BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                    AB 2411


                                                                    Page  1





          Date of Hearing:  April 20, 2016


                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS


                               Lorena Gonzalez, Chair


          AB  
          2411 (Frazier) - As Introduced February 19, 2016


           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |Policy       |Transportation                 |Vote:|16 - 0       |
          |Committee:   |                               |     |             |
          |             |                               |     |             |
          |             |                               |     |             |
          |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------|
          |             |                               |     |             |
          |             |                               |     |             |
          |             |                               |     |             |
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 


          Urgency:  No  State Mandated Local Program:  NoReimbursable:  No


          SUMMARY:


          This bill deletes the statutory transfer of miscellaneous  
          revenues within the State Highway Account (SHA) to the  
          Transportation Debt Service Fund, and instead, retains these  
          revenues in the SHA, to be used solely for purposes delineated  
          in Article XIX of the California Constitution.


          FISCAL EFFECT:








                                                                    AB 2411


                                                                    Page  2







          Miscellaneous revenues to the SHA have ranged from $60 million  
          to $70 million annually in the last four years. This bill would  
          increase transportation funding by this amount and require a  
          like amount of General Fund revenues to instead pay  
          transportation bond debt service. 


          COMMENTS:


          Background and Purpose.  Article XIX of the state Constitution  
          restricts the 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. These taxes are the  
          main state source Caltrans' funding. Long-standing policy held  
          that any money generated by Caltrans, for example, from document  
          sales, property rentals, or surplus property sales (i.e  
          miscellaneous revenue), was similarly Article XIX protected. To  
          address the state's recent budget challenges, however, budget  
          trailer bill legislation instead directed miscellaneous revenues  
          toward retirement of debt on state transportation bonds.


          The author argues that, with the state's General Fund budget no  
          longer in crisis and the state's large and growing unmet need  
          for transportation funding, these annual revenues should once  
          again be used for transportation needs.


          Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081












                                                                    AB 2411


                                                                    Page  3