BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1445|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1445
Author: DeSaulnier (D)
Amended: 5/13/10
Vote: 21
SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE : 3-2, 4/7/10
AYES: Kehoe, DeSaulnier, Price
NOES: Cox, Aanestad
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 6-2, 4/20/10
AYES: Lowenthal, DeSaulnier, Kehoe, Oropeza, Pavley,
Simitian
NOES: Huff, Ashburn
NO VOTE RECORDED: Harman
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 6-2, 5/10/10
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Leno, Price, Wolk, Yee
NOES: Cox, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Corbett, Denham, Walters
SUBJECT : Land use planning
SOURCE : California Associations of Councils of
Governments
DIGEST : This bill increases by one dollar the fee to
register a vehicle to pay for regional land use planning
activities. This bill also makes changes to the membership
and duties of the Office of Planning and Research's
Planning Advisory and Assistance Council.
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ANALYSIS : Existing law prohibits a person from driving,
moving, or parking on the highway or in a public parking
facility a motor vehicle unless it is registered with the
Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). Existing law
establishes a basic vehicle registration fee of $34, plus a
$22 surcharge for additional personnel for the California
Highway Patrol, and authorizes local agencies to impose
separate vehicle registration fee surcharges in their
respective jurisdictions for a variety of special programs,
including:
1.One dollar for service authorities for freeway
emergencies.
2.One dollar for deterring and prosecuting vehicle theft.
3.Up to seven dollars for air quality programs.
4.One dollar for removing abandoned vehicles.
5.One dollar for fingerprint identification programs.
Existing law permits local agencies to form joint powers
agencies (JPAs). Cities and counties in regions have
exercised this authority to form JPAs called councils of
government (COGs) to implement regional planning activities
required under state law, including regional housing needs
assessments and regional transportation plans. COGs
generally serve as federally recognized metropolitan
planning organizations (MPOs) for transportation planning
purposes, although there are exceptions. For example, in
the nine-county San Francisco Bay region, the Association
of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) is the COG that prepares the
regional housing needs assessment, but the Metropolitan
Transportation Commission (MTC) is the region's MPO. Rural
counties of the state are generally outside of an MPO, and
their county transportation planning agencies typically
develop required transportation plans.
SB 375 (Steinberg), Chapter 728, Statutes of 2008, required
the Air Resources Board (ARB), by September 30, 2010, to
provide each region that has a MPO with a greenhouse gas
emission reduction target for the automobile and light
truck sector for 2020 and 2035, respectively. Each MPO, in
turn, is required to include within its regional
transportation plan (RTP) a sustainable community's
strategy (SCS) designed to achieve the ARB targets for
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greenhouse gas emission reduction. If the SCS does not
achieve the reduction target, the MPO must prepare also an
alternative planning strategy. SB 375 provided that in the
Southern California Association of Governments' region, a
subregional entity may prepare a subregional SCS.
This bill:
1. Increases, effective July 1, 2011, the vehicle
registration fee by one dollar to $35 annually. This
bill specifies that after deducting its administrative
costs, the department is required to deposit one percent
of the net revenues received from the additional fee in
this bill, upon appropriation by the Legislature, into
the Planning Advisory and Assistance Council Fund, which
this bill creates in the State Treasury, and make the
funds available to the Planning Advisory and Assistance
Council.
2. This provision sunsets on January 1, 2016.
3. Directs the remainder of the new revenues to each MPO,
COG, or a county transportation planning agency based on
the number vehicles registered there to:
A. Fund the development and implementation of an
SCS, a regional blueprint plan, or a rural
transportation plan element consistent with
Caltrans' guidelines for regional blueprints in
order to identify land use strategies to achieve
the greenhouse gas emission reduction targets under
SB 375.
B. Provide grants to local agencies for planning
and projects to implement a regional blueprint.
The Southern California Association of Governments, after
deducting its own costs of preparing its SCS, must
distribute funds it receives to subregional jurisdictions
that have elected to prepare a subregional SCS. A regional
agency may share revenues with the local air quality
management district to assist in reducing greenhouse gas
emissions.
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Existing law establishes the Office of Planning and
Research (OPR) within the governor's office as the state's
comprehensive planning agency, responsible for helping
local and regional officials with land use planning. State
law charges OPR with coordinating state agencies' planning
activities, including directing OPR to prepare every four
years a State Environmental Goals and Policies Report, a
20- to 30-year look ahead at state growth and development.
Existing law creates the PAAC to assist OPR in various
land-use planning related activities, including development
of the State Environmental Goals and Policies Report.
OPR's Director appoints the PAAC members, which must
include:
1. Three city representatives, nominated by the League of
California Cities.
2. Three county representatives, nominated by the
California State Association of Counties.
3. One representative from each of the regional planning
districts designated by OPR.
