BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1364
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Date of Hearing: January 11, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Jim Frazier, Chair
AB 1364
(Linder) - As Introduced February 27, 2015
SUBJECT: California Transportation Commission
SUMMARY: Removes the California Transportation Commission (CTC)
from the California Transportation Agency (CalSTA) and
establishes the commission as an independent entity in state
government.
EXISTING LAW:
1)As provided for in the California Constitution, authorizes the
Legislature to delegate to the Governor the authority to
assign and reorganize functions among executive branch
officers, agencies, and their employees.
2)Establishes CalSTA in state government, consisting of the
Department of the California Highway Patrol, the CTC, the
Department of Motor Vehicles, the Department of
Transportation, the High-Speed Rail Authority, and the Board
of Pilot Commissioners for the Bays of San Francisco, San
Pablo, and Suisun.
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3)Generally vests agency secretaries with responsibility for
sound fiscal management of each department within their agency
and directs the agency secretary to review and approve the
proposed budget for each department. Furthermore,
specifically directs agency secretaries to do the following
for each department under their purview:
a) Hold the head of each department responsible for
management control over the administrative, fiscal, and
program performance of the department;
b) Evaluate the performance of each department; and
c) Seek to continually improve each department's
organization structure, operating policies, and management
information systems.
4)Establishes the 13-member CTC and provides that the commission
is responsible for appointing an executive director who is to
serve at the pleasure of the commission.
5)Directs the CTC to advise and assist the Secretary of
Transportation and the Legislature in formulating and
evaluating state policies and plans for transportation
programs in the state.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.
COMMENTS: The Legislature originally created the CTC in 1978 as
a result of concerns that the state lacked a single, unified
transportation policy. The 13-member commission oversees and
coordinates the activities of the state's transportation sector,
including planning and allocating money for the construction of
highway, rail, and transit improvements throughout California.
The commission is statutorily vested with the responsibility to
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advise both the Governor and the Legislature on transportation
issues.
In 2012, Governor Brown proposed a major restructuring of the
Executive Branch, presumably to improve clarity, organization,
and accountability by eliminating agencies, forming new agencies
around better focused missions, and bringing more state
activities under agency structures for greater administrative
efficiency. The plan included the disbanding of the Business,
Transportation, and Housing Agency, the creation of CalSTA, and
the inclusion of the CTC within CalSTA.
The CTC move was one of the more contested components of the
reorganization plan. At a hearing before California's Little
Hoover Commission (which was responsible for reviewing the plan
and making recommendations to the Legislature as to whether the
plan should go forward or not) opponents to the CTC move
suggested that the CTC's independence was vital to the
administration of the state's transportation programs and that
placing the CTC within CalSTA would threatened that
independence. They cited as examples to support this assertion
the fact that the CalSTA secretary is statutorily responsible
for management control over the administrative, fiscal, and
program performance of the CTC, yet the CTC executive director,
who serves at the pleasure of the commissioners, is accountable
for these functions to the commissioners, not the secretary.
In its recommendation to the Legislature, the Little Hoover
Commission generally supported the reorganization plan but
suggested that California had been well-served by the policy
independence of the CTC and recommended to the Legislature that
it create a firewall to protect the independence of the
commission, both by letter and in spirit. The Legislature
responded to the recommendation by passing [AB 1458 (Buchanan),
Chapter 138, Statutes of 2012] that specifically states that the
CTC shall retain its status as an independent entity to perform
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its duties and functions prescribed to it under existing law.
Despite enactment of AB 1458, questions remain as to whether the
CTC is sufficiently able to act independently or whether it is
subject to undue influence by the Administration. In response,
the author introduced AB 1364 to ensure that the CTC is able to
independently perform its duties with autonomy from the Governor
and Legislature. According to the author, "As the Legislature
continues to discuss how to best address our struggling
infrastructure, we must look at all options. While funding is
often times talked about the most, the Legislature must
reexamine how we do business as well. Ensuring the CTC is an
independent agency will allow them to be free from any political
whims of the Legislature and Administration while continuing to
make decisions based on need."
The author accurately notes that the Legislature increasingly
looks to the CTC for guidance, policy development, and
administration for complicated transportation programs. Often,
the CTC serves as a mediator of sorts between state and regional
transportation interests. Additionally, the Legislature often
looks to the CTC to provide oversight of Caltrans programs.
Given these important roles that the CTC plays in the
administration of the state's transportation policies and
programs and given that questions still linger about its
independence, it may be time to reestablish bona fide CTC
independence by moving the commission out from under the purview
of CalSTA. The benefits of this will likely outweigh whatever
organizational efficiencies the Governor's reorganization plan
sought to attain.
Previous legislation: AB 1458 (Buchanan), Chapter 138, Statutes
of 2012, declared that the CTC is to retain independent
authority to perform its duties and functions as prescribed by
existing law.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
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Support
None on file
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093