BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND HOUSING
Senator Jim Beall, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 1018 Hearing Date: 4/26/2016
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Author: |Liu |
|----------+------------------------------------------------------|
|Version: |4/7/2016 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Urgency: |Yes |Fiscal: |Yes |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Consultant|Alison Dinmore |
|: | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
SUBJECT: Interstate 710 North Gap Closure project:
cost-benefit analysis
DIGEST: This bill requires the Board of Directors of the Los
Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro)
to hold three public hearings on the cost-benefit analysis (CBA)
prepared for the Interstate 710 North Gap Closure project.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
Creates LA Metro and grants specified powers and duties relative
to transportation planning, programming and operations in Los
Angeles County.
This urgency bill:
1) Requires LA Metro Board of Directors (Board), before making
a final decision on the Interstate 710 North Gap Closure
project (710 project), to hold three public hearings,
consistent with the Ralph M. Brown Act (Brown Act) on the CBA
prepared for the 710 project.
2) Requires LA Metro to provide a 90-day, noticed public
comment period on the CBA, respond to any comments received in
a standalone document, post that standalone document to the
internet, and consider the standalone document at a noticed
public hearing consistent with the Brown Act.
SB 1018 (Liu) Page 2 of ?
COMMENTS:
1) Purpose. According to the author, Caltrans and LA Metro
have been working together on the Interstate 710 North Study
to evaluate mobility and find traffic congestion solutions
between the western San Gabriel Valley and the east/northeast
area of Los Angeles. A draft joint Environmental Impact
Report (DEIR) and Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for
the project were prepared in accordance with the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and was released to the public
on March 6, 2015. The original 120-day comment period was
extended by 150 days to August 5, 2015, to allow review and
comment on the CBA of the project alternatives released on
June 19, 2015.
It is incumbent upon LA Metro and Caltrans to respond to all
of the comments received on the DEIR/DEIS, which numbered in
the thousands. Numerous comments were also submitted on the
CBA. Under CEQA and NEPA, the lead agency is required to
respond to comments on the draft in the Final EIR/EIS. LA
Metro and Caltrans acknowledge that the CBA is part of the
Draft EIR/EIS and state that they have always intended to
respond to the CBA comments. Nonetheless, that does not
resolve the problem that the CBA was neither the subject of
public hearing, nor did it have the same comment period as the
Draft EIR/EIS, i.e., five hearings were held and four months
allowed for comment on the Draft EIR/EIS, while no public
hearing was held on the CBA and only six weeks were allowed
for comment. SB 1018 will ensure that LA Metro will provide
adequate time for the public to respond to the CBA and require
LA Metro to respond to comments to the CBA and provide those
responses to the public.
2) History of the 710 Corridor. For decades, Caltrans has
proposed extending Interstate 710 to close a roughly 4.5-mile
unconstructed gap in the freeway between SR 10 in Los Angeles
and SR 710 in Pasadena. This gap affects the cities of
Alhambra, Pasadena, South Pasadena, and a portion of Los
Angeles. The project has been in the planning stage since
1953 for a variety of reasons related to the federal
environmental review process. A number of options are being
considered: a bus rapid transit, a tunnel, rail transit,
Transportation System Demand Management, and a no-build
SB 1018 (Liu) Page 3 of ?
option.
3) Impact of the bill. While LA Metro has already indicated
that they will do so, the author wishes to ensure that this
agency adequately responds to public comments made regarding
the CBA.
4) Opposition. Writing in opposition, LA Metro states that
both it and Caltrans have held numerous public meetings as a
part of the environmental process and all of the documents
have been available for public review and comment pursuant to
state and federal environmental laws. A CBA is not required
in the environmental review process. The LA Metro Board asked
for the preparation of the CBA in its capacity as the funding
agency for the project to be selected by Caltrans as the lead
agency in the environmental process. Caltrans has
incorporated the CBA into the environmental process and LA
Metro and Caltrans have committed to respond to comments as
part of that process. The current version of this bill
requires LA Metro to hold additional hearings and respond to
comments on the CBA separately from the environmental process.
LA Metro further states that this bill will set a precedent
for future environmental studies as it would mandate
additional unnecessary provisions for agencies that choose to
conduct a CBA, which is optional.
5) Double-referral. The introduced version of this bill was
heard in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee on April
6, where it failed on a 3-3 vote. This bill was subsequently
amended on April 7, and those amendments (the current version
of the bill) took this bill out of that committee's
jurisdiction.
Related Legislation:
SB 580 (Liu, 2015) - would have made changes to the Roberti Act
governing the sale of surplus properties in the Interstate 710
corridor. This bill is currently in the Assembly Appropriations
Committee.
SB 416 (Liu, Chapter 468, Statutes of 2013) - expedited the sale
of surplus residential properties in the cities of Los Angeles,
South Pasadena, and Pasadena that do not fall within the
boundaries of any alternate route being considered in the North
State Route 710 Project DEIS/DEIR.
SB 1018 (Liu) Page 4 of ?
SB 204 (Liu, 2012) - would have required the sale of
Caltrans-owned surplus properties in the North Route 710
Project. This bill was vetoed by the Governor.
AB 1617 (Liu, 2006) - would have given cities priority over
affordable housing entities to purchase, rehabilitate, and
resell Caltrans-owned surplus residential properties in the
North State Route 710. This bill failed passage in the Senate
Transportation and Housing Committee.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday,
April 20, 2016.)
SUPPORT:
City of Glendale
City of La Canada Flintridge
City of South Pasadena
OPPOSITION:
City of Alhambra (prior version)
City of Monterey Park (prior version)
City of Rosemead (prior version)
City of San Marino (prior version)
Ironworkers Local 416 (prior version)
Ironworkers Local 433 (prior version)
Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro)
Los Angeles/Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades
Council (prior version)
Sprinkler Fitters U.A. Local 709 (prior version)
State Building and Construction Trades of California (prior
version)
U.A. Local 78 (prior version)
-- END --
SB 1018 (Liu) Page 5 of ?