker) Page 2 of ?
all phases of the San Francisco Bay Area toll bridge projects.
5)Exempts the TBPOC from the requirements of both the
Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act and the Ralph M. Brown Act.
This bill subjects the TBPOC to the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting
Act.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, transparency is essential
to accountability, and the TBPOC needs transparency. Through
2013 and 2014, this committee held a series of informational
hearings on the construction problems with the Bay Bridge.
The committee's final report detailed findings from a number
of outside entities, including Caltrans itself. All reports
identified an existing lack of transparency to the public and
oversight entities for the Bay Bridge project, despite
receiving billions of tax payer dollars. While the TBPOC
adopted an "open meetings policy," the policy allows the
committee to meet in closed session on "any matter" for any
reason deemed by its members to be in the public interest.
The committee can similarly expunge the record so that there
is no report that a meeting took place or action was taken.
The author introduced this bill to ensure much-needed
transparency within the TBPOC's meetings.
2)Is this bill necessary? The work of the TBPOC will be ending
shortly. All of the state-owned toll bridges under its
oversight have achieved seismic safety, and the one remaining
project, the demolition of the old east span of the San
Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, is due to be completed next
year. While concern about the transparency of the TBPOC is
legitimate, it is unclear what this bill will accomplish now
that the committee's work is all but over.
Related Legislation:
AB 144 (Hancock, Chapter 71, Statutes of 2005) - among other
things, established the TBPOC and exempted it from open meeting
laws.
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 74-0
Appr: 17-0
AB 1284 (Baker) Page 3 of ?
LGov: 9-0
Trans: 15-0
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday,
June 17, 2015.)
SUPPORT:
None received
OPPOSITION:
None received
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