BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1175
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 20, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Mike Eng, Chair
AB 1175 (Torlakson) - As Amended: April 14, 2009
SUBJECT : Metropolitan Transportation Commission: Bay Area Toll
Authority
SUMMARY : Makes the Antioch and Dumbarton Bridges part of the
Toll Bridge Seismic Retrofit Program (TBSRP); authorizes the Bay
Area Toll Authority (BATA) to submit regional measures to voters
for toll increases to fund improvements in toll bridge
corridors; makes other, related changes to existing provisions
related to high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, toll bridge
maintenance, and operations. Specifically, this bill :
1)Directs the State Controller to collect unpaid bridge tolls,
high-occupancy toll (HOT) lane fees, and any relevant
interest, penalties, fines, or other charges from money owed a
person or entity from state income tax refunds or winnings in
the California State Lottery; prescribes procedures to follow
for these collections.
2)States legislative findings and declarations that the Antioch
and Dumbarton Bridges are in need of seismic safety retrofit.
3)Makes these two bridges part of the TBSRP.
4)Transfers any cost overrun savings in the TBSRP to the Bay
Area Toll Account, under the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA)
and appropriates the savings to BATA for expenditure on the
Antioch and Dumbarton Bridges.
5)Prescribes that BATA is responsible for providing all other
funds required to complete the seismic safety retrofit
projects on these bridges.
6)Authorizes BATA to increase the amount of tolls collected on
the seven state-owned San Francisco Bay Area toll bridges.
7)Applies provisions governing the Toll Bridge Program Oversight
Committee (TBPOC) to the seismic retrofit of the Antioch and
Dumbarton Bridges.
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8)Coordinates bridge maintenance, operation, and bond repayment
expenses.
9)Continuously appropriates to the California Department of
Transportation (Caltrans) money paid to the department by BATA
for planning, design, construction, operation, maintenance,
repair, replacement, rehabilitation, and seismic retrofit of
state-owned toll bridges pursuant to TBSRP.
10)Eliminates the three-year time constraint for use of $20
million in Regional Measure (RM) 2 funds for TransLink, the
Bay Area's smart card for transit.
11)Grants BATA the authority to increase toll rates and provides
that the toll structures may vary from bridge to bridge and
may include discounts for carpools and electronic toll
collection (i.e., FastTrak).
12)Dictates that Caltrans must follow BATA's lead in the Bay
Area with regard to establishing HOV occupancy levels,
discounts, and HOV access criteria.
13)Authorizes BATA to increase tolls following voter approval of
additional regional measures.
14)Prescribes the election procedures to be followed relative to
additional regional measures.
15)Allows BATA to contribute to the Metropolitan Transportation
Commission (MTC), without limitations, in the form of
personnel services, office space, and funding; allows BATA to
contribute on a reimbursement-for-cost basis, under certain
conditions.
EXISTING LAW :
16)Makes it illegal to evade payment of tolls or other charges
on any vehicle crossing or toll road.
17)Provides a financing plan to fund the TBSRP (for a total of
$8.685 billion); identifies the sources and amounts of
funding, including the authority to increase the seismic
retrofit surcharge on state-owned toll bridges in the Bay
Area, provides for a timeline of contributions, and
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establishes numerous other financial and programmatic
requirements to complete TBSRP.
18)Creates the TBPOC, consisting of the Director of Caltrans,
the Executive Director of the California Transportation
Commission (CTC), and the Executive Director of MTC; vests
TBPOC with project oversight responsibilities for the TBSRP.
19)Specifically authorizes BATA to increase the toll rates
specified in the adopted toll schedule only if this is
necessary in order to enable the authority to meet its
obligations under any bond resolution or indenture.
20)Authorizes Caltrans and local authorities, with respect to
highways under the respective jurisdictions, to permit
preferential use of highway lanes for HOVs, under specific
conditions.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. BATA raises approximately $112 million
annually from tolls on the Bay Area toll bridges.
COMMENTS :
Toll Bridge Seismic Retrofit Program : According to MTC, "The
Antioch Bridge (built in 1978), and the Dumbarton Bridge (built
in 1982) need seismic strengthening. Because these bridges met
seismic standards established after the 1971 Sylmar earthquake
in Southern California, and were relatively new when the state
Toll Bridge Seismic Retrofit Program originally was established,
neither was included in the first round of investigations.
However, due to findings from subsequent quakes-including Loma
Prieta in 1989, Northridge in 1994 and Kobe (Japan) in
1995-seismic standards now are much higher. A two-year
evaluation conducted by BATA and Caltrans completed in December
2008 shows both bridges need significant strengthening to
protect public safety.
"The cost of retrofitting both bridges is estimated at $950
million. This includes $637 million for the Dumbarton Bridge
and $313 million for the Antioch Bridge. Over 40% of this total
cost estimate is to fund a contingency account so that
unexpected construction problems that may arise during the
four-year process will not affect the funding plans."
This bill will allow BATA to raise tolls on all seven Bay Area
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bridges to cover the cost to retrofit these two bridges.
Toll Evasion : According to MTC, in 2007, toll evasions cost
BATA about $7 million. That amount has been reduced to about
$1.5 million, due to a comprehensive collection program but toll
evasion still remains a problem.
Future Regional Measures : MTC has had two regional measures to
date: Regional Measure (RM1) in 1998 raised tolls to a uniform
$1 and RM 2 in 2004 raised tolls by an additional $1. These two
measures were approved by voters to fund additional
transportation improvements in toll bridge corridors.
Current law requires MTC to obtain legislative authority to
submit a regional measures to Bay Area voters before it can
raise tolls. This bill provides MTC with streamlined authority
to submit regional measures to voters and requires that future
regional measures include infrastructure projects, acquisition
of transit vehicles, transit operating assistance, and other
improvements to reduce congestion and to improve travel on Bay
Area bridges and related transportation corridors.
HOV Lanes : MTC is proposing creation of a region-wide, value
pricing HOV network. Because of this, it needs to ensure that
the Bay Area bridges are consistent with Bay Area freeways
relative to HOV usage so that, together, the region will be
served with a unified network.
Continuous Appropriation : A continuous appropriation will allow
MTC to continue TBSRP work in the event of a budget impasse,
which otherwise impedes the use of collected tolls until a
budget is resolved.
Related Legislation : AB 744 (Torrico) of 2009, authorizes BATA
to acquire, construct,
administer, and operate a value pricing HOV network program on
state highways within the geographic jurisdiction of MTC, as
specified; authorizes capital expenditures for this program to
be funded from program revenues, revenue bonds, and revenue
derived from tolls on state-owned toll bridges within the
geographic jurisdiction of the commission; authorizes the use of
the HOV lanes in the program by single-occupant vehicles for a
fee, as specified.
AB 744 is scheduled to be heard in Assembly Transportation
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Committee on April 27, 2009.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC)
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093