BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1284|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 1284
Author: Baker (R)
Amended: 4/8/15 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANS. & HOUSING COMMITTEE: 11-0, 6/23/15
AYES: Beall, Cannella, Allen, Bates, Gaines, Galgiani, Leyva,
McGuire, Mendoza, Roth, Wieckowski
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 74-0, 5/22/15 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: Bay Area state-owned toll bridges: Toll Bridge
Program Oversight Committee
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill subjects the Toll Bridge Program Oversight
Committee (TBPOC) to the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Requires, generally, 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.
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2)Requires, similarly, 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 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
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, the Senate Transportation and Housing 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 taxpayer
dollars. While the TBPOC adopted an "open meetings policy,"
the policy allows the TBPOC to meet in closed session on "any
matter" for any reason deemed by its members to be in the
public interest. The TBPOC 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
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Page 3
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 TBPOC's work is all but over.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
SUPPORT: (Verified7/8/15)
None received
OPPOSITION: (Verified7/8/15)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 74-0, 5/22/15
AYES: Achadjian, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla,
Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau,
Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly,
Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina
Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez,
Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden,
Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low,
Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin,
Nazarian, Obernolte, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon,
Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark
Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Alejo, Jones, O'Donnell, Olsen, Waldron,
Weber
AB 1284
Page 4
Prepared by:Eric Thronson / T. & H. / (916) 651-4121
7/8/15 16:35:05
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