BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1873
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Date of Hearing: May 11, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
1873 (Holden) - As Amended April 19, 2016
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill establishes a Board of Infrastructure Planning,
Development, and Finance within the Office of Planning and
Research. Specifically, this bill:
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1)Designates the following as members of the Board:
a) Governor
b) Treasurer
c) Controller
d) Secretary of Transportation
e) Director of General Services
f) One member appointed by the Senate President pro Tempore
g) One member appointed by the Assembly Speaker
2)Requires the Board to categorize and recommend the priority of
the state's infrastructure needs and develop funding to
finance those projects.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Under current law, the Department of Finance is required to
annually develop a five-year state infrastructure plan for
inclusion in the Governor's annual budget. While this would seem
to provide a foundation for the Board's work, based on the
description below, the Board work is to encompass both state and
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local infrastructure. (Curiously, the board includes no
representatives of local government.) Identifying priorities and
funding mechanisms for state and local could be a comprehensive
exercise requiring several staff positions at a cost of several
hundred thousand dollars for the initial work product.
COMMENTS:
Purpose. The author states, "California presently lacks a
unified body to oversee all infrastructure planning and project
development, resulting in California's infrastructure needs
frequently being addressed on a subject-by-subject basis, and
only once a portion of the state's infrastructure has reached
the point of near-failure."
To alleviate this perceived lack of unitary planning the author
proposes to create a new government entity. The Board
established by this bill would be meant to oversee the planning
and financing of infrastructure projects at all levels of
government throughout the state, including local governments and
special districts.
Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
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