BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 824
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Date of Hearing: August 3, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
SB 824
(Beall) - As Amended June 21, 2016
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill makes numerous program modifications to the Low Carbon
Transit Operations Program (LCTOP), including:
1)Codifying several program guidelines, with some modifications.
2)Expanding eligible uses of the fund to include the purchase of
zero-emission buses, including electric buses, or the
installation of the necessary equipment and infrastructure to
operate and support zero-emission buses.
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3)Allowing a transit agency to loan or transfer its fiscal year
funding share to another transit agency within the same
region.
4)Requiring 50% of total program funds, rather than 50% of each
transit agency's allocation, to be spent on disadvantaged
communities.
The bill also:
1)Allows a transit agency to apply to Caltrans for a letter of
no prejudice (LONP) for eligible expenditures under the
program, so that the agency may expend its own resources and
be eligible for reimbursement from its future funding share,
and establishes procedures and requirements associated with
use of an LONP.
2)Requires Caltrans to submit a report to the Legislature every
three years, starting on
July 1, 2019, on the LCTOP expenditures benefiting disadvantaged
communities.
3)Requires the existing audit of transit agencies required under
the Transportation Development Act to include verification of
receipt and appropriate expenditure of LCTOP funds.
FISCAL EFFECT:
1)Ongoing special fund costs to Caltrans, which administers the
LCTOP, of $200,000 to $300,000 for two or three positions to
revise program guidelines, establish systems for tracking the
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LONP process, monitor transit agencies' accounting for and use
of funds, as modified by the bill, prepare the Legislature
report, and for workload associated with the expanded audit
requirements. [Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund - GGRF]
2)Ongoing special fund cost to the Air Resources Board of
$160,000 for one position to coordinate with Caltrans on the
adoption of program guidelines, and provide guidance on
tracking and reporting GHG reductions and disadvantaged
communities' benefits.
3)Potentially significant cost pressures, from expanding
eligible use of LCTOP funds to include expenditures for the
purchase of zero-emission buses and equipment and
infrastructure to operate and support those buses.
COMMENTS:
1)Background. LCTOP was created to provide operating and capital
assistance for transit agencies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions and improve mobility, with a priority on serving
disadvantaged communities. Approved projects in LCTOP support
new or expanded bus or rail services and expand intermodal
transit facilities and may include equipment acquisition,
fueling, maintenance, and other costs to operate those
services or facilities. For transit agencies whose service
area includes disadvantaged communities, at least 50% of the
total moneys received must be expended on projects that will
benefit disadvantaged communities.
LCTOP is administered by Caltrans and is funded by a
continuous appropriation of 5% of Greenhouse Gas Reduction
Fund (GGRF) revenues. LCTOP received $25 million in 2014-15
and $100 million in 2015-16 and 2016-17.
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2)Purpose. According to the author, SB 824, which is sponsored
by the California Transit Association (CTA), makes a few
modest adjustments to the existing LCTOP that will give
transit agencies more flexibility in how they spent the funds
they receive from the program. The author notes that the
total amounts agencies receive each year are small, often in
absolute terms and in all cases small relative to the need, so
reducing barriers to using these funds is necessary to ensure
that all transit agencies actually spend their shares to
reduce GHGs.
The sponsor notes that this bill modifies LCTOP, based on
feedback from transit agencies across the state, in order to
provide recipient transit agencies with the tools necessary
for utilizing their funding shares more strategically and with
maximum benefit.
3)Related Legislation. AB 2090 (Alejo), pending in Senate
Appropriations, allows LCTOP funding to sustain a transit
agency's existing service if the agency declares a fiscal
emergency under existing provisions of the California
Environmental Quality Act.
Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
SB 824
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