BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 64 Page 1 Date of Hearing: July 8, 2015 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Jimmy Gomez, Chair SB 64 (Liu) - As Amended June 24, 2015 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Transportation |Vote:|16 - 0 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No SUMMARY: This bill requires the California Transportation Commission (CTC) to: SB 64 Page 2 1)Review recommendations in the California Transportation Plan (CTP)-prepared by Caltrans and updated every five years-and to make its own specific recommendations for transportation system improvements to the Legislature and the Governor by December 31, 2016, and every five years thereafter. 2)Include recommendations for legislation to improve the transportation system in its annual report to the Legislature. FISCAL EFFECT: Minor costs (up to $100,000) every five years for the CTC to review the CTP and report its recommendations. The CTCs costs to incorporate recommendations for legislation into its annual report should be minor and absorbable. (State Highway Account) Notwithstanding the above costs associated solely with this bill, in the 2015-16 Budget Act, the CTC received funding for a two-year limited-term Supervising Transportation Planner to fulfill its responsibilities under SB 486(DeSaulnier)/Chapter 917, Statutes of 2014. The CTC indicates that, to fulfill the requirements of both SB 64 and SB 486, it would seek to convert this position to permanent status. COMMENTS: 1)Background. 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. SB 64 Page 3 SB 486 links the CTP with Caltrans' other planning and programming processes in order to ensure that only those transportation projects supporting the state's broad policy objectives and strategies, as set forth in the CTP, are planned, environmentally reviewed, designed, and funded. SB 486 also authorized the CTC, in cooperation with Caltrans, to prescribe study areas for analysis and evaluation by the department and to establish guidelines for the preparation of the updates to the CTP. 2)Purpose. 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. Furthermore, because transportation is a complex, often very technical subject matter, the Legislature leans on the CTC for advice and counsel to guide transportation policies and to provide oversight. SB 64 directs the CTC to provide to the legislature, in addition to recommendations regarding the CTP, specific recommendations for legislation in the CTC's annual report to the Legislature. Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081 SB 64 Page 4