BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1175
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 1175 (Torlakson)
As Amended August 19, 2009
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |49-29|(June 3, 2009) |SENATE: |30-5 |(September 3, |
| | | | | |2009) |
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Original Committee Reference: TRANS .
SUMMARY : Makes the Antioch and Dumbarton Bridges part of the
Toll Bridge Seismic Retrofit Program (TBSRP); and, makes related
changes to existing provisions related to high-occupancy vehicle
(HOV) lanes, toll bridge maintenance, and operations.
The Senate amendments :
1)Strike provisions that would have allowed Bay Area Toll
Authority (BATA) to submit regional measures to voters for
toll increase to fund improvements in the toll bridge
corridors.
2)Strike provisions that would have allowed BATA to provide
discounts for vehicles that use electronic toll collection
devices to pay tolls.
3)Require BATA to provide a cash-based opportunity for customers
to pay tolls that does not require the customer to provide a
name or address.
4)Require BATA to contract with a nationally recognized
independent entity to review privacy issues related to the
agency's electronic toll collection system and to report back
to the Legislature by January 31, 2011.
5)Repeal provisions of existing law that authorize BATA to
reduce the seismic toll surcharge to encourage the use of
electronic toll payments.
EXISTING LAW :
6)Makes it illegal to evade payment of tolls or other charges on
any vehicle crossing or toll road.
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7)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
establishes numerous other financial and programmatic
requirements to complete TBSRP.
8)Creates the Toll Bridge Program Oversight Committee (TBPOC),
consisting of the Director of the Department of Transportation
(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.
9)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.
10)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.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill:
11)Directed 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; prescribed procedures to follow
for these collections.
12)Stated legislative findings and declarations that the Antioch
and Dumbarton Bridges are in need of seismic safety retrofit.
13)Made these two bridges part of the TBSRP.
14)Transferred any cost overrun savings in the TBSRP to the Bay
Area Toll Account, under BATA and appropriates the savings to
BATA for expenditure on the Antioch and Dumbarton Bridges.
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15)Prescribed that BATA is responsible for providing all other
funds required to complete the seismic safety retrofit
projects on these bridges.
16)Authorized BATA to increase the amount of tolls collected on
the seven state-owned San Francisco Bay Area toll bridges.
17)Applied provisions governing the TBPOC to the seismic
retrofit of the Antioch and Dumbarton Bridges.
18)Coordinated bridge maintenance, operation, and bond repayment
expenses.
19)Continuously appropriated to Caltrans money paid to Caltrans
by BATA for planning, design, construction, operation,
maintenance, repair, replacement, rehabilitation, and seismic
retrofit of state-owned toll bridges pursuant to TBSRP.
20)Eliminated 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.
21)Granted 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).
22)Dictated that Caltrans must follow BATA's lead in the Bay
Area with regard to establishing HOV occupancy levels,
discounts, and HOV access criteria.
23)Authorized BATA to increase tolls following voter approval of
additional regional measures.
24)Prescribed the election procedures to be followed relative to
additional regional measures.
25)Allowed 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.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee:
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1)Potential unknown loss of revenue, potentially in the tens of
millions, from transferring all savings in the TBSRP in
2013-14.
2)One-time costs of $950 million to retrofit the Antioch and
Dumbarton bridges, to be fully covered by a future bridge toll
increase to be imposed by BATA.
3)Annual costs of up to $700,000 annually for continue
participation in the oversight committee, beginning in
2013-14.
4)Potential minor costs associated with reporting mandate.
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 administratively raise tolls on all
seven Bay Area 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.
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Future Regional Measures: MTC has had two regional measures to
date: Regional Measure 1 (RM 1) 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.
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, would authorize
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 being held in Senate Appropriations Committee.
Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
FN: 0002630