BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                      SB 64


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          Date of Hearing:   June 22, 2015


                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION


                                 Jim Frazier, Chair


          SB  
          64 (Liu) - As Amended May 6, 2015


          SENATE VOTE:  36-2


          SUBJECT:  California Transportation Plan.


          SUMMARY:  Directs the California Transportation Commission (CTC)  
          to review recommendations in the California Transportation Plan  
          (CTP) developed by the California Department of Transportation  
          (Caltrans) and to make its own specific recommendations for  
          transportation system improvements to the Legislature and the  
          Governor.


          EXISTING LAW: 


          1)Vests CTC with responsibility to advise and assist the  
            Secretary of the California State Transportation Agency  
            (CalSTA) and the Legislature in formulating and evaluating  
            state policies and plans for California's transportation  
            programs. 



          2)Requires CTC to submit to the Legislature an annual report  








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            that, among other things, identifies timely and relevant  
            transportation issues facing California and that may include a  
            discussion of any significant upcoming transportation issues  
            anticipated to be of concern to the public and the  
            Legislature.  



          3)Requires Caltrans to prepare a long-range transportation plan,  
            the CTP, and to update the plan every five years.  The CTP is  
            to include all of the following:


             a)   A policy element that describes the state's  
               transportation policies and system performance objectives;

             b)   A strategies element that incorporates the broad system  
               concepts and strategies synthesized from the adopted  
               regional transportation plans; and

             c)   A recommendations element that includes economic  
               forecasts and recommendations to the Legislature and the  
               Governor to achieve the plan's broad system concepts,  
               strategies, and performance objectives.

          FISCAL EFFECT:  Unknown


          COMMENTS:  SB 391 (Liu), Chapter 585, Statutes of 2009, directed  
          Caltrans to develop the CTP, a long-range, statewide  
          transportation plan intended to identify the integrated  
          multi-modal transportation system needed to move people and  
          freight and to achieve the state's greenhouse gas emission  
          reduction goals.  SB 391 requires the CTP to be updated every  
          five years.  












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          Last session, the Legislature passed SB 486 (DeSaulnier),  
          Chapter 917, Statutes of 2014, to link the CTP with Caltrans'  
          other planning and programming processes.  The linear process  
          set forth in SB 486 is meant to ensure that only those  
          transportation projects that support the state's broad policy  
          objectives and strategies, as set forth in the CTP, are planned,  
          environmentally reviewed, designed, and funded.  Consequently,  
          the significance of the CTP should not be underestimated because  
          it forms the basis for future investment decisions that will  
          affect California's transportation system.  





          The next iteration of the updated CTP is due to be completed by  
          December 31, 2015.  Caltrans is circulating a draft version of  
          the plan for comment and the draft has created quite a stir  
          within the transportation community.  For example, CTC, in its  
          comments to Caltrans about the draft, asserts that "it is  
          evident that Caltrans is planning for significant actions that  
          will fundamentally alter how Californians will utilize our  
          transportation system."  CTC criticizes several aspects of the  
          draft CTP, for example:





          1)CTC suggests the CTP inappropriately lacks balance between  
            California's greenhouse gas emission reduction goals and the  
            state's economic and mobility goals.  



          2)CTC argues that road capacity projects, in addition to other  
            project types, "must be strategically planned to address  
            California's growing population and promote a robust economy."  








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             CTC takes umbrage with statements made in the CTP such as the  
            direction to "avoid projects that add road capacity" and "any  
            transportation projects on the State Highway System or on  
            local streets that are capacity increasing should not be  
            supported for funding." 



          Others similarly voiced concerns regarding the draft CTP.  For  
          example, the California Association of Councils of Government  
          (CalCOG) contends that the CTP makes assumptions about things  
          like road pricing, electric vehicle market penetration, and more  
          that would never survive the fiscal-constraint and environmental  
          review restrictions that apply to regional transportation plans  
          and sustainable communities strategies.  CalCOG suggests that,  
          "while the CTP may be a worthy vision--it does not have to  
          address the hard questions of how the assumptions and strategies  
          will materialize."





          The author introduced SB 64 as a follow-up to her SB 391 of 2009  
          with the intent to solicit specific, focused recommendations for  
          the Governor and the Legislature from CTC in response to each  
          update of the plan.  





          Given the central role that the CTP now plays in the state's  
          transportation planning and project selection processes and  
          given the controversy surrounding current draft CTP, SB 64 makes  
          good sense and is particularly timely.  Strategies to provide a  
          transportation system that can support and encourage a robust  
          economy and meet the state's gas emission reduction goals will  
          undoubtedly be aggressive and will require difficult policy  








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          trade-offs.  CTC's specific recommendations, as required by this  
          bill, will assist the Governor and the Legislature to better  
          understand the implications of these trade-offs. 





          Suggested amendments: Transportation is a complex, often very  
          technical subject matter and, because of this, the Legislature  
          leans on the CTC for advice and counsel to guide transportation  
          policies and to provide oversight.  It would be helpful to get  
          the sort of specific, action-oriented recommendations that  
          author is seeking with regard to the CTP (every five years) in  
          each of the CTC's annual report to the Legislature.  The  
          committee suggests that the bill be amended to add a requirement  
          that CTC's annual report also include "specific action-oriented  
          and pragmatic recommendations for transportation system  
          improvements."








          REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:




          Support


          None on file











                                                                      SB 64


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          Opposition


          None on file




          Analysis Prepared by:Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916)  
          319-2093