BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 1379
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Date of Hearing: August 25, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Susan Talamantes Eggman, Chair
SB
1379 (Mendoza) - As Amended August 19, 2016
SENATE VOTE: Vote not relevant
SUBJECT: Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation
Authority.
SUMMARY: Restructures the composition of the Los Angeles County
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Specifically, this
bill:
1)Reconfigures the composition of the existing 14-member MTA
Board of Directors (Board), as follows:
a) Reduces, from five to two members, the appointments made
by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (Board of
Supervisors). Deletes a provision which would have
authorized more appointments by the Board of Supervisors if
the number of Board of Supervisors increased;
b) Adds one member of the Los Angeles City Council
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appointed by the Mayor of the City of Los Angeles;
c) Reduces, from two to one public member, the appointments
made by the Mayor of the City of Los Angeles. Requires
that the public member must be a resident of the City of
Los Angeles;
d) Adds one public member who must be a resident of the
City of Los Angeles appointed by the President Pro Tempore
of the Senate from a list of candidates submitted by the
Mayor of the City of Los Angeles;
e) Adds the Mayor of the City of Long Beach;
f) Specifies the four members who shall be a mayor or
member of a city council appointed by the Los Angeles
County City Selection Committee (City Selection Committee)
must be from each one of the sectors specified in existing
law, the North County/San Fernando Valley, the Southwest
Corridor, the San Gabriel Valley, and the Southeast sector.
Require for the purposes of selection of the four members
that the City of Los Angeles and the City of Long Beach be
excluded; and,
g) Adds one mayor or city council member to be appointed by
the Speaker of the Assembly from a list submitted by the
City Selection Committee that contains two or more
candidates from each sector of the County specified in f),
above. Requires the City Selection Committee to submit a
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list of candidates to the Speaker of the Assembly until the
appointment is made. Prohibits, at the time a member is
appointed, the member from residing in the same city as
another member of MTA.
2)Adds the City of Long Beach to the exclusion in existing law
which requires the members appointed by the City Selection
Committee to be appointed by an affirmative vote that its
members which represent a majority of the population of all
cities within the County, excluding the City of Los Angeles.
3)States that it is the intent of the Legislature that the
members of the Board representing the County, the City of Los
Angeles, and the 87 other cities in the County be appointed in
a manner that ensures a close approximation to the ratio of
populations of the respective jurisdictions to the County's
total population.
4)Provides that if the Commission on State Mandates determines
that this bill contains costs mandated by the state that
reimbursements shall be made to local agencies and school
districts for those costs pursuant to existing law.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes the composition of MTA's 14-member Board, as
follows:
a) Five members of the Board of Supervisors appointed by
the Board of Supervisors;
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b) The Mayor of the City of Los Angeles;
c) Two public members and one member of the City Council of
the City of Los Angeles appointed by the Mayor of the City
of Los Angeles;
d) Four members, each of whom shall be a mayor or a member
of a city council, appointed by the City Selection
Committee from the following sectors:
i) North County/San Fernando Valley sector;
ii) The Southwest Corridor sector;
iii) The San Gabriel Valley sector;
iv) The Southeast Long Beach sector; and,
e) One non-voting member appointed by the Governor.
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2)Specifies that if, the population of the City of Los Angeles,
at any time, becomes less than 35% of the combined population
of all cities in the County, the position of one of the two
public members appointed by the Mayor of the City of Los
Angeles, shall be vacated, and the vacant position shall be
filled by appointment by the City Selection Committee from a
city not represented by any other member currently appointed.
FISCAL EFFECT: This bill is keyed fiscal.
COMMENTS:
1)Existing Law and Bill Summary. Current law specifies the
composition of MTA's14 member Board to include five County
Supervisors, the Mayor of the City of Los Angeles, two public
members and one member of the Los Angeles City Council
appointed by the Mayor of the City of Los Angeles, four mayors
or city council members from four specified sectors in the
County, and one non-voting gubernatorial appointment.
This bill restructures the composition of the Board. Under
this bill, the Board would still have 14-members which would
include: two County Supervisors, the Mayor of the city of Los
Angeles, two Los Angeles City Council members appointed by the
Mayor of the City of Los Angeles, one public member who is a
resident of the City of Los Angles appointed by the Mayor of
the City of Los Angeles, one public member who is a resident
of the City of Los Angeles appointed by Senate Pro Tempore,
the Mayor of the City of Long Beach, four mayors or city
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council members from each of the four sectors specified in
existing law, one mayor of city council member appointed by
the Assembly Speaker, and one non-voting gubernatorial
appointment.
