BILL NUMBER: SB 409 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JANUARY 26, 2010
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 21, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Senator Ducheny
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Torres)
FEBRUARY 26, 2009
An act to add Part 5.1 (commencing with Section 14460) to
Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, and to amend Section
185020 of, and to repeal Section 185024 of, the Public Utilities
Code, relating to transportation. An act to amend
Section 13975 of, and to add Chapter 2 (commencing with Section
13985) to Part 4.5 of Division 3 of Title 2 of, the Government Code,
and to amend Section 185020 of, and to add Section 185025 to, the
Public Utilities Code, relating to transportation.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 409, as amended, Ducheny. Department of Railroads.
Passenger rail programs: strategic planning.
Existing law creates the Department of Transportation in the
Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, with various powers and
duties relative to the intercity passenger rail program, among other
transportation programs. Existing law creates in state government the
High-Speed Rail Authority, with various powers and duties relative
to development and implementation of a high-speed passenger train
system. The authority has 9 members, 5 appointed by the Governor and
4 appointed by the Legislature. Existing law also creates in state
government the California Transportation Commission, with various
powers and duties relative to programming of transportation capital
projects and assisting the Secretary of Business, Transportation and
Housing in formulating state transportation policies.
This bill would place the High-Speed Rail Authority within the
Business, Transportation and Housing Agency. The bill would require
the 5 members of the authority appointed by the Governor to be
appointed with the advice and consent of the Senate. The bill would
require the authority to annually submit a funding plan to the
California Transportation Commission for approval, identifying the
need for investments during the fiscal year and the amount of bond
sales necessary to accommodate those investments.
This bill would require the Business, Transportation and Housing
Agency to prepare a 5-year Strategic Rail Connectivity Plan for the
state, the focus of which would be to identify, with a statewide
emphasis, opportunities for passenger rail system improvements and
linkages. The plan would be required to include desirable linkages
and feeder opportunities between high-speed and conventional
intercity rail, commuter rail, and rail transit, and to identify the
coordination in planning and the capital investments necessary in
that regard. The plan would also be required to identify future
right-of-way needs of passenger rail lines in connection with state
and local highway system improvements in order to accommodate future
rail system improvements. The plan would be developed in consultation
with transportation planning agencies and the agencies and entities
responsible for the various rail and highway systems. The plan would
initially be submitted to the California Transportation Commission
for approval on September 1, 2011, and every 5 years thereafter. Upon
approval of the plan, the commission, for each transportation
project subject to commission approval and implicated by the plan,
would be required to make a determination that the project is
consistent with the plan. The bill would also provide that the
commission, for good cause, may approve a project that is not
consistent with the plan, subject to a waiver granted by the
Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing.
Existing law creates the Department of Transportation in the
Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, with various powers and
duties relative to the intercity rail passenger program, among other
transportation programs. Existing law creates the High-Speed Rail
Authority, with various powers and duties relative to development and
implementation of a high-speed passenger train system. Existing law
creates the Public Utilities Commission, with various powers and
duties relative to railroads, among other responsibilities.
This bill would create the Department of Railroads in the
Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, and create the positions
of director and deputy director within the department, to be
appointed by the Governor, as specified. The director would be
subject to Senate confirmation. The bill would transfer to the
department responsibility for various state railroad programs
currently administered by the above-referenced agencies. The bill
would specify new duties of the department relative to an analysis of
the state's freight rail transportation system. The bill would
provide that the department shall be the only state agency eligible
to apply for and receive grant and loan funds from the federal
government for intercity rail, high-speed rail, or freight rail
purposes. The bill would require the Secretary of Business,
Transportation and Housing to convene a joint task force cochaired by
the Director of Transportation, the Director of Railroads, and a
representative of the Public Utilities Commission for the purpose of
resolving issues relative to overlapping jurisdiction of the
agencies.
Existing law provides for the Governor to appoint 5 members of the
High-Speed Rail Authority. Existing law provides for the authority
to elect a chairperson from among its members and to appoint an
executive director.
This bill would revise these provisions by requiring one of these
appointees to be the Director of Railroads, who would be subject to
Senate confirmation. The Director of Railroads would serve as the
chairperson of the authority. The bill would reconstitute the
authority as a division of the Department of Railroads, with the
chief of the division to be nominated by the Director of Railroads
and approved by the authority, and would delete the provision for an
executive director.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 13975 of the
Government Code is amended to read:
13975. The Business and Transportation Agency in state government
is hereby renamed the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency.
The agency consists of the State Department of Alcoholic Beverage
Control, the Department of the California Highway Patrol, the
Department of Corporations, the Department of Housing and Community
Development, the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Department of Real
Estate, the Department of Transportation, the High-Speed Rail
Authority, the Department of Financial Institutions, the
Department of Managed Health Care, and the Board of Pilot
Commissioners for the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun;
and the California Housing Finance Agency is also located within the
Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, as specified in Division
31 (commencing with Section 50000) of the Health and Safety Code.
