BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1572
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Date of Hearing: May 2, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1572 (Fletcher) - As Amended: April 23, 2012
Policy Committee:
TransportationVote:14-0
Urgency: Yes State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill:
1)Dissolves the San Diego County Service Authority for Freeway
Emergencies (SAFE) and names the San Diego Association of
Governments (SANDAG) as the successor agency.
2)Requires SANDAG, by January 1, 2013, to distribute any
existing reserves of San Diego County SAFE in excess of $4
million to the county and the cities within the county, to be
used for motorist aid services.
FISCAL EFFECT
No state costs. Any costs for SANDAG to assume administration of
the SAFE program will be covered by existing SAFE resources. The
SAFE's annual expenditures are currently about $1.2 million
($440,000 for administration and the balance for operations) and
annual revenues, which will continue under SANDAG, are around
$2.8 million.
COMMENTS
1) Background . Current law authorizes the establishment of
SAFEs in any county for the placement and maintenance of
call boxes along California freeways to enable motorists in
need of aid to obtain assistance. Since SAFE programs were
authorized in the late 1980s, California has installed over
15,000 call boxes on 6,300 miles of highway. Call boxes
provide a direct communication link to the California
Highway Patrol and are available to motorists to seek
AB 1572
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assistance for, for example, mechanical breakdowns, flat
tires, traffic accidents, or other incidents.
San Diego County was the first county to implement a SAFE. The
San Diego SAFE is governed by a seven-member board of
directors appointed by the County board of supervisors and the
18 cities within the county. The SAFE contracts with
TeleTranTek Services (T-Cubed) for its staffing requirements.
This is the only stand-alone SAFE-all other SAFEs are
administered by a transportation planning agency. From a peak
of 1,800 call boxes, there are currently about 1,400 call
boxes countywide, and SAFEs board is considering reducing the
total to just over 900, due in part to high maintenance costs
and declining use. (A recent article published in the U-T San
Diego cited a drop in the San Diego call box usage of over 90%
between 1990 and 2010.)
2) Purpose . According to the author, AB 1572 responds to
what he believes is "a reckless disregard of taxpayer
money" by the SAFE. The author offers as evidence of this
the fact that the SAFE contracted with a private company
(T-Cubed) to manage the county's call boxes and renewed the
contract six times "without once having a fair and
competitive bid process" and that, in spite of a dramatic
decline in call box use, the SAFE has consistently
increased annual payments to the managing firm.
Furthermore, the SAFE has approximately $12 million sitting
in reserves.
This bill therefore dissolves the SAFE and names SANDAG-the
regional transportation planning agency-as the successor
agency, and directs SANDAG to distribute all but $4 million of
SAFE's existing reserves to its client cities and the county.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081