BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 286
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 286 (Bill Berryhill)
As Amended April 27, 2011
Majority vote
TRANSPORTATION 14-0 APPROPRIATIONS 16-0
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|Ayes:|Bonnie Lowenthal, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, |
| |Jeffries Achadjian, | |Blumenfield, Bradford, |
| |Blumenfield, Bonilla, | |Charles Calderon, Campos, |
| |Buchanan, Eng, Mitchell, | |Davis, Gatto, Hall, Hill, |
| |Galgiani, Logue, Miller, | |Lara, Mitchell, Nielsen, |
| |Norby, Portantino, | |Norby, Solorio, Wagner |
| |Solorio | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Dedicates funds from the sale of properties on one
corridor in Stanislaus County for use on another in that county.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires proceeds from the sale, on or after July 1, 2013, of
excess properties acquired by the Department of Transportation
(Caltrans) for improvements to State Route (SR) 120 to be used
for improvements to SR 108 in Stanislaus County, the North
County Corridor (NCC).
2)Requires Caltrans to deposit the sale proceeds in a special
account, which the bill creates, in the Special Deposit Fund.
3)Requires interest earnings from funds in that special account
to accrue to the account.
4)Requires the California Transportation Commission (CTC) to
program the funds in the special account to any phase of the
NCC.
5)Allows the CTC to allocate the funds, upon appropriation by
the Legislature, to the Stanislaus Council of Governments
(Stan COG) or any agency designated by Stan COG to deliver the
NCC.
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6)Provides that the funds in the special account are not
continuously appropriated.
EXISTING LAW returns the proceeds from the sale of excess
Caltrans properties to the State Highway Account, effective July
1, 2013, from where they will become available upon
appropriation for state highway programs and projects throughout
the state. Until that time, however, those funds must be
transferred by the State Controller to the Transportation Debt
Service Fund in the State Transportation Fund, for repayment of
transportation bonds that would otherwise be the responsibility
of the General Fund (GF).
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, negligible fiscal impact. The CTC, pursuant to
current law, has already approved the use of the property sales
proceeds for the alternative project.
COMMENTS : The author reports that Caltrans purchased large
amounts of property in northern Stanislaus County, with the
intent of constructing a bypass for SR 120 around the City of
Oakdale, but never was able to undertake the project. These
properties are now deemed to be excess and Caltrans is working
with Stan COG, Stanislaus County and the City of Oakdale to plan
for their sale. The NCC, an interregional alternative to the
dropped Oakdale bypass project, is currently being pursued
together by Caltrans and a Joint Powers Authority whose members
consist of the Cities of Modesto, Oakdale and Riverbank,
Stanislaus County, Stan COG and Caltrans. Proceeds from the
eventual sale of the parcels are intended to be used to fund the
NCC.
According to the author, "This bill establishes an accounting
mechanism to ensure that the proceeds from the sale of surplus
properties purchased for the Oakdale Bypass project in the SR
120 corridor can be tracked. By facilitating the reuse of the
funding from the sale of excess properties in this corridor for
a similar project whose benefit includes that addressed by the
original need of the Oakdale bypass, this bill will ensure that
the transportation needs originally envisioned by Caltrans and
the local agencies (will) be met."
As explained by supporters, "North County Corridor is a
significant transportation project for the County, and the
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entire Stanislaus region. The County will greatly benefit from
the safety enhancements and congestion relief provide by the NCC
project by providing an east-west expressway from State Route 99
to State Route 120 east of the city of Oakdale. The County also
recognizes the North County Corridor's importance for the goods
movement and the economic development of our region."
The CTC supported the substitution of the NCC project for the
abandoned Oakdale Bypass project in its adoption of the 2008
State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP), resolving,
"While the Commission is deleting all programming for the Route
120 Oakdale Bypass in the 2008 STIP, as proposed in the ITIP,
the Commission supports the Department's commitment to the
development and delivery of the NCC project identified by Stan
COG as an alternative to the Route 120 Oakdale Bypass."
It is not unusual for a county in which a state transportation
project has been dropped to pursue retention of funds from that
project for use on other transportation projects in the county.
From the standpoint of logic and equity, this may make perfect
sense. In the current fiscal climate however, proceeds from the
sale of excess properties are necessarily targeted for GF
relief. Consequently, this bill's provisions would only apply
to sales that are affected on or after July 1, 2013.
Related legislation: AB 1386 (Hayashi), Chapter 291, Statutes
of 2009, requires Caltrans to deposit proceeds from the sale of
excess properties in the SR 84 and SR 238 corridors into a
special fund to be used for expenditures for the SR 84 and SR
238 local alternative transportation improvement programs
(LATIPs).
The statutory provision requiring the proceeds from surplus
property sales to accrue for the next two years to the
Transportation Debt Service Fund was contained in AB 105 (Budget
Committee), Chapter 6, Statutes of 2011.
Analysis Prepared by : Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
FN:
0000585
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