BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 644|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 644
Author: Caballero (D)
Amended: 8/19/09 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 9-1, 6/16/09
AYES: Lowenthal, Huff, DeSaulnier, Harman, Kehoe, Oropeza,
Pavley, Simitian, Wolk
NOES: Ashburn
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hollingsworth
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 5/21/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Formation of a transit district
SOURCE : Monterey-Salinas Transit Agency
DIGEST : This bill dissolves the Monterey-Transit Agency
and creates the Monterey-Salinas Transit District.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/19/09 are technical in nature
and ensure consistency throughout the bill when reference
is made to the Monterey-Salinas Transit District.
ANALYSIS : In 1981 the Monterey Peninsula Transit, a
joint powers agency, (JPA), absorbed the Salinas Transit
System and renamed the agency the Monterey-Salinas Transit
Agency.
CONTINUED
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This bill:
1.Dissolves the Monterey-Salinas Transit Agency JPA (MSTA)
on July 1, 2010 and creates the Monterey-Salinas Transit
District (MSTD) as the successor agency.
2.Specifies that the jurisdiction of MSTD to be the entire
area of Monterey County, and that the cites of
Carmel-by-the Sea, Del Rey Oaks, Marina, Monterey,
Pacific Grove, Salinas, Seaside, Gonzales, Soledad,
Greenfield, King City, Sand City and the County of
Monterey are members of the district.
3.Specifies that the board of directors of MSTD shall
include a representative of the County of Monterey and
each city within the county.
4.Requires each city as a condition of board membership to
give MSTD the right of first priority for use of any
local, state, or federal funds made available to the
jurisdictions for public mass transportation, including
Transportation Development Act (TDA) funds.
5.Requires the County of Monterey as a condition of board
membership to contribute its share of TDA attributable
to the ratio of unincorporated population within
three-quarters of a mile of MSTD's routes to the total
population in the unincorporated portion of the county.
6.Provides that each member agency has one vote.
7.Provides that MSTD is the successor to MSTA's interests
in any property, its rights and obligations under any
contract, any outstanding indebtedness, and its rights
under any grants.
8.Stipulates that upon dissolution of MTSA, the employees
of MTSA shall be deemed to be employees of the MTSD
without any break in service or any loss or reduction of
compensation or benefits, except as may be imposed by
express action of the MSTD Board.
9.Requires the board to do all of the following:
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A. Adopt an annual budget.
B. Adopt an administrative code, by ordinance,
which prescribes the powers and duties of the MSTD
officers, the method of appointment of the district
employees, and methods, procedures, and systems of
operation and management of the district.
C. Cause an audit of the financial transactions and
records of the district to be made at least
annually by a certified public accountant.
D. Do any and all things necessary to carry out the
purposes of this bill.
10.Requires all meetings to be subject to the Ralph M.
Brown Open Meetings Act.
11.Authorizes the Board to set fares.
12.Authorizes the MSTD to impose and collect fees for the
operation, maintenance, and improvement of transit
services.
13.Authorizes MSTD's board, by a majority vote, to submit
to the voters of the districts a ballot measure for
imposing a sales tax or a special tax.
14.Authorizes MSTD to issue revenue bonds guaranteed by the
one of the revenue sources approved by the voters.
15.Authorizes the MSTD to promulgate a plan to fund
transportation projects.
16.Requires that the purchase of all supplies, equipment,
and materials, when the expenditure required exceeds
$100,000, to be let to the lowest responsible bidder.
Requires MSTD, when soliciting bids with a value of
between $2,500 and $100,000 for purchasing supplies,
equipment, and materials to obtain three quotes either
in writing or verbally that permit prices and terms to
be compared.
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Background
Use of Transportation Development Act Funds . The
Legislature enacted the Transportation Development Act,
Senate Bill 325, (Mills-Alquist-Deddeh), Chapter 1400,
Statutes of 1971, in order to ensure "the efficient and
orderly movement of people and goods in the urban areas of
the state." The TDA authorized the boards of supervisors
in each county to impose a quarter-percent local sales tax
for transportation purposes. All counties imposed the tax
in 1972, because if they had not, the state, under
California's uniform tax law would not have collected the
one-percent local sales that support the general funds of
cities and counties. Although the focus of the law is the
provision of transit services in urban areas, it recognizes
that rural areas have a different mix of transportation
needs. To this end, revenues from the tax must be used for
public transit purposes in counties with a population
greater than 500,000 as of the 1970 census. Counties with
a population under 500,000 as of 1970, including Monterey,
and cities within those counties, may use the revenues for
transit and for local streets and roads. In 2007, $1.4
billion was generated by the statewide local
quarter-percent sales tax for transportation. About 11
percent of the funds were used for local street and road
purposes.
TDA funds are allocated by regional transportation planning
agencies, which in the urban areas are often multicounty
entities, but in rural areas are generally single counties.
Before funds can be used for local streets and roads, the
regional transportation planning agency in a rural county
must hold public hearings and make one of three findings:
(1) there are no unmet transit needs: (2) there are no
unmet transit needs that are reasonable to meet; (3) there
are unmet transit needs, including needs that are
reasonable to meet.
In counties in which there was no transit as of 1971, the
funds are apportioned within a county among the cities and
the county on the basis of population. Since 1971, when a
new transit district is formed, the district must ask all
the entities to which TDA funds have been distributed to
contribute to transit services, unless the district's
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enabling specifies otherwise. This bill requires the
cities in Monterey County, as a condition to being on the
board of directors of the MSTD, to allow all their TDA
funds to be used for transit purposes. The County of
Monterey, however, will be required to contribute its share
of TDA attributable to the ratio of unincorporated
population within three-quarters of a mile of MSTD's routes
to total unincorporated population. Any TDA funds that
would remain could be used by the county for streets and
road purposes, after going through the unmet needs process.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/20/09)
Monterey-Salinas Transit Agency (source)
City of Carmel-by-the-Sea
City of Marina
City of Monterey
City of Salinas
City of Seaside
Transportation Agency for Monterey County
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield,
Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon,
DeVore, Duvall, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher,
Fong, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick,
Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill,
Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Krekorian, Lieu,
Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning,
Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, John A. Perez, V. Manuel
Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Silva, Skinner,
Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson,
Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, Bass
NO VOTE RECORDED: Fuentes, Nava, Saldana
JJA:do 8/20/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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