2)Author's Statement. According to the author, "Currently, the
MTA Board consists of 13 voting members, five representing the
members of the Board of Supervisors, four representing the
City of Los Angeles and four representing sectors, outside of
the City of Los Angeles. However, this has created a problem
of unequal representation: the 87 cities, other than the City
of Los Angeles, have 52% of the county's population, but only
31% of MTA Board members. This is unjust, and my constituents
have observed that this unfairness results in uneven
allocation of MTA priorities, resources, and services. The
MTA Board is the smallest Board amongst the six southern
California Counties, even though it has the largest
population, largest number of cities (88) and the largest
annual budget. There is no policy basis for its small size or
its unbalanced membership.
"The current MTA Board does not fairly reflect the population
of [the] County: a) The Board of Supervisors hold 38% of the
voting power (38%) on the MTA Board even though they directly
represent only 10% of the County's population b) City of [Los
Angeles] and the 87 cities in the County each hold 31% of the
voting power and are substantially under-represented on the
MTA Board given that City of [Los Angeles] has 39% and the
other 87 cities have 52% of the population c) The unbalanced
voting power on the MTA Board disenfranchises both large (e.g.
Long Beach, Pasadena) and small cities (e.g. Vernon, Malibu)
in the County."
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3)Prior Legislation. AB 251 (Knight) of 2009 would have
reconfigured the composition of MTA's Board by removing one of
the public members appointed by the Mayor of the City of Los
Angeles and adding the appointment of one member by the city
councils of the Cities of Palmdale, Lancaster, and Santa
Clarita. AB 251 (Knight) failed passage in this Committee.
AB 1941 (Holden) of 2014 would have made changes to the number
of MTA Board members, but was never heard in this Committee.
Most recently, SB 522 (Mendoza) of the current legislative
session was referred to the Assembly Rules Committee and never
heard by a policy committee. SB 522 (Mendoza) would have
increased MTA's Board to 24 members. SB 1472 (Mendoza) of the
current legislative session is on the Senate Inactive File.
SB 1472 (Mendoza) would have increased MTA's Board to 22
members. Both SB 522 and SB 1472 (Mendoza) sought to increase
the number of members on the Board by increasing the
appointments made by the City of Los Angeles Mayor, adding the
Mayor of the City of Long Beach, increasing the number of
members from each sector of the County, and adding members to
be appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly and the Senate
Committee on Rules.
4)Policy Consideration. The Committee has heard other bills
that revise Board membership, and has generally supported
those bills that have brought forward a membership change that
is met with consensus at the local or regional level. Without
consensus, the Committee may wish to consider if this bill
creates winners and losers on what is essentially a
district-specific issue. City of Los Angeles Mayor, Eric
Garcetti, argues that this bill "runs counter to the spirit of
local control by altering membership to the Metro Board
without local consensus."
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5)Arguments in Support. City of Huntington Park Mayor, Graciela
Ortiz, argues "Your measure keeps the current number of Board
members and the change cost-neutral, but gives the cities 3
seats to bring balance to the Board, improve channels of
communications and more effectively reflect the transportation
and transit needs of the County."
6)Arguments in Opposition. The Los Angeles and Orange Counties
Building and Construction Trades Council argues, "The
Composition of the [Board] was the result of a lengthy, local
process in which all local stakeholders were brought together
to develop a consensus. Cities within [the County] are
represented through their local Councils of Governments and
each has a voice in Metro's priority setting, planning and
decision making for the over 10 million constituents of the
[County]."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Graciela Ortiz, Mayor, City of Huntington Park
Opposition
Ara Najarian, Director, MTA, Councilmember, City of Glendale
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California State Association of Counties
Central City Association
Century City Chamber of Commerce
County of Los Angeles
Eric Garcetti, Mayor, City of Los Angeles
Fixing Angelenos Stuck in Traffic (FAST)
John Fasana, Chair, MTA, Councilmember, City of Duarte
Los Angeles and Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades
Council
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board
of Directors
State Building and Construction Trades Council
Urban Counties of California
Analysis Prepared by:Misa Lennox / L. GOV. / (916)
319-3958
SB 1379
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