BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND HOUSING Senator Jim Beall, Chair 2015 - 2016 Regular Bill No: SB 64 Hearing Date: 4/28/2015 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Author: |Liu | |----------+------------------------------------------------------| |Version: |1/5/2015 | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Consultant|Randy Chinn | |: | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUBJECT: California Transportation Plan DIGEST: This bill requires the California Transportation Commission (CTC) to review the California Department of Transportation's 2015 California Transportation Plan and prepare specific recommendations for statewide integrated multimodal transportation system improvements. ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1)Establishes the CTC to advise and assist the Administration and the Legislature in formulating and evaluating state policies and plans for transportation programs. Every four years, the regional transportation planning agencies are required to submit their regional transportation plans to the CTC. These long-range plans shall provide for a coordinated and balanced transportation system utilizing mass transit, highways, rail, maritime, walking, biking, and other modes of transportation. Beginning December 31, 2015, and every five years thereafter, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is required to update the California Transportation Plan (Plan). The Plan shall describe the state's transportation policies and performance objectives and shall incorporate elements of the regional transportation plans. Consultation and SB 64 (Liu) Page 2 of ? coordination with the CTC, Strategic Growth Council, Air Resources Board, and others is required. 2)Requires Caltrans to submit to the CTC by June 30, 2015, an interregional transportation strategic plan. This plan is required to be "action-oriented and pragmatic." This bill requires the CTC to review the 2015 Plan and provide recommendations for statewide integrated multimodal transportation system improvements to the Legislature and the Governor by December 31, 2016, and every five years thereafter. COMMENTS: 1)Purpose. The author believes that "the direction of California environmental protection, transportation, housing, and infrastructure financing policies has been to break down the silos created by single-purpose bureaucratic organizations and legislative mandates. The 21st Century goal now is to produce integrated planning processes that recognize the relationships among land use; transportation and housing; air quality; and energy planning, regulatory, and infrastructure funding processes." The author believes that the Plan, a twice-a- decade document, should reflect this outlook and provide actionable suggestions for the Governor and Legislature. Moreover, the author is looking to the CTC to analyze the Plan and make specific recommendations on actions the Legislature should take to achieve its goals. 2)Sustainable planning. The link between housing, land use, transportation, energy use, and climate change has become evident, a notion broadly captured under the heading of "sustainability." 3)Who has the right perspective? The author suggests that an organization independent of the Administration should analyze the Plan and make specific recommendations. As a commission whose members are mostly not state employees, the CTC is somewhat independent of Caltrans and the state Administration, though it does reside within the California Transportation Agency. A more independent alternative would be the Institute for Transportation Studies within the University of California system. 4)Broader and more specific. The bill limits the CTC to SB 64 (Liu) Page 3 of ? recommendations for statewide integrated multimodal transportation system improvements. But there may be other recommendations in the Plan that require action by the Legislature. The author and committee may wish to consider removing this limitation on the CTC and focus the CTC on action-oriented, pragmatic recommendations. This language was employed last year in SB 486 (DeSaulnier, Chapter 917 of 2014) to help focus a Caltrans report. Related Legislation: SB 486 (DeSaulnier, Chapter 917 of 2014) - requires Caltrans to submit an interregional transportation strategic plan to the CTC by June 30, 2015, among other things. SB 391 (Liu, Chapter 585 of 2009) - updated the Plan to require consideration of mobility, integration, connectivity, greenhouse gas emissions, and environmental protection, and to require consultation with the CTC, Strategic Growth Council, Air Resources Board, and others. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on Wednesday, April 22, 2015.) SUPPORT: None received OPPOSITION: None received -- END -- SB 64 (Liu) Page 4 of ?