BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: SB 391
SENATOR ALAN LOWENTHAL, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: Liu
VERSION: AS
PROPOSED TO BE
AMENDED
Analysis by: Art Bauer FISCAL: Yes
Hearing date: April 14, 2009
SUBJECT:
State transportation planning
DESCRIPTION:
This bill requires the Department of Transportation (Caltrans)
to update its state transportation plan by December 31, 2015 and
every five years thereafter. This bill also requires that the
plan address how the state will meet the transportation
infrastructure and mobility needs of California and attain air
pollution standards required by federal and state law and
achieve greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions needed from
the transportation sector.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1. Requires Caltrans to prepare and submit a state
transportation plan to the governor by December 1993.
2. Requires that the plan include a policy element that
describes the state's transportation policies and system
performance objectives.
3. Requires that the plan include a strategic element that
incorporates broad system concepts and strategies
synthesized from adopted regional transportation plans.
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4. Prohibits the California Transportation Plan from being
project specific.
5. Requires that the plan include economic forecasts and
recommendations to the Legislature and the governor that
would achieve the plan's broad system concepts, strategies,
and performance objectives.
6. Requires the preparation of regional transportation
plans (RTPs) by regional transportation planning agencies
and further requires federally designated metropolitan
planning organizations (MPOs) with a regional population in
excess of 200,000 persons include in their RTPs a variety
of measures addressing mobility and congestion and a
sustainable communities strategy (SCS) designed to achieve
the region's ARB targets for greenhouse gas emission
reduction.
7. Federal law requires periodic submittal of a state
transportation plan to the U.S Department of
Transportation.
This bill:
1. Makes findings and recommendations regarding the state's
goals for the reduction of GHG emissions, the contributions
of GHG emissions from the transportation sector, and the
lack of a comprehensive, statewide, multimodal state
transportation planning process that identifies the
transportation system needed to meet objectives of mobility
and congestion management consistent with GHG targets and
air pollution standards.
2. Requires the state transportation plan to consider
mobility and accessibility, integration and connectivity,
efficient system management and operation, existing system
preservation, safety and security, economic development,
including productivity and efficiency, and environmental
protection and quality of life.
3. Requires the plan to explain how the state will achieve
maximum feasible emissions reductions in order to attain a
statewide reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to 1990
levels by 2020 and 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. In
developing the explanation, Caltrans must consider the use
of alternative fuels, new vehicle technology, tailpipe
SB 391 (LIU) Page 3
emissions reductions, and expansion of public transit,
commuter rail, and intercity rail. The plan shall identify
the statewide integrated multimodal transportation system
needed to achieve these results.
4. Requires that a state transportation plan be prepared
and completed by December 31, 2015 and updated every five
years thereafter.
5. Requires Caltrans to consult and coordinate during the
preparation of the with various organizations, including
the California Transportation Commission, the Air Resources
Board, the Energy Commission, regional transportation
planning agencies, air quality management districts, and
public transit operators.
6. Requires Caltrans to hold public hearings during the
preparation of the plan.
7. Requires the governor to submit the plan to the
Legislature and U.S. Department of Transportation.
COMMENTS:
1. Purpose . This bill will establish an ongoing statewide
multimodal transportation planning process within Caltrans.
Generally, state transportation planning focus on defining
corridor highway needs for determining operational
improvements, reconstruction, and rehabilitation and for
new capacity. This process especially in the urban areas
relies upon the regional transportation planning process.
The author points out that over the last several years, the
direction in California environmental, transportation,
housing, and infrastructure financing policy has been to
break down the silos created by single purpose bureaucratic
organizations and legislative mandates. The goal is to
produce integrated planning processes that recognize the
relationships among residential, commercial/industrial, and
agricultural land use; transportation and housing; air
quality; and energy facility siting planning, regulatory,
and infrastructure funding processes. Much of this
motivation comes from the acceptance of climate change as a
reality and California's desire to be a leader in the field
of addressing this global issue. A fundamental element of
this direction has been to recognize the need for local,
regional, and state coordination. In short, the new
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paradigm needs to emphasize both vertical and horizontal
integration of the state's planning, regulatory, and
funding processes.
2. Background . Historically, the Legislature and governors
have had a difficult time addressing the issue of state
transportation planning. The most coherent transportation
plan was developed during the 1950s. This was a single mode
plan, and the highway segments were included in statute.
During the 1970s state law required Caltrans to prepare a
multimodal state transportation plan and the Legislature
was to adopt it. A bill adopting the plan passed the
Senate. Before a hearing could be scheduled in the
Assembly, the Secretary of Business and Transportation gave
a speech in which he called the plan a "wind tunnel of
rhetoric." That as the end of state transportation planning
until the 1993 plan.
3. Integration of GHG issues and sustainable communities .
This bill seeks to have a statewide multimodal
transportation plan that endeavors to incorporate into the
transportation planning process the requirements of AB 32
(N??ez), Chapter 488, Statutes of 2006, and SB 375
(Steinberg), Chapter 728, Statutes of 2008. This has the
potential of creating a truly statewide transportation
system strategy taking into account the most recent
legislative direction on vehicle emissions and metropolitan
land development.
4. Author's amendment . The author will submit amendments
that doing the following:
a. Requires Caltrans to complete an interim report on
the plan by December 31, 2012 and submit it o the Senate
Transportation and Housing Committee, the Assembly
Transportation Committee, and the California
Transportation Commission.
b. Requires the interim report to provide an overview
of all the SCSs that metropolitan planning organizations
with a population in excess of 200,000 must prepare under
existing law and assess how the implementation of the
SCSs will influence the configuration of the statewide
multimodal transportation system.
c. Makes technical changes.
SB 391 (LIU) Page 5
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday,
April 15, 2009)
SUPPORT: None received.
OPPOSED: None received.