BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2222
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
2222 (Holden)
As Amended May 31 2016
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Transportation |16-0 |Frazier, Linder, | |
| | |Baker, Bloom, Brown, | |
| | |Chu, Daly, Dodd, | |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, | |
| | |Gomez, Kim, Mathis, | |
| | |Medina, Melendez, | |
| | |Nazarian, O'Donnell | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |18-2 |Gonzalez, Bloom, |Bigelow, Gallagher |
| | |Bonilla, Bonta, | |
| | |Calderon, Chang, | |
| | |Daly, Eggman, Eduardo | |
| | |Garcia, Roger | |
| | |Hernández, Holden, | |
| | |Jones, Obernolte, | |
| | |Quirk, Santiago, | |
| | |Wagner, Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
AB 2222
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SUMMARY: Creates a Transit Pass Program to be administered by
the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to
provide free or reduced cost transit passes to low income
students. Funding for the program would be appropriated by the
Legislature from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF).
Specifically, this bill:
1)Makes finding and declarations that increasing the use of
public transportation is a vital component to reducing
greenhouse gas emissions in California, and student transit
pass programs have been shown to increase transit ridership.
2)Authorizes funding to be appropriated by the Legislature from
the GGRF to be allocated to eligible transit providers for the
Transit Pass Program.
3)Creates the Transit Pass Program to be administered by
Caltrans to support local transit pass programs that provide
free or reduced fare transit passes to low income students
from K-12 public schools, community colleges, the California
State University (CSU) and the University of California (UC).
4)Defines low income students as:
a) Pupils attending middle or high-schools that are
eligible for funding under Title I of the No Child Left
Behind Act;
b) Students attending community college who qualify for a
waiver of student fees; and,
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c) Students attending a CSU or UC who receive an award
under the Cal Grant Program or the federal Pell Grant
Program.
1)Defines eligible participants as a public agency, (including a
transit operator), school districts, community college
districts, the CSU, and the UC.
2)Defines eligible transit provider as a transportation agency,
transportation planning agency, or a county transportation
commission that receives funds from State Transit Assistance
(STA).
3)Requires Caltrans, in coordination with the Air Resources
Board (ARB), to develop guidelines and reporting requirements
for the program, including ensuring that existing transit pass
programs expend funds to expand eligibility or further reduce
the cost of the transit passes, and developing performance
measures to evaluate the effectiveness of the program.
4)Requires transit agencies and eligible participants to enter
into agreements to ensure transit passes are distributed to
students.
5)Allows funds to be expended to support new or existing transit
pass programs.
6)Allows transit agencies to give priority to applicants with an
existing transit pass program provided they can demonstrate
that the funds will further reduce the cost of the transit
pass or expand eligibility.
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7)Authorizes transit pass programs can be funded from other
sources, including the Affordable Housing and Sustainable
Communities, the Low Carbon Transportation, and the Low Carbon
Transit Operations programs (LCTOP).
8)Requires that free or reduced fare transit passes offered
under the program are counted at full retail value for the
purposes of the transit operator's eligibility for STA
funding.
9)Requires that each eligible transit agency receive a minimum
allocation of $20,000 and the remainder of the funds be
distributed based on existing STA formulas.
10)Requires that any funds that are not utilized by a transit
agency in a fiscal year be added to the allocation for the
program for the next fiscal year.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, administrative costs to Caltrans and the ARB,
assuming a $50 million annual program, would be around $750,000
annually to: develop and update program guidelines; develop
performance measures and quantification methodology to determine
greenhouse gas reductions; determine reporting requirements;
determine allocations; track disbursements; and ensure
compliance with program requirements.
COMMENTS: This bill would establish a transit pass program to
provide free or reduced cost transit passes to low income K-12,
community college and university students throughout California.
The program would be funded by an appropriation of the
Legislature from the GGRF. The program would be administered by
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Caltrans and the funds would be distributed by the Controller
according to existing transit formulas. The program structure
mirrors the existing LCTOP which provides funds from the GGRF
for the expansion of transit services.
Currently, many transit agencies in California provide free or
reduced fare transit passes to students for use on their
systems. For example, the San Francisco (SF) Muni offers the
Free Muni for Youth program that gives free access to Muni to
low and moderate income youth, from five to 18 years old.
Sacramento Regional Transit also offers students from age five
to 18 a 50% discounted fare for monthly passes. The Los Angeles
County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) has been
offering reduced fares for both K-12 and college students since
the early 1990s. Specifically, Metro has programs for both
college students, with a 54% discount on a monthly pass, and a
76% discount for the K-12 program. Most of the programs require
proof of the students being registered in school; however the SF
Muni program is based upon family income level. Additionally,
transit agencies have developed agreements directly with schools
in their jurisdictions to partner and provide free or reduced
passes to all students. The University of California, Los
Angeles (UCLA) and the University of Southern California (USC)
provide free passes for their students in partnership with
Metro. In the Sacramento area, the University of California,
Davis offers a variety of travel options at reduced rates for
students and faculty through their goClub. Most transit
agencies subsidize the free or reduced fare programs as part of
their existing operating budget or utilize funding from other
local or private sources. Additionally, the current LCTOP,
funded from the GGRF, allows transit agencies to use funds for
transit passes.
According to the author, this bill would provide hard-working,
budget conscious students with low-cost transit passes that will
enable them to commute to and from their destination, while
providing local transportation agencies with statistically
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proven source of new riders. A study conducted by UCLA found
that high-school and college students represent one of the
largest segments of "drive alone" automobile users in
California. The study found that providing free or low-cost
access to public transit significantly reduced the demand for
student parking at college campuses and that over half of
college students polled favored increasing student fees to help
fund low-cost transit programs.
As the state and regions continue to work toward the goal of
reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as well as cutting other
forms of air pollution, as set forth in AB 32 (Núñez), Chapter
488, Statutes of 2006, increasing the mode shift from single
occupant car trips to public transportation is critical for
success. Encouraging people to learn about and feel confident
using public transportation at a young age will support this
effort. The state is currently spending cap and trade funds to
expand transit capacity to attract new riders and expanding
student transit pass programs could help this effort.
Committee Concerns: It is unclear how recipient transit
agencies or schools would expand an existing transit pass
program or create a new program only for low income students as
defined in the bill. Additionally, as stated previously
increasing single occupant vehicle mode shift to transit is a
top priority and limiting the transit pass program to only low
income students may negatively impact this goal.
Please see the policy committee analysis for full discussion of
this bill.
Analysis Prepared by:
Melissa White / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093 FN:
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