BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2411
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Date of Hearing: April 4, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Jim Frazier, Chair
AB 2411
(Frazier) - As Introduced February 19, 2016
SUBJECT: Transportation revenues
SUMMARY: Limits the use of miscellaneous revenue, for example,
from the sale of surplus property, only to purposes authorized
in Article XIX of the California Constitution. Specifically,
this bill:
1)Deletes the transfer of miscellaneous revenues from the State
Highway Account to the Transportation Debt Service Fund.
2)Instead, requires the miscellaneous revenues to be retained in
the State Highway Account and to be used solely for purposes
delineated in Article XIX of the California Constitution.
3)Exempts proceeds from the sale of properties in the State
Route 710 corridor from these provisions.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Provided for in the Constitution of California, restricts the
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use of revenues from taxes imposed by the state on motor
vehicle fuels to the research, planning, construction,
improvement, maintenance, and operation of public streets and
highways and exclusive public mass transit guideways,
including mitigation of their environmental effects.
2)Requires miscellaneous revenue deposited into the State
Highway Account, for example, from the sale of documents,
rental of state property, or sale of state property (except
for the sale of property along the State Route 710 corridor)
to be transferred from the State Highway Account to the
Transportation Debt Service Fund to pay debt service on
general obligation bonds authorized by passage of Proposition
116 in 1990, the Clean Air and Transportation Improvement of
1990.
3)Creates the State Route 710 Rehabilitation Account and
requires the California Department of Transportation
(Caltrans) to deposit proceeds from sales of properties it
owns within the State Route 710 corridor into the account to
be used for allocation by the California Transportation
Commission exclusively to fund projects located in the that
corridor.
FISCAL EFFECT: Revenue derived from miscellaneous income
sources amounts to approximately $70 million annually.
COMMENTS: Caltrans gets the majority of its funding from gas
tax revenue. This revenue is protected by Article XIX of the
State Constitution for specific transportation uses.
Long-standing policy held that any money generated by Caltrans,
for example, from document sales, property rentals, or surplus
property sales, was similarly Article XIX protected. This
policy began to degrade over time as the State's General Fund
began needing support. Increasingly, miscellaneous revenue
sources that were not specifically identified in the
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Constitution were transferred away from transportation and put
to General Fund uses.
Today, this updated policy is statutorily established and
revenue derived from these miscellaneous income sources,
approximately $70 million annually, is used to provide General
Fund relief by paying debt service on transportation-related
general obligation bonds, specifically on bonds authorized by
passage of Proposition 116 in 1990, the Clean Air and
Transportation Improvement of 1990.
The General Fund is no longer in crisis. Funding for
transportation, however, is. The Governor declared a $6 billion
annual unfunded need for state highways alone and local streets
and roads needs are greater still. AB 2411 stops the transfer
of miscellaneous revenue from the State Highway Account to the
Transportation Debt Service Fund for General Fund relief. At a
time when the Legislature is considering major transportation
funding proposals, the diversion of transportation revenue to
the General Fund seems appropriate.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Automobile Club of Southern California
Opposition
None on file
AB 2411
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Analysis Prepared by:Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093