Senate BillNo. 1128


Introduced by Senator Glazer

(Coauthors: Senators Beall, Hancock, Hill, Leno, and Wolk)

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Baker, Bonilla, Campos, Chiu, Chu, Dodd, Gordon, Levine, Mullin, Quirk, Mark Stone, Ting, and Wood)

February 17, 2016


An act to amend Section 65081 of the Government Code, relating to transportation.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 1128, as introduced, Glazer. Commute benefit policies.

Existing law authorizes the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to jointly adopt a commute benefit ordinance that requires covered employers operating within the common area of the 2 agencies with a specified number of covered employees to offer those employees certain commute benefits through a pilot program. Existing law requires that the ordinance specify certain matters, including any consequences for noncompliance, and imposes a specified reporting requirement. Existing law makes these provisions inoperative on January 1, 2017.

This bill would extend these provisions indefinitely, thereby establishing the pilot program permanently. The bill would also delete bicycle commuting as a pretax option under the program and instead would authorize a covered employer, at its discretion, to offer commuting by bicycling as an employer-paid benefit in addition to commuting via public transit or by vanpool. The bill would also delete the reporting requirement.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

P2    1

SECTION 1.  

Section 65081 of the Government Code is
2amended to read:

3

65081.  

(a) It is the intent of the Legislature to encourage
4metropolitan planning organizations and local air quality
5management districts or air pollution control districts to work with
6local employers to adopt policies that encourage commuting by
7means other than driving alone. To encourage this, the Legislature
8hereby establishes abegin delete pilotend delete program in that regard in the greater San
9Francisco Bay Area.

10(b) Notwithstanding Section 40717.9 of the Health and Safety
11Code, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the
12Metropolitan Transportation Commission with respect to the
13common area within their respective jurisdictions may jointly adopt
14a commute benefit ordinance that requires covered employers
15operating within the common area of the district and commission
16to offer all covered employees one of the following choices:

17(1) A pretax option: a program, consistent with Section 132(f)
18of the Internal Revenue Code, allowing covered employees to elect
19to exclude from taxable wages employee commuting costs incurred
20for transit passes or vanpool charges,begin delete or bicycle commuting,end delete up to
21the maximum amount allowed by federal tax law.

22(2) Employer-paid benefit: a program whereby the covered
23employer offers employees a subsidy to offset the monthly cost
24of commuting via public transit or bybegin delete vanpool. In 2013, theend delete
25begin insert vanpool, or, in addition, and at the employer’s discretion, by
26bicycle. Theend insert
subsidy shall be equal to either the monthly cost of
27commuting viabegin insert publicend insert transit orbegin insert byend insert vanpool, or seventy-five dollars
28($75), whichever is lower.begin delete Thisend deletebegin insert The seventy-five dollar ($75)end insert
29 amount shall be adjusted annually consistent with the California
30Consumer Price Index.begin insert If the covered employer chooses to offer a
31subsidy to offset the monthly cost of commuting by bicycle, the
32subsidy shall be either the monthly cost of commuting by bicycle
33or twenty dollars ($20), whichever is lower.end insert

34(3) Employer-provided transit: transportation furnished by the
35covered employer at no cost, or low cost as determined by the
36district or commission, to the covered employee in a vanpool or
37bus, or similar multipassenger vehicle operated by or for the
38employer.

P3    1(c) Nothing in this section shall prevent a covered employer
2from offering a more generous commuter benefit that is otherwise
3consistent with the requirements of the applicable commute benefit
4ordinance. Nothing in this section shall require employees to
5change their behavior.

6(d) An employer offering, or proposing to offer, an alternative
7commuter benefit on the employer’s own initiative, or an employer
8otherwise required to offer an alternative commuter benefit as a
9condition of a lease, original building permit, or other similar
10requirement, if the alternative is not one of the options identified
11in subdivision (b), may seek approval of the alternative from the
12district or commission. The district or commission may approve
13an alternative if it determines that the alternative provides at least
14the same benefit in terms of reducing single-occupant vehicle trips
15as any of the options in subdivision (b). An employer that offers
16an approved alternative to covered employees in a manner
17otherwise consistent with this section is not required to offer one
18of the options in subdivision (b).

19(e) The commute benefit ordinance shall provide covered
20employers with at least six months to comply after the ordinance
21is adopted.

22(f) An employer that participates in or is represented by a
23transportation management association that provides the employer’s
24covered employees with any of the benefits in subdivision (b), or
25an alternative benefit determined by the district or commission
26pursuant to subdivision (d) to provide at least the same benefit in
27terms of reducing single-occupant vehicle trips as any of the
28options in subdivision (b), shall be deemed in compliance with the
29regional ordinance, and the transportation management association
30may act on behalf of those employers in that regard. The district
31or commission shall communicate directly with the transportation
32management association, rather than the participating employers,
33to determine compliance with the ordinance.

34(g) A commute benefit ordinance adopted pursuant to this
35section shall specify all of the following: (1) how the implementing
36agencies will inform covered employers about the ordinance, (2)
37how compliance with the ordinance will be demonstrated, (3) the
38procedures for proposing and the criteria that will be used to
39evaluate an alternative commuter benefit pursuant to subdivision
40(d), and (4) any consequences for noncompliance.

P4    1(h) Nothing in this section shall limit or restrict the statutory or
2regulatory authority of the commission or district.

begin delete

3(i) On or before July 1, 2016, if the commission and district
4implement a commute benefit ordinance as provided under this
5section, the two agencies shall jointly submit a report to the
6transportation policy committees of each house of the Legislature
7that includes, but is not limited to, the following elements:

8(1) A description of the program, including enforcement
9procedures and any sanctions imposed.

10(2) Number of employers complying with the ordinance that
11did not previously offer a commute benefit consistent with those
12required by the ordinance.

13(3) Number of employees who stopped driving alone to work
14in order to take transit or a vanpool, or to commute by bicycle, as
15a result of the commute benefit ordinance.

16(4) Number of single-occupant vehicle trips reduced per month,
17week, or day as a result of the commute benefit ordinance.

18(5) Vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and greenhouse gas emission
19reductions associated with implementation of the commute benefit
20ordinance.

21(6) Greenhouse gas emission reductions associated with
22implementation of the commute benefit ordinance as a percentage
23of the region’s greenhouse gas emission target established by the
24State Air Resources Board.

25(j)

end delete

26begin insert(i)end insert The commission shall not use federal planning funds in the
27implementation of the commute benefit ordinance.

begin delete

28(k)

end delete

29begin insert(j)end insert As used in this section, the following terms have the
30following meanings:

31(1) “Covered employer” means any employer for which an
32average of 50 or more employees per week perform work for
33compensation within the area where the ordinance adopted pursuant
34to this section operates. In determining the number of employees
35performing work for an employer during a given week, only
36employees performing work on a full-time basis shall be counted.

37(2) “Covered employee” means an employee who performed
38at least an average of 20 hours of work per week within the
39previous calendar month within the area where the ordinance
40adopted pursuant to this section operates.

P5    1(3) “District” means the Bay Area Air Quality Management
2District.

3(4) “Commission” means the Metropolitan Transportation
4Commission.

begin delete

5(l) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2017,
6and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that
7is enacted before January 1, 2017, deletes or extends that date.

end delete


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