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
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|Author: |Liu |
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|Version: |1/5/2015 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant|Randy Chinn |
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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
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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
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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
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