SEC. 2. Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 13985)
is added to Part 4.5 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the
Government Code , to read:
CHAPTER 2. STRATEGIC RAIL CONNECTIVITY PLAN
13985. (a) The agency shall be responsible for preparation of a
five-year Strategic Rail Connectivity Plan for the state. The focus
of the strategic plan shall be to identify, with a statewide
emphasis, those opportunities for passenger rail system improvements
and linkages that otherwise are likely to be missed, or assigned a
relative lower priority, by implementing agencies because of the
natural focus of those agencies on the specific rail systems under
their respective jurisdictions. In that regard, the strategic plan
shall include desirable linkages and feeder opportunities between
various passenger rail services, including high-speed and
conventional intercity rail, commuter rail, and rail transit, where
the various services are the responsibility of different implementing
and operating agencies. The strategic plan shall identify the
coordination in planning and capital investments necessary to
maximize the opportunities for each of those services in providing a
cohesive, connected, and easy-to-use system for Californians
consisting of all of those services, rather than a cumbersome set of
unlinked individual rail services. The strategic plan shall also
identify future right-of-way needs of passenger rail lines in
connection with state and local highway system improvements in order
to accommodate future rail system improvements as those highway
improvements proceed to implementation, with the objective of
avoiding lost opportunities by failure to reserve right-of-way
capacity for future rail improvements. The strategic plan may also
include other matters that offer similar opportunities for statewide
coordination, including the efficient movement of goods.
(b) The strategic plan shall be developed in consultation with
transportation planning agencies and agencies and entities
responsible for the various rail and highway systems. The strategic
plan shall be submitted to the California Transportation Commission
for approval on September 1, 2011, and every five years thereafter on
September 1. Amendments to an approved strategic plan may be
developed and presented to the commission for approval in the same
manner during each five-year period.
(c) Upon approval of the strategic plan, the commission, for each
transportation project subject to commission approval and implicated
by the strategic plan, shall make a determination that the project is
consistent with the strategic plan. The commission may approve a
project that is not consistent with the strategic plan for good
cause, subject to a waiver granted by the secretary.
SEC. 3. Section 185020 of the Public
Utilities Code is amended to read:
185020. (a) There is in state government a
the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency the
High-Speed Rail Authority.
(b) (1) The authority is composed of nine members as follows:
(A) Five members appointed by the Governor with the advice
and consent of the Senate .
(B) Two members appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules.
(C) Two members appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly.
(2) For the purposes of making appointments to the authority, the
Governor, the Senate Committee on Rules, and the Speaker of the
Assembly shall take into consideration geographical diversity to
ensure that all regions of the state are adequately represented.
(c) Except as provided in subdivision (d), and until their
successors are appointed, members of the authority shall hold office
for terms of four years. A vacancy shall be filled by the appointing
power making the original appointment, by appointing a member to
serve the remainder of the term.
(d) (1) On and after January 1, 2001, the terms of all persons who
are then members of the authority shall expire, but those members
may continue to serve until they are reappointed or until their
successors are appointed. In order to provide for evenly staggered
terms, persons appointed or reappointed to the authority after
January 1, 2001, shall be appointed to initial terms to expire as
follows:
(A) Of the five persons appointed by the Governor, one shall be
appointed to a term which expires on December 31, 2002, one shall be
appointed to a term which expires on December 31, 2003, one shall be
appointed to a term which expires on December 31, 2004, and two shall
be appointed to terms which expires on December 31, 2005.
(B) Of the two persons appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules,
one shall be appointed to a term which expires on December 31, 2002,
and one shall be appointed to a term which expires on December 31,
2004.
(C) Of the two persons appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly,
one shall be appointed to a term which expires on December 31, 2003,
and one shall be appointed to a term which expires on December 31,
2005.
(2) Following expiration of each of the initial terms provided for
in this subdivision, the term shall expire every four years
thereafter on December 31.
(e) Members of the authority are subject to the Political Reform
Act of 1974 (Title 9 (commencing with Section 81000)).
(f) From among its members, the authority shall elect a
chairperson, who shall preside at all meetings of the authority, and
a vice chairperson to preside in the absence of the chairperson. The
chairperson shall serve a term of one year.
(g) Five members of the authority constitute a quorum for taking
any action by the authority.
SEC. 4. Section 185025 is added to the
Public Utilities Code , to read:
185025. The authority shall submit an annual funding plan to the
California Transportation Commission for approval. Among other
things, the funding plan shall identify the need for investments
during the fiscal year to which it applies, and the amount of bond
sales necessary to accommodate those investments. All matter
omitted in this version of the bill appears in the bill as amended in
the Senate, May 21, 2009. (JR11)