BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
1061 (Hancock)
Hearing Date: 04/26/2010 Amended: 04/08/2010
Consultant: Mark McKenzie Policy Vote: T&H 6-2
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BILL SUMMARY: SB 1061 would allow a project to construct a
bicycle-pedestrian-maintenance pathway on the west span of the
San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge (SFOBB) to be funded by toll
bridge revenues. The bill would prohibit bridge tolls to be
increased to fund this project, but would require project
sponsors to seek funding from all other potential sources,
including the State Highway Account and federal funds.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 Fund
Bridge project cost pressures of $168,000 to $518,338 to
Special*
construct bicycle-pedestrian-maintenance
pathway on west span of the SFOBB
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* Bay Area Toll Account (bridge toll revenues), State Highway
Account
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) is the
transportation planning, coordinating, and financing agency for
the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. MTC is responsible for
regularly updating the regional transportation plan (RTP) and
nominating projects for inclusion in the State Transportation
Improvement Program (STIP), the state's mechanism for
programming state and federal funds for transportation projects.
The Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) is an independent legal
entity governed by the same board as MTC. BATA manages and
invests revenues from all seven bay area toll bridges to fund
the day-to-day operations, facilities maintenance,
administration, and long-term capital improvement and
rehabilitation of the bridges, including the administration of
the Toll Bridge Seismic Retrofit Program. The long-term capital
projects on the bridges are funded by Regional Measure (RM) 1
and RM 2, approved by voters in the seven counties served by the
toll bridges. Each of these regional measures increased the
toll by one dollar to fund the construction of two new bridges
and other transportation projects in the toll bridge corridors.
BATA also has the authority to administratively increase tolls
for the purposes of completing seismic retrofit improvements, to
meet bonding obligations, and for other uses. The base toll for
the bridges is currently four dollars and is scheduled to
increase to five dollars on July 1, 2010.
MTC's most recent update of the RTP includes a "Regional Bicycle
Plan for the San Francisco Bay Area," which represents part of
MTC's effort to promote bicycling and bicycle safety in the Bay
Area. Although this plan indicates that $710 million will be
dedicated to the construction of a Regional Bikeway Network in
MTC's jurisdiction through 2035, the plan does not include
funding for pathways on three toll bridges that
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SB 1061 (Hancock)
currently prohibit bicycle travel. MTC estimates that the cost
to construct a bikeway on the 1.9-mile western span of the SFOBB
would be $518,338,000, representing .2 percent of the unbuilt
mileage of the Regional Bikeway Network and 37 percent of the
total network cost. Feasibility studies commissioned by the
Department of Transportation (Caltrans) in 2001 concluded that
two lightweight options for constructing a bicycle and
pedestrian facility on the west span were possible at project
costs ranging from $168 million to $350 million. BATA has
commissioned the preparation of a project study report (PSR) to
develop new alternatives for constructing a bicycle and
pedestrian path on the west span of the SFOBB. The PSR is the
first project development step that can result in a project's
inclusion in the STIP.
Under current law, BATA does not have explicit authority to
dedicate toll bridge revenue or raise bridge tolls to pay for a
project to construct a bicycle and pedestrian path on the west
span of the bridge. Existing law does not prevent MTC from
sponsoring such a project, including it in the RTP, or
nominating it for funding in the STIP.
SB 1061 would authorize the expenditure of toll bridge revenues
to fund the construction of a bicycle-pedestrian-maintenance
pathway linking the new pathway being constructed on the east
span of the SFOBB and San Francisco, provided the project is
included in the adopted RTP. The pathway could not lower the
bridge's height above the shipping channel or fundamentally
alter the profile of the bridge. The bill authorizes MTC to
sponsor the project and prohibits BATA from raising tolls to
fund construction. SB 1061 also requires the project sponsor
and Caltrans to seek funding from all other potential sources,
including the State Highway Account and federal matching funds.
Staff notes that authorizing toll revenues to be used to fund
the project, and requiring the project sponsor to seek state
funds for the project, creates special fund costs pressures of
up to $518,338,000 to the Bay Area Toll Account and State
Highway Account. Toll revenues would otherwise be used to
retire debt and for other authorized uses. The addition of this
project to the allowable uses of toll revenues would require
BATA to extend the timeframe for charging existing levels of
tolling beyond the period currently required to retire debt
associated with existing obligations. The addition of this
project while prohibiting toll increases to pay for the pathway
could also affect BATA's credit rating and increase the cost of
borrowing for current and proposed obligations.
The bond maturity date for the most recent issuance of BATA
bonds is 2049, but bonds sold in the future to finance
additional projects under RM 2 and the Toll Bridge Seismic
Retrofit Program will have maturity dates beyond this timeframe.