BILL NUMBER: SB 165	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Lowenthal

                        FEBRUARY 14, 2009

   An act relating to transportation, and declaring the urgency
thereof, to take effect immediately.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 165, as introduced, Lowenthal. Federal transportation funds.
   Existing law provides for apportionment of federal transportation
funds to the state and provides for allocation of these funds to
various purposes.
   This bill would make legislative findings and declarations
relative to additional federal funds to be made available to the
state pursuant to federal economic stimulus legislation.
   This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
   Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated
local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) Legislation has been introduced in the United States Congress
that, when enacted, will make appropriations of federal funds for
various purposes, including job preservation and creation,
infrastructure investment, energy efficiency and science, assistance
to the unemployed, and state and local government fiscal
stabilization. This act, known as the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009, is expected to provide between $40 billion
and $85 billion nationally in transportation funding for a variety of
mass transit and highway projects.
   (b) It is the intent of the Legislature to implement the
expenditure of federal transportation funds apportioned to the state
under the act as expeditiously as possible and in accordance with
federal law.
   (c) It is in the interest of the state to ensure that the funds
apportioned to the state under the act are fully obligated within the
constraints of the act.
   (d) The investment of these federal transportation funds should be
guided by both of the following principles:
   (1) Investment in transportation projects should stimulate job
creation in the near term and support economic activity in the long
term.
   (2) Transportation projects funded by the act should contribute to
a transportation system that is environmentally sustainable,
allowing for mobility of goods and people in the cleanest and most
efficient manner possible. Funding should support the development and
deployment of new technology that has the potential to address the
interrelated problems of transportation, air quality, and climate
change.
  SEC. 2.  This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
   In order to implement expenditure of federal transportation funds
made available by Congress as part of the economic stimulus
legislation as quickly as possible, it is necessary that this act
take effect immediately.