BILL ANALYSIS
AB 277
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Date of Hearing: May 6, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Anna Marie Caballero, Chair
AB 277 (Ammiano) - As Introduced: February 12, 2009
SUBJECT : Transportation: local retail transaction and use
taxes: Bay Area.
SUMMARY : Modifies the San Francisco County Transportation
Authority (SFCTA) board makeup. Specifically, this bill :
1)Provides that SFCTA shall consist of the members who are
elected officials as specified in the county transportation
expenditure plan.
2)Deletes the option of specifying SFCTA membership in the
retail transactions and use tax ordinance.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Specifies that SFCTA shall consist of the members who are
elected officials as specified in the county transportation
expenditure plan or in the retail transactions and use tax
ordinance, and shall be appointed by each constituent local
government within 45 days after the authority is created.
2)Authorizes, under the Bay Area County Traffic and
Transportation Funding Act, each
of the nine counties in the San Francisco Bay Area to impose a
one-half or one percent sales tax for transportation purposes,
subject to voter approval.
3)Provides for the establishment of a county transportation
authority in each Bay Area county imposing a sales tax for
transportation purposes.
4)Requires the development of a county transportation
expenditure plan in each Bay Area county imposing a sales tax
for transportation purposes.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
AB 277
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1)The membership of SFCTA is specified in the Public Utilities
Code. Existing law requires that the membership of SFCTA be
specified either in the county transportation expenditure plan
or in the retail transactions and use tax ordinance. AB 277
deletes the option for the membership to be specified in the
retail transactions and use tax ordinance.
2)SFCTA notes that their governing board "consists of the eleven
members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, sitting as
commissioners of the Authority. The Authority Board is not a
City Commission. The Authority is a separate legal entity
from the City and County of San Francisco, created under state
law. The Authority Board has three standing committees and
one special-purpose select committee. The Board members elect
a chairperson every January. The Chairperson appoints the
members and chairpersons of the committees and serves as
ex-officio member of the committees."
3)In 2003, voters in the City and County of San Francisco
approved Proposition K, a measure pertaining to the local
transportation sales tax. Proposition K: a) authorized
implementation of a new expenditure plan for allocating
transportation sales tax revenues over the next
30 years; b) extended the duration of the existing 1/2 % sales
tax through that time period;
c) continued the existence of SFCTA as the administering agency
of the tax and as the project oversight agency; d) authorized
the issuance of bonds against the projected revenues; e)
prohibited using the sales tax revenues as a substitute for
property tax revenues for existing programs; and, f) made
related financial and technical changes.
Included in Proposition K was authorization to spend the sales
tax funds outside the county, provided that there is a
quantifiable benefit to San Francisco and that the proposed
expense
is matched by funding from the other county where the
expenditure is proposed to be made. Current law at that time,
however, only authorized San Mateo County to make an
out-of-county expenditure. San Francisco and the other Bay
Area counties did not have this authority in statute.
4)SB 987 (Migden), Chapter 83, Statutes of 2005, supported by
SFCTA, made several changes to SFCTA's "enabling statutes" to
clarify and align state law with Proposition K. SB 987 also
AB 277
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included an alternative means of designating membership on the
SFCTA board, through designation in the retail transactions
and use tax ordinance.
5)According to SFCTA, the sponsor of this bill, in 2008 the
SFCTA board developed a slate of measures intended for the
November ballot. A separate slate of measures was developed
to oppose changes to city ordinances, and one of those
measures, Proposition P, would have radically changed the
composition of the SFCTA Board by using the alternative
approach set forward by SB 987 - through designation of the
new board membership in the retail transactions and use tax
ordinance.
6)Proposition P would have changed SFCTA's board membership to
include the Mayor, the President of the Board of Supervisors,
the Treasurer, one elected city official selected by
the Mayor, and one elected city official selected by the
President of the Board of Supervisors. The Mayor of San
Francisco was listed in the ballot pamphlet as a proponent of
Proposition P, and all 11 Supervisors were listed as
opponents. The state legislators representing San Francisco
were also listed in opposition.
The author and sponsor note that Proposition P failed 67% to
32%, "reaffirming voters' position that the existing Board
structure that has been in place since the 1980s is the
preferred composition."
7)The Committee may wish to consider whether it is appropriate
to get involved in what appears to be a local fight over the
board membership of SFCTA, especially because previously the
fight has pitted the county supervisors and the Mayor's office
against each other.
8)SFCTA supported SB 987, the measure that provided for an
alternative means for designating membership through a tax
ordinance. The Committee may wish to ask the author and
sponsor the following question:
Why did SFCTA support the provisions in SB 987 in 2005 to
provide for an alternative means of designating membership
through the tax ordinance?
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9)TECHNICAL AMENDMENT : There is another section in the Public
Utilities Code that specifies that the membership of the
county transportation authority may be stated in the tax
ordinance. This section is not addressed in AB 277, so in
order to conform with the author's intent to remove the option
to designate membership through a tax ordinance, the following
technical amendment should be taken by the author:
Amend Public Utilities Code 131103:
The county, in the retail transactions and use tax ordinance,
shall state the nature of the tax to be imposed and shall
specify the purposes for which the revenues derived from the
tax will be used , and may state the membership of the county
transportation authority .
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA) [SPONSOR]
Contra Costa Transportation Authority
Self-Help County Coalition
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Debbie Michel / L. GOV. / (916)
319-3958