BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: SB 409
SENATOR ALAN LOWENTHAL, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: ducheny
VERSION: 2/26/09
Analysis by: Art Bauer FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: April 14, 2009
SUBJECT:
Department of Railroads
DESCRIPTION:
This bill creates a Department of Railroads in the Business,
Transportation and Housing Agency.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1. Creates the Department of Transportation (Caltrans) in
the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency (BT&H). An
undersecretary of the agency is required to oversee
Caltrans matters.
2. Requires the Governor to appoint a director of Caltrans
subject to confirmation by the Senate, who holds office at
his pleasure.
3. Creates within Caltrans a division of rail, which is
responsible for the development of a comprehensive rail
passenger system and the preparation of the rail passenger
development plan.
4. Authorizes Caltrans to:
a. Contract with Amtrak for passenger rail
service and related feeder bus services and with
railroad corporations for the use of tracks and other
facilities for passenger services.
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b. Provide intermodal facilities along corridors
on which services is operated under contract to the
state.
c. Prepare marketing strategies for intercity
passenger rail services and the feeder-bus services.
d. Purchase, lease, and sell passenger rail
equipment, including passenger cars and locomotives.
e. Acquire, lease, design, construct, and improve
track lines and related facilities.
f. Purchase, lease, or condemn property necessary
for the development and implementation of the state's
rail passenger plan.
g. Prepare and submit to the Legislature every
two years a State Rail Plan consisting of a passenger
rail element and a freight rail element. Prior to
submitting the plan to the Legislature, Caltrans must
submit the plan to the California Transportation
Commission for its advice and consent. The plan is
required under federal law in order for California to
be eligible for certain capital funds for passenger
rail services.
5. Assigns Caltrans responsibility for developing intercity
passenger rail service with speeds up to 125 miles per hour
(mph).
6. Prohibits Caltrans from operating railroads.
7. Requires capital expenditures for intercity rail
projects funded from the state's Public Transit Account
(PTA) to be included in the State Transportation
Improvement Program (STIP), which is a five-year state
transportation capital outlay program, adopted every
two-years by the California Transportation Commission
(CTC).
8. Authorizes that the state rail program be funded from
the Public Transit Account for state operations and from
the State Highway Account for the grade separation program
and the grade crossing program.
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9. Authorizes $400 million for rail capital programs from
Proposition 1B, the Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air
Quality, and Port Security Bond Act of 2006, and $190
million for capital programs from 2008's Proposition 1A,
the Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for
the 21st Century.
10. Authorizes the California Public Utilities
Commission (PUC) to allow, close, and regulate railroad
at-grade crossings and grade separations between railroads,
local streets and roads, and light rail transit systems, to
regulate the crossing of one railroad with another, to
authorize the installation and maintenance of
grade-crossing devices, and to apportion cost for the
construction and maintenance of such devices and grade
separations.
11. Requires the PUC to establish a priority list of
grade separation projects based on criteria it adopts to be
funded by the Grade Separation Fund (Fund) in the State
Highway Account.
12. Authorizes the CTC to fund projects from the
priority list prepared by the PUC with revenue from the
Fund, based on a recommendation made by Caltrans.
13. Establishes the California High-Speed Rail
Authority (HSRA), which is governed by five members
appointed by the Governor, two members appointed by the
Senate Rules Committee, and two members appointed by the
Speaker of the Assembly.
14. Authorizes the governing board of the HSRA to appoint an
executive director, who serves at the pleasure of the
board, and establish his or her salary with the consent of
the Department of Personnel Administration.
15. Authorizes the HSRA to develop and implement an
intercity high-speed passenger trail service that is fully
integrated with the state's existing intercity rail and bus
network, consisting of interlinked conventional and
high-speed rail lines and associated feeder buses. The
intercity network in turn shall be fully coordinated and
connected with commuter rail lines and urban rail transit
lines developed by local agencies, as well as other transit
services, through the use of common station facilities
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whenever possible.
16. Assigns the HSRA responsibility for developing intercity
passenger rail service with speeds above 125 mph.
This bill :
1. Creates the Department of Railroads (DOR) in the BT&H
and requires an undersecretary of the agency to be assigned
to give attention to rail matters.
2. Requires the Governor to appoint a director for the DOR
who is subject to confirmation by the Senate, and who holds
office at his pleasure.
3. Authorizes the Governor to appoint a deputy director for
DOR, upon the recommendation of the director.
4. Requires the director of DOR to be paid the same salary
as the director of Caltrans.
5. Transfers from Caltrans to DOR the powers and
responsibilities identified in items 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9
in existing law above.
6. Transfers from the PUC to DOR the powers and
responsibilities identified in items 10 and 11 above.
7. Transfers the HSRA to the DOR and creates a division of
high-speed rail within DOR.
8. Requires the executive director of the HSRA to report to
the director of DOR.
9. Requires that the HSRA's annual budget to be developed
between the HSRA and the director of the DOR.
10. Mandates the DOR to be the only state agency eligible to
apply for and receive grant and loan funds from the federal
government or other sources for intercity rail, high-speed
rail, or freight rail purposes.
11. Requires the secretary of BT&H to convene a joint task
force, co-chaired by the DOR director, and the Caltrans
director for the purpose of resolving issues between the
two departments relative to overlapping jurisdictions
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COMMENTS:
1. Purpose . The purpose of this bill is to elevate to
departmental status Caltrans' division of rail in order to
bring more policy oversight by the Legislature and the
administration to the state's growing rail program, and to
ensure that the California's rail program receives the same
level of attention as the state's highway program.
