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 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Author: |Baker | |----------+------------------------------------------------------| |Version: |4/8/2015 | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Consultant|Eric Thronson | |: | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 -- END --