BILL NUMBER: SB 231 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Gaines
FEBRUARY 13, 2015
An act to amend Sections 75212 and 75230 of the Public Resources
Code, and to amend Section 99313 of the Public Utilities Code,
relating to transportation, and making an appropriation therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 231, as introduced, Gaines. Transportation programs.
(1) Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and
penalties, collected by the State Air Resources Board from the
auction or sale of allowances as part of a market-based compliance
mechanism relative to reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, to be
deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.
Existing law continuously appropriates specified portions of the
annual proceeds in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to various
programs including 5% for the Low Carbon Transit Operations Program
and 20% for the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities
Program.
This bill would include water-borne transit that serves as the key
transit trunk line in a region as an eligible project that may be
funded under these 2 programs. Because the bill would expand the
allowable purposes for which the continuously appropriated funds
allocated to the program may be expended, it would thereby make an
appropriation.
(2) Existing law requires the transfer of a specified portion of
the sales tax on diesel fuel, in addition to various other revenues,
to the Public Transportation Account, a trust fund in the State
Transportation Fund. Funds in the account are required to be
allocated to various public transportation and transportation
planning purposes. Specified revenues in the account are allocated by
the Controller to local transportation agencies for public
transportation purposes, pursuant to a program commonly known as the
State Transit Assistance program. These funds are allocated by
formulas based 50% on population and 50% on transit operator revenue,
and are continuously appropriated for purposes of the program.
This bill would provide that for the purposes of the
population-based formula, the population of the area under the
jurisdiction of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency shall be deemed to
be 145,000 for each fiscal year beginning with 2015-16. The bill
would identify certain special fund revenues in the Public
Transportation Account that are to be used to comply with this
provision. Because the bill would require a change to the allocation
of funds that are continuously appropriated, it would make an
appropriation.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 75212 of the Public Resources Code is amended
to read:
75212. Projects eligible for funding pursuant to the program
include any of the following:
(a) Intermodal, affordable housing projects that support infill
and compact development.
(b) Transit capital projects and programs supporting transit
ridership. ridership, including water-borne
transit that serves as the key trunk line within a region.
(c) Active transportation capital projects that qualify under the
Active Transportation Program, including pedestrian and bicycle
facilities and supportive infrastructure, including connectivity to
transit stations.
(d) Noninfrastructure-related active transportation projects that
qualify under the Active Transportation Program, including activities
that encourage active transportation goals conducted in conjunction
with infrastructure improvement projects.
(e) Transit-oriented development projects, including affordable
housing and infrastructure at or near transit stations or connecting
those developments to transit stations.
(f) Capital projects that implement local complete streets
programs.
(g) Other projects or programs designed to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions and other criteria air pollutants by reducing automobile
trips and vehicle miles traveled within a community.
(h) Acquisition of easements or other approaches or tools that
protect agricultural lands that are under pressure of being converted
to nonagricultural uses, particularly those adjacent to areas most
at risk of urban or suburban sprawl or those of special environmental
significance.
(i) Planning to support implementation of a sustainable
communities strategy, including implementation of local plans
supporting greenhouse gas emissions reduction efforts and promoting
infill and compact development.
SEC. 2. Section 75230 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
75230. (a) The Low Carbon Transit Operations Program is hereby
created to provide operating and capital assistance for transit
agencies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve mobility,
with a priority on serving disadvantaged communities.
(b) Funding for the program is continuously appropriated pursuant
to Section 39719 of the Health and Safety Code from the Greenhouse
Gas Reduction Fund established pursuant to Section 16428.8 of the
Government Code.
(c) Funding shall be allocated by the Controller consistent with
the requirements of this part and with Section 39719 of the Health
and Safety Code, upon a determination by the Department of
Transportation that the expenditures proposed by a transit agency
meet the requirements of this part and guidelines developed pursuant
to subdivision (f), and the amount of funding requested that is
currently available.
(d) Moneys for the program shall be expended to provide transit
operating or capital assistance that meets all of the following
criteria:
(1) Expenditures supporting new or expanded bus or rail services,
new or expanded water-borne transit that serves as the key trunk
line within a region, or expanded intermodal transit
facilities, and may include equipment acquisition, fueling, and
maintenance, and other costs to operate those services or facilities.
(2) The recipient transit agency demonstrates that each
expenditure directly enhances or expands transit service to increase
mode share.
(3) The recipient transit agency demonstrates that each
expenditure reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
(e) For transit agencies whose service areas include disadvantaged
communities as identified pursuant to Section 39711 of the Health
and Safety Code, at least 50 percent of the total moneys received
pursuant to this chapter shall be expended on projects or services
that meet requirements of subdivision (d) and benefit the
disadvantaged communities, consistent with the guidance developed by
the State Air Resources Board pursuant to Section 39715 of the Health
and Safety Code.
(f) The Department of Transportation, in coordination with the
State Air Resources Board, shall develop guidelines that describe the
methodologies that recipient transit agencies shall use to
demonstrate that proposed expenditures will meet the criteria in
subdivisions (d) and (e) and establish the reporting requirements for
documenting ongoing compliance with those criteria.
(g) Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of
Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code does not apply to the
development of guidelines for the program pursuant to this section.
(h) A transit agency shall submit the following information to the
Department of Transportation before seeking a disbursement of funds
pursuant to this part:
(1) A list of proposed expense types for anticipated funding
levels.
(2) The documentation required by the guidelines in developed
pursuant to subdivision (f) to demonstrate compliance with
subdivisions (d) and (e).
(i) Before authorizing the disbursement of funds, the department,
in coordination with the State Air Resources Board, shall determine
the eligibility, in whole or in part, of the proposed list of expense
types, based on the documentation provided by the recipient transit
agency to ensure ongoing compliance with the guidelines developed
pursuant to subdivision (f).
(j) The department shall notify the Controller of approved
expenditures for each transit agency, and the amount of the
allocation for each transit agency determined to be available at that
time of approval.
(k) The recipient transit agency shall provide annual reports to
the Department of Transportation, in the format and manner prescribed
by the department, consistent with the internal administrative
procedures for use of fund proceeds developed by the State Air
Resources Board.
( l ) The Department of Transportation and recipient
transit agencies shall comply with the guidelines developed by the
State Air Resources Board pursuant to Section 39715 of the Health and
Safety Code to ensure that the requirements of Section 39714 of the
Health and Safety Code are met to maximize the benefits to
disadvantaged communities as described in Section 39711 of the Health
and Safety Code.
SEC. 3. Section 99313 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
99313. (a) From the funds made available
pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 99312, an amount shall be
allocated by the Controller to each transportation planning agency
and county transportation commission, and the San Diego Metropolitan
Transit Development Board, based on the ratio of the population of
the area under its jurisdiction to the total population of the state.
(b) For the purposes of this section, notwithstanding subdivision
(a), the population of the area under the jurisdiction of the
transportation planning agency designated pursuant to subdivision (b)
of Section 29532.1 of the Government Code shall be deemed to be
145,000 for each fiscal year beginning with the 2015-16 fiscal year.
However, in making the population-based allocations pursuant to this
section and subdivision (b) of Section 99312.1, the Controller shall
make any additional allocation required by this subdivision solely
from the revenues deposited in the account pursuant to Section 99312
and not from the revenues deposited into the account pursuant to
Section 99312.1, in a manner consistent with the intent of this
subdivision to provide an additional allocation from the cumulative
amount available from the account for population-based allocations,
and the Controller may make any necessary accounting adjustments in
that regard.