BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: ab 1381
SENATOR ALAN LOWENTHAL, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: J. Perez
VERSION: 4/15/09
Analysis by: Jennifer Gress FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: June 16, 2009
SUBJECT:
High-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes: Los Angeles County
DESCRIPTION:
This bill requires, rather than permits, the Los Angels County
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) to implement a
value-pricing and transit development demonstration program in
cooperation with the California Department of Transportation
(Caltrans) and adds the California Highway Patrol (CHP) as an
agency with which LACMTA must work to implement the program.
The bill also provides that the demonstration program does not
preclude Caltrans or any local agency from developing facilities
that may compete with the HOT lane facilities and states that
LACMTA is not entitled to compensation for adverse effects on
toll revenue that may be due to those competing facilities.
ANALYSIS:
High-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes permit single-occupant vehicles
to use high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes for a fee. Since
1993, several bills have been enacted to authorize a total of 13
HOT lane facilities.
AB 713 (Goldsmith), Chapter 962, Statutes of 1993, authorized
the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) to allow
single-occupant vehicles into the HOV lanes on Interstate 15 in
San Diego County for a fee. The project was part of a federal
demonstration program to assess the application of congestion
pricing and to increase revenues for transit development in the
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I-15 corridor.
In 2004, AB 2032 (Dutra), Chapter 418, authorized the Sunol
Smart Carpool Lane Joint Powers Authority, the Alameda County
Congestion Management Agency, the Santa Clara Valley
Transportation Authority, and SANDAG to develop and operate HOT
lane facilities using value or congestion pricing on a specified
number of transportation corridors within their jurisdictions,
subject to certain conditions.
AB 1467 (N??ez), Chapter 32, Statutes of 2006, authorized, until
January 1, 2012, regional transportation agencies, in
cooperation with Caltrans, to apply to the California
Transportation Commission (CTC) to develop and operate up to
four HOT lane projects, including the administration and
operation of a value pricing program and exclusive or
preferential lane facilities for public transit. Under AB 1467,
HOT lanes are approved by the enactment of a statute.
In accordance with AB 1467, the Legislature passed and the
Governor signed SB 1422 (Ridley-Thomas), Chapter 547, Statutes
of 2008, to authorize, until January 15, 2013, LACMTA to convert
existing HOV lanes on Interstates 10 and 110 to HOT lanes as
part of a value-pricing and transit development demonstration
program pursuant to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) set
forth by the United States Department of Transportation (U.S.
DOT), Caltrans, and LACMTA.
SB 1422 permits LACMTA to enter into a cooperative agreement
with Caltrans for all matters relating to design, construction,
maintenance, and operation of the facilities and to establish
traffic flow guidelines for the purpose of ensuring optimal use
of the HOT lanes by high-occupancy vehicles. SB 1422 also
establishes several conditions under which LACMTA may implement
the value pricing and transit development program.
This bill :
Requires, rather than permits, LACMTA to implement the
value-pricing and transit development demonstration program in
cooperation with Caltrans.
Adds CHP as an agency with which LACMTA must cooperate to
implement the demonstration program.
AB 1381 (J. PEREZ) Page 3
Provides examples of specific performance measures that the
facility should meet.
Provides that the statute authorizing the demonstration
program does not preclude Caltrans or any local agency from
developing facilities that may compete with the HOT lane
demonstration project program.
States that LACMTA is not entitled to compensation for adverse
effects on toll revenue that may be due to those competing
facilities.
Makes technical and clarifying changes to make consistent
references to state highways in statute (i.e., replacing
"Interstate" with "State Highway Route"), to articulate the
role of Caltrans more precisely, and to reference LACMTA more
precisely.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose and Background . The purpose of this bill is to make
clean-up changes to SB 1422. SB 1422 provided the necessary
legislative authorization to convert the HOV lanes on I-10 and
I-110 to HOT lanes so that LACMTA could receive $210.6 million
in federal transit aid as part of a program administered by
U.S. DOT to encourage the implementation of congestion pricing
in metropolitan areas.
U.S. DOT conditioned its approval of LACMTA's proposal on
receiving the necessary legislative authorization to implement
an MOU between it, Caltrans, and LACMTA and established a
deadline of October 15, 2008. To take advantage of the
federal funds, therefore, it was necessary to pass SB 1422 by
the conclusion of the 2007-2008 legislative session. In
drafting the bill and moving it through the process quickly,
the proponents inadvertently left out certain provisions and
there was insufficient time to make corrections.
Additionally, the Professional Engineers in California
Government (PECG) proposed changes to SB 1422 to ensure that
Caltrans and local agencies could build transportation
facilities near the HOT lane facilities and to specify that
payment of compensation would not be due if those facilities
resulted in a reduction of toll revenue on the HOT lanes. In
the final days of the 2007-08 session, the Director of
AB 1381 (J. PEREZ) Page 4
Caltrans, Will Kempton, and LACMTA Chief Executive Officer,
Roger Snoble, wrote a letter to PECG stating, "Given the very
limited time remaining in the current Legislative Session, we
want to commit to addressing both your concerns in legislation
next year." This bill fulfills that commitment.
2.Description of the HOT lanes authorized by SB 1422 . The
intent of LACMTA's proposal is to test innovative strategies
to alleviate congestion, maximize freeway capacity, and
enhance transit alternatives in the I-10 and I-110 corridors.
A large component of the program is to convert certain
segments of HOV lanes into HOT lanes whereby single-occupant
vehicles may access the lane for a fee. In addition to
allowing single-occupant vehicles to use the lanes for a fee,
LACMTA intends to increase bus service that currently operates
in those HOV lanes and make a variety of improvements to
transit facilities in the region.
I-110 currently has two HOV lanes in each direction. LACMTA's
proposal involves converting the 11-mile segment of the HOV
lane that extends in both directions from 182nd Street/Artesia
Transit Center to Adams Boulevard into a HOT lane. The
minimum occupancy standard for this facility is 2+ persons per
vehicle.
The I-10 HOV lane is a single lane in each direction. LACMTA
will convert a14-mile segment extending from Alameda
Street/Union Station to I-605 into a HOT lane. Under the
demonstration program, a buffer zone that currently exists
within that 14-mile segment will be removed in order to
establish a second HOT lane. This second lane will extend for
9 of the 14 miles. The minimum occupancy standard for this
facility is 2+ per vehicle except for during peak commute
hours at which time the minimum is increased to three.
Both facilities will involve electronic tolling using
technology similar to FasTrak utilized on other toll
facilities in the state. There will be no tollbooths where
motorists may pay their toll in cash. The HOT lanes will
utilize dynamic pricing whereby the price of tolls may change
as frequently as once every five minutes to manage demand for
use of the facility. During peak periods, toll rates will
increase thereby decreasing the number of single-occupant
vehicles likely to choose to use the lane. The HOT lanes will
become operational in January 2011.
AB 1381 (J. PEREZ) Page 5
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 64-3
Appr: 14-2
Trans: 9-1
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday,
June 10, 2009)
SUPPORT: California Department of Transportation
(co-sponsor)
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation
Authority (co-sponsor)
OPPOSED: None received.