BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 607|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 607
Author: Ducheny (D)
Amended: 4/22/09
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANS. & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 10-0, 4/14/09
AYES: Lowenthal, Huff, Ashburn, DeSaulnier, Harman,
Hollingsworth, Kehoe, Pavley, Simitian, Wolk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Oropeza
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SUBJECT : Imperial County Transportation Commission
SOURCE : Imperial Valley Association of Governments
DIGEST : This bill creates the Imperial County
Transportation Commission and provides that it is the
successor agency to the Imperial Valley Association of
Governments.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Authorizes local agencies to voluntarily form joint
powers agencies for purposes of conducting regional
transportation planning, the administration of the terms
and conditions of the Transportation Development Act
(TDA), and related planning activities. (The TDA
CONTINUED
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program, California's basis transit funding program, is
funded from a quarter percent local sales tax in each
county.) The County of Imperial, the seven cities in
the county, and the Imperial Irrigation District (IID)
formed a joint powers agency to perform regional
transportation planning and related activities.
2. Creates several transportation planning agencies for
carrying out regional transportation planning,
administering the terms and conditions of the TDA, and
related planning activities.
3. Designates the Southern California Association of
Governments (SCAG), the multicounty transportation
planning agency for the counties of Imperial, Los
Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura.
4. Transfers the responsibility for allocating TDA revenues
in the jurisdiction of SCAG to county transportation
agencies and to Imperial County.
5. Requires county transportation planning agencies with
the jurisdiction of the SCAG, the Los Angeles
Metropolitan Transportation Agency, the Orange County
Transportation Authority, the Riverside County
Transportation Commission, and the San Bernardino
Associated Governments to enter into various agreements
with SCAG pertaining to the division of responsibility
between SCAG and the county commission for conducting
regional transportation planning.
6. Authorizes SCAG to prepare the long-range regional
transportation plan (RTP), to coordinate the plans of
the county commissions with the RTP, to resolve
conflicts between the plans of the county commissions
and the RTP, to prepare the overall work program for its
area of jurisdiction as a condition of receiving federal
funds, and other related tasks.
This bill:
1. Creates the Imperial County Transportation Commission
(ICTC) to conduct specified transportation planning and
related activities within the incorporated and
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unincorporated areas of Imperial County.
2. Establishes a governing board consisting of up to 15
members of whom ten will be voting members, one
designated nonvoting member, and up to up to four
nonvoting, ex-officio members. The ten voting members
include one representative from each of seven
incorporated cities in the county, two members of the
Imperial County board of supervisors, one member
representing the IID. A designated nonvoting member,
appointed by the Governor representing the Department of
Transportation (Caltrans). The four nonvoting,
ex-officio members, whom the voting members may invite
to participate on the governing board include, one
member representing the State of Baja California, one
member representing the municipality of Mexicali,
Mexico, one member representing the national government
of Mexico, and one member representing any federally
recognized Native American tribe in Imperial County.
3. Authorizes the voting members of the board to elected
officers, establish procedures, retain and set the
compensation of staff, establish board committees
composed of at least three board members, adopt an
annual budget, and an administrative code, and
commission an annual audit.
4. Authorizes the board to appoint a technical advisory
committee of all the transit operators in the county,
all the incorporated cities in the county, the county of
Imperial County, and Caltrans.
5. Authorizes ICTC to use up to three percent of the
revenues in the local transportation fund for the
agency's administrative and program responsibilities.
6. Mandates that ICTC, in consultation with its members and
the public, prepare a three-to-five-year short-range
transportation plan that includes a transportation
improvement program to include all transportation
projects funded with state, local, and federal funds in
the county. The development of the transportation
improvement program shall be coordinated with SCAG and
shall be consistent with SCAG's regional transportation
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plan.
7. Mandates ICTC and SCAG to enter into a memorandum of
understanding specifying the process for preparing the
transportation improvement program.
8. Authorizes ICTC to continue to manage the TDA program,
including allocating funds to transit operators and
local streets and roads.
9. Authorizes ICTC to prepare the short-range transit plan
require by TDA.
Background
This bill coverts a voluntary organization, the Imperial
Valley Council of Governments (IVAG), to a statutory
regional transportation planning agency, the ICTC. For
about 30 years the county, cities, and the IID of Imperial
have operated a regional transportation planning agency,
the IVAG, created by a joint powers agreement among the
participating jurisdictions. This bill formalizes in
statute the joint powers agency by creating the ICTC.
There is a separate transportation agency in Imperial
County called the Imperial County Local Transportation
Authority, which manages a local, voter-approved
transportation sales tax. The tax was scheduled to expire
in 2010, but last November, Imperial County voters approved
a 40-year continuation of the tax.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/4/09)
Imperial Valley Association of Governments (source)
Automobile Club of Southern California
Imperial County Board of Supervisors
JJA:do 5/5/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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