Amended in Assembly March 17, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1889

Introduced by Assembly Member Mullin

February 11, 2016

An act begin insert to repeal Division 16 (commencing with Section 160000) of the Public Utilities Code, end insert relating to transportation.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1889, as amended, Mullin. begin delete Transportation funding: CalTrain. end delete begin insert Peninsula Rail Transit District. end insert

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Existing law, operative under certain conditions, redesignates the Peninsula Corridor Study Joint Powers Board as the Peninsula Rail Transit District, comprised of 9 members appointed from various governing bodies situated in the City and County of San Francisco and the Counties of San Mateo and Santa Clara, with specified powers.

end insert begin insert

This bill would repeal obsolete provisions relating to the Peninsula Rail Transit District.

end insert begin delete

Existing law provides for the creation of the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board, which operates CalTrain as the commuter rail service along the San Francisco Peninsula commute corridor.

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This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to provide the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board with the necessary tools to explore options that will help CalTrain obtain a dedicated source of funding.

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Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

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begin insert SECTION end insert begin insert 1 end insert begin insert . end insert   

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begin insert Division 16 (commencing with Section 160000)
of the end insert begin insert Public Utilities Code end insert begin insert is repealed. end insert

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SECTION 1.  

The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:

(a) CalTrain is the only transit system in the San Francisco Bay
area without a permanent, dedicated source of funding. Other
agencies rely on money from sales taxes, property taxes, state
funding, and other sources.

(b) As a result of not having a dedicated source of funding,
CalTrain has been wrestling with a continuing fiscal crisis - a
budget that starts out short of funds every year.

(c) For the last several years, ____ percent of CalTrain’s annual
operating budget has been covered by passenger fares, parking
fees, and other revenues. Annual contributions from the three
partners in the CalTrain system have been in the range of 40
percent.

(d) With a dedicated source of funding, CalTrain could more
readily meet the demands of more than 60,000 daily riders that
depend on CalTrain to get from their homes to some of the nation’s
most high-profile companies in San Francisco and Silicon Valley.

(e) The ability of the region’s infrastructure to keep pace with
job and population growth continues to be one of the biggest
barriers to sustained economic growth and competitiveness in the
San Francisco Bay area. By providing a reliable daily commute
alternative for residents and employees avoiding the congested
Interstate 280 and 101 corridors, CalTrain has become one of the
San Francisco Bay area’s fastest growing transit systems.

(f) Dedicated funding will support CalTrain’s ability to remain
the transit backbone of the San Francisco Peninsula commute
corridor and better serve the needs of the region.

(g) CalTrain is managed by a Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers
Board (JPB) that consists of a partnership between the San Mateo
County Transit District (SamTrans), the Santa Clara Valley
Transportation Authority (VTA), and the City and County of San
Francisco through the San Francisco Municipal Transportation
Agency (SFMTA).

SEC. 2.  

It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation
to provide the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board with the
necessary tools to explore options obtain a dedicated source of
funding.

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