2. Background . During the 1970s, Caltrans' mission was
broadened to include public transportation. The clearest
manifestation of this policy shift is the intercity
passenger rail program that Amtrak has been operating since
1975 under contract with Caltrans. The Division of Rail
manages this contract for Caltrans. The first Amtrak
service was between San Diego and Los Angeles, followed by
service between Bakersfield and Oakland, and finally from
Auburn-Sacramento to Oakland-San Jose. The intercity rail
program is managed in consultation with Amtrak, the private
railroad corporations over whose tracks the Caltrans
service operates, and the commuter rail operators in the
state who often share trackage rights with the
state-sponsored Amtrak service.
The PUC was originally established in 1911 by a
constitutional amendment as the California Railroad
Commission, for the purpose of regulating the railroad
industry. In 1912, the Legislature expanded its regulatory
authority to include natural gas, electric, telephone, and
water companies. Until the 1970s the PUC was responsible
for regulating the fares and prices that railroads and
other transportation companies charge shippers and
passengers for the services they provided in California and
for enforcing rail safety standards. By 1980, Congress had
deregulated the trucking and rail industries, including
ending intrastate regulation by the PUC. After this action,
the PUC no longer regulated the intrastate rates of the
transportation industry. In regard to railroad safety,
Congress has pre-empted the PUC's authority and assigned it
to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). The FRA,
however, contracts with the PUC to perform certain safety
inspections on its behalf. The PUC does regulate urban rail
mass transportation systems. In the event of an accident in
the transportation sector, the investigation and
determination of probable cause is the responsibility of
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the National Transportation Safety Board.
In 1996, the California High-Speed Rail Authority was
created with responsibility for planning, constructing, and
operating a high-speed train system serving California's
major metropolitan areas. With passage of Proposition 1A,
the Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for
the 21st Century, the HSRA is responsible for developing
high-speed rail service between Anaheim-Los
Angeles-Bakersfield-San Jose-San Francisco. This service is
to be developed as a public-private partnership, with
private, state, and federal funding. Proposition 1A
specified that the service cannot rely upon state, federal,
or local operating subsidies.
3. Removing overlap between the PUC and Caltrans in the
management of the grade-separation program . One of the most
vexing problems for local agencies, railroads, and other
stakeholders is the grade separation and grade crossing
program jointly managed by Caltrans and the PUC. The grade
separation program is funded from a statutorily required
annual appropriation of $15 million. Every two years the
PUC develops project evaluation criteria and then issues a
call for grade-separation projects. It evaluates the
projects against the criteria and arrays them in rank
order. Caltrans recommends to the CTC which projects to
fund. Because of the complexity in funding and the
readiness of projects, projects are not usually funded in
order. This bill consolidates the grade separation and
grade crossing program under the new DOR. It does not
transfer the vestigial commercial railroad safety
responsibilities nor does it transfer the urban rail
transit safety responsibilities of the PUC to the new DOR.
The commissioners of the PUC adopt the evaluation criteria
used to rank grade separation project applications and to
resolve cost sharing disputes among parties involved with
the installation and maintenance of grade crossing devices
and grade separation. The committee may wish to consider an
amendment that would transfer this responsibility to the
CTC and make other clarifying changes.
4. Incorporation of the HSRA authority into the DOR creates
opportunities for an integrated passenger rail system . The
Senate Transportation and Housing Committee has held four
oversight hearing on the HSRA. One conclusion from the
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hearings is that the HSRA has operated as a promotion and
planning entity. Its efforts have been focused on
developing a vision of high-speed rail that the voters
would endorse, which they did with the passage of
Proposition 1A. The HSRA is now on the cusp of being a
project development and construction agency. The HSRA is
unique however, in its degree of separation from typical
forms of accountability in that the governing board is not
subject to Senate confirmation. The board, not the
Governor, appoints the executive director, and the
appointment is not subject to Senate confirmation. While
Proposition 1A provides strong oversight and accountability
before bond revenues can be appropriated for construction
purposes, the requirements for an integrated rail system
development plan on a statewide basis is limited.
Although the HSRA has entered into memorandums of
understanding with local agencies, including, Caltrain, the
commuter operator on the San Francisco Peninsula, and the
Orange County Transportation Authority, which is developing
half-hourly commuter service in the high-speed rail
corridor between Anaheim and Los Angeles, it has not
defined how a statewide feeder network of Amtrak services
and regional services commuter services would function. The
DOR could provide an environment where the probability of
integration would be enhanced as both conventional
intercity and high-speed service would be located in the
purposed department.
5. Possibility of confusion of roles between the director
of the DOR and the executive director of the HSRA . The bill
creates a division of high-speed rail within the DOR. The
chief of the division is the HSRA's executive director,
whose appointing authority is the HSRA. This creates the
potential of conflict, since the director of the DOR is
appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate. This
continues the bifurcation of leadership in the development
of intercity rail within California. It would be much
better if there was clear, unambiguous leadership. To
achieve this objective, the committee may wish to consider
an amendment that would designate the director of the DOR
as the executive director of the HSRA.
6. SB 53 study . SB 53(Ducheny), Chapter 612, Statues of
2008, requires the California Research Bureau to conduct as
analysis of the state's rail functions, including examining
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the practices of other states, and report to the
Legislature by May 1, 2009. This study is near completion
and stakeholders in the public and private sector in the
state as well as managers of rail programs in other states
have been consulted.
Related legislation
SB 455 (Lowenthal) requires the Governor's appointees to the
HSRA to be subject to Senate confirmation, establishes criteria
for selecting high-speed rail projects, and provides the HSRA
with eminent domain authority similar to the authority assigned
to Caltrans and the Department of Water Resources.
AB 1375 (Galgiani) creates a Department of High-Speed Rail to
manage and implement the high-speed rail program described in
Proposition 1A and other statutes. The management of this
department is overseen by the governing board of the HSRA.
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday,
April 8, 2009)
SUPPORT: None received.
OPPOSED: California Public Utilities Commission