4. One representative of Indian tribes with reservations in
California.
SB 732 (Steinberg), Chapter 729, Statutes of 2008 created
the Strategic Growth Council, consisting of:
1.Director of OPR.
2.Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency.
3.Secretary of the Environmental Protection Agency.
4.Secretary of the Business, Transportation and Housing
Agency.
5.Secretary of the California Health and Human Services
Agency.
6.A public member, appointed by the Governor.
The Strategic Growth Council coordinates the activities and
funding programs of its member state agencies to improve
air and water quality, improve natural resources
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protection, increase the availability of affordable
housing, improve transportation, meet the state's
greenhouse gas emission goals, encourage sustainable land
use planning, and revitalize urban and community centers.
The council must recommend policies to the governor, state
agencies, and the Legislature to encourage the development
of sustainable communities and provide local governments
and regional agencies with data to assist in planning
sustainable communities.
This bill:
1. Changes the PAAC's membership to be:
A. Three city representatives, nominated by the
League of California Cities.
B. Three county representatives, nominated by the
California State Association of Counties.
C. Seven representatives of specified regional
planning organizations.
D. One member of the State Air Resources Board.
E. One member of the California Transportation
Commission.
F. One member of the California Energy Resources
Conservation and Development Commission.
G. One member appointed by the Speaker of the
Assembly.
H. One member appointed by the Senate Rules
Committee.
I. One representative of Indian tribes with
reservations in California.
2. Assigns the PAAC five new duties, as follows:
A. Work with the Strategic Growth Council to
facilitate the implementation of regional blueprint
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projects.
B. Facilitate coordination between regional
blueprint plans and state growth and infrastructure
funding plans by developing recommendations to
specified state agencies.
C. Receive reports, including the state's five-year
infrastructure plan.
D. Report to the Legislature on how state agencies
implement the state's planning priorities.
E. Report to the Legislature on regional
performance measures that evaluate each region
based on the PAAC's criteria for improving the
regions' employment, environmental protection,
education, housing, and mobility.
3. Directs the Strategic Growth Council in performing its
duties to consult with the PAAC and delays for two
years, until 2012, the due date of the council's first
annual report to the Legislature on financial awards it
makes to support sustainable planning activities.
Related Legislation
SB 406 (DeSaulnier) would have authorized regions to impose
a surcharge on vehicle registrations to pay for regional
land use planning activities and would have made changes to
the membership and duties of the Office of Planning and
Research's PAAC. This bill was vetoed.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee analysis:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2010-11 2011-12
2012-13 Fund
Registration fee revenue
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($31,364)($31,364) Special*
DMV implementation minor one-time
costs of around Special*
$100
DMV administration ongoing costs deducted from fee
Special*
revenue
PAAC new duties all costs covered by 1% allocation
of fees collected
(approximately $310 annually)
* Motor Vehicle Account
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/2/10)
California Association of Councils of Governments (source)
American Lung Association
Association of Bay Area Governments
Contra Costa Transportation Authority
Housing California
Metropolitan Transportation Commission
Natural Resources Defense Council
The Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California
TRANSform
OPPOSITION : (Verified 6/2/10)
Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers
California New Car Dealers Association
Department of Finance
Department of Housing and Community Development
Department of Transportation
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author's office notes that SB
375 requires that each MPO develop an SCS reflecting
preferred land uses as part of its regional transportation
plan. The SCS will build on regional blueprints already
being prepared in these regions. Proponents note that the
state has provided few resources to implement SB 375 and
its required regional transportation plans that will
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address greenhouse gas emissions. Regional and local
governments need resources for strategic planning and
opportunities for coordination with state agencies. The
author's office introduced this bill to provide those
resources and the opportunity for greater coordination.
Specifically, this bill imposes an increase of one dollar
in the vehicle registration fee on all vehicles to fund
development and implementation of sustainable communities'
strategies or regional plans. This bill allows the
Planning and Advisory and Assistance Council to coordinate
state investments with these regional plans.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The California New Car Dealers
Association states that California motorists are already
overburdened with hidden vehicle fees. In addition to the
annual Vehicle License Fee (VLF), which last year increased
from 0.65 percent to 1.15 percent of a vehicle's value, and
annual $34 vehicle registration fees, vehicle owners are
also subject to "add-on" fees: one to seven dollars annual
air quality district fee, $20 smog abatement fee for
vehicles six model-years old or newer, one dollar annual
abandoned vehicle trust fee, $22 annual CHP fee; one dollar
annual freeway call box fee; one dollar annual theft
deterrence fee; one dollar annual fingerprint
identification fee; and, the $1.75 per tire California tire
fee. The dealers believe there is no reason to further
increase the cost of vehicle ownership in California.
AGB:RJG:do 6/2/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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