BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1403|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1403
Author: Eng (D), et al
Amended: 4/28/09 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMM. : 9-2, 6/23/09
AYES: Lowenthal, Huff, DeSaulnier, Harman, Kehoe, Oropeza,
Pavley, Simitian, Wolk
NOES: Ashburn, Hollingsworth
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 79-1, 5/11/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Local transportation funds: planning and
programming
SOURCE : Southern California Association of Governments
DIGEST : This bill deletes the $1 million cap on the
annual allocation of Transportation Development Account
funds to the Southern California Association of Governments
(SCAG) for funding SCAG's planning and programming
responsibilities.
ANALYSIS : The Legislature enacted the Transportation
Development Act (TDA), SB 325, 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 1/4-percent local sales tax for
transportation purposes. All counties imposed the tax in
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1972, because if they had not, the state, under
California's uniform tax law would not have collected the
one-percent local sales tax that supports the general funds
of cities and counties.
Existing law authorizes statutorily-created regional
transportation planning agencies to allocate to themselves
up to three percent of TDA funds that the Board of
Equalization distributes to the counties within the regions
for planning and programming. The county transportation
commissions in Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino
counties may allocate to themselves up to three percent of
their TDA revenues for planning and programming. The Los
County Metropolitan Transportation Commission may allocate
to itself one percent of the TDA revenue generated in the
county for planning and programming. The Southern
California Association of Governments (SCAG), a multicounty
regional transportation planning agency that includes all
of the above county transportation commissions, may
annually receive up to three-quarters of one percent of the
TDA revenues generated in the above counties, but not more
than $1 million dollars, for transportation planning and
programming.
This bill authorizes SCAG to continue to receive the
three-quarters of one percent of TDA revenues from the
county transportation commissions but removes the $1
million cap on the amount SCAG may receive.
Comments
At the time the county transportation commissions were
created in 1977, the responsibility for allocating TDA
revenues to the transit operators in each county remained
with SCAG. In 1979, the Legislature shifted the TDA
responsibility to the county commissions, resulting in the
management of TDA being focused on the county level rather
than regionally. With this action, local officials
believed SCAG no long needed a three percent allocation of
TDA funds, since it no longer managed the TDA program.
Legislation was enacted reflecting this conclusion. In the
intervening thirty years, the responsibilities of SCAG have
been increased. According to SCAG it is necessary to
remove the $1 million dollar cap on its allocation of TDA
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revenue because its regional transportation planning
responsibilities have substantially increased since the cap
was imposed. Among its added responsibilities is the
modeling of alternative regional transportation investment
portfolios in order to demonstrate conformity with federal
air quality standards, and the planning requirements that
are derived from SB 375 (Steinberg), Chapter 728, statutes
of 2008, which mandates SCAG to prepare and evaluate a
Sustainable Communities' Strategy as part of the regional
transportation planning process.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/24/09)
Southern California Association of Governments (source)
City of Moreno Valley
Orange County Transportation Authority
San Bernardino Associated Governments
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,
Duvall, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong,
Fuentes, 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,
Nava, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, John A. Perez, V. Manuel
Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva,
Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson,
Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, Bass
NOES: DeVore
JA:nl 6/24/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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