BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    






           SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE       BILL NO: AB 1784
          SENATOR ALAN LOWENTHAL, CHAIRMAN               AUTHOR:  fong
                                                         VERSION: 2/10/10
          Analysis by: Art Bauer                         FISCAL:  No
          Hearing date: June 15, 2010







          SUBJECT:

          Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA)

          DESCRIPTION:

          This bill authorizes VTA to enter into agreements with cities  
          within its area of jurisdiction and the County of Santa Clara to  
          improve their streets and roads.

          ANALYSIS:

          VTA provides three countywide transportation services. First,  
          VTA plans, develops, and operates countywide bus and light rail  
          transit services. Second, VTA is the congestion management  
          agency for Santa Clara County. Among its congestion management  
          responsibilities are preparation of the county's congestion  
          management plans and programming of transportation projects for  
          inclusion in the Metropolitan Transportation Commission's  
          regional transportation improvement program for the nine county  
          San Francisco Bay Area. VTA's third major responsibility is the  
          management of Santa Clara County's local transportation sales  
          tax program which funds improvements to state highways, local  
          streets and roads and the local transit system.

           This bill  authorizes VTA to enter into agreements with Santa  
          Clara County and the cities in the county to improve their  
          streets and roads. This does not apply to improvements to  
          state-owned and operated highways in the county unless  
          authorized elsewhere in law.
          
          COMMENTS:

           Purpose  . According to the author, some smaller cities in Santa  




          AB 1784 (FONG)                                           Page 2

                                                                       


          Clara County do not have the in-house resources to manage  
          construction of local road improvements.  VTA, however, has  
          extensive experience in managing construction of transportation  
          capital improvement projects. By granting VTA the authority to  
          do work for others within the county, this bill addresses a  
          serious problem of small local agencies risking the loss of  
          capital outlay funds because the environmental review process,  
          the engineering skills, or the project management requirements  
          exceed the capabilities of the locality. This bill offers an  
          option to avoid this situation. 

          


          Assembly Votes:
               Floor:                            74-0
               Local Gov:                         8-0
               Trans:                            14-0

          POSITIONS:  (Communicated to the Committee before noon on  
          Wednesday,  
                     June 9, 2010)

               SUPPORT:  Santa Clara Valley Transportation Agency  
          (sponsor)

               OPPOSED:  None received.