BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1572|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1572
Author: Fletcher (I), et al.
Amended: 8/14/12 in Senate
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMM : 9-0, 6/26/12
AYES: DeSaulnier, Gaines, Harman, Kehoe, Lowenthal,
Pavley, Rubio, Simitian, Wyland
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 8/6/12
AYES: Kehoe, Walters, Alquist, Dutton, Lieu, Price,
Steinberg
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-0, 5/31/12 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Service authorities for freeway emergencies:
San Diego
County
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill dissolves the existing San Diego
County motorist aid body and replaces it with the San Diego
County Association of Governments (SANDAG).
ANALYSIS : Under existing law, a county board of
supervisors and the city councils of a majority of the
cities having a majority of the population of cities within
the county may establish a service authority for freeway
emergencies (SAFE). The county and cities may designate
CONTINUED
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the county transportation commission or the council of
governments as the SAFE, or the county and cities can
designate a seven-member SAFE, with the county board of
supervisors naming two members and the cities jointly
naming the other five. San Diego constituted its SAFE
through the board and city councils naming seven members.
Once constituted, a SAFE may impose a surcharge of $1 per
year on the registration of vehicles in the county, the
revenues from which it must use for the implementation,
maintenance, and operation of a system of call boxes on
freeways, expressways, unincorporated county roads, and
state highway routes that connect these roads. The
Department of Transportation and the California Highway
Patrol (CHP) must each review and approve plans for
implementation of a system of call boxes proposed for any
state highway route and receive reimbursement from the SAFE
for all costs incurred due to review and approval of the
plan.
If the funds from the $1 vehicle registration surcharge
exceed the amount needed to implement, maintain, and
operate the call box system, the SAFE may use the excess
funds to provide additional motorist aid services or
support, including, but not limited to:
Changeable message signs.
Lighting for call boxes.
Support for traffic operations centers.
Freeway service patrols.
This bill:
1.Dissolves, effective January 1, 2013, the SAFE created in
San Diego County and makes SANDAG its successor for all
the remaining responsibilities of the San Diego SAFE for
operational, administrative, and maintenance tasks for
the call box system.
2.Directs the San Diego SAFE, in consultation with SANDAG,
to develop a plan to transition its responsibilities to
SANDAG between this bill's effective date and January 1,
2013.
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3.Prohibits San Diego SAFE from spending any funds or
entering into any contracts during this transition
period, unless SANDAG approves those expenditures in
writing.
4.Requires SANDAG to post on its website its detailed
budget as to how it spends the funds collected from the
$1 surcharge on vehicle registrations in San Diego
County.
5.Requires SANDAG by March 31, 2013 to disburse any
reserves in the San Diego County's SAFE funds that are in
excess of $4 million to the cities in San Diego County
and to the county in proportion to the fees paid by
vehicle owners within those jurisdictions in the 2010-11
fiscal year. The cities and county must use funds
received to implement, maintain, and operate call boxes
and to provide additional motorist aid.
6.Allows SANDAG to continue to fund local police, fire, and
rescue helicopter programs.
Comments
Since legislation enacted in 1985 authorized SAFEs,
California has installed over 15,000 call boxes on 6,300
miles of highway. Call boxes provide a direct
communication link to the CHP and are available to
motorists to seek assistance for, for example, mechanical
breakdowns, flat tires, traffic accidents, or other
incidents.
A seven-member board governs the San Diego SAFE. The San
Diego County Board of Supervisors and the 18 cities within
the county appoint these directors, and San Diego SAFE
contracts with TeleTranTek Services (T-Cubed) for its
staffing requirements. In fact, the owner of T-Cubed
serves as the Executive Director of the SAFE.
San Diego County was the first county to implement a SAFE.
At its height, the San Diego call box system had almost
1,800 call boxes on state highways and county roads. Since
then, the number of call boxes in place has declined to
approximately 1,425 call boxes. San Diego SAFE is
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considering further reductions that would bring the total
installed call boxes down to just over 900, due in part to
the high cost of maintaining the call boxes and the drop in
motorists' usage of the call boxes.
The author introduced this bill in response to what he
believes is San Diego SAFE's questionable spending
practices, including advertising gimmicks and continually
increasing consultant expenditures. The author offers as
evidence that San Diego 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." Proponents further note that
despite a dramatic decline in call box use, San Diego SAFE
has consistently increased annual payments to the managing
firm. Furthermore, the author points out that San Diego
SAFE has approximately $12 million sitting idly in
reserves, approximately $8 million which this bill would
return to the county and cities in San Diego, while $4
million would transfer to SANDAG to perform its SAFE
duties.
This bill dissolves the SAFE and names SANDAG as the
successor agency. SANDAG is governed by a board of
directors composed of mayors, councilmembers, and county
supervisors from each of the region's 19 local governments.
As the regional planning agency for transportation, SANDAG
allocates millions of dollars annually in local, state, and
federal funds for the region's transportation network.
SANDAG is also responsible for developing the regional
transportation plan to implement a long-range vision for
buses, rail, highways, and major streets. Naming SANDAG
as the successor to the SAFE is consistent with how SAFEs
are administered throughout the state.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Redistribution of approximately $8 million in SAFE
reserves to cities and San Diego County in proportion to
the amount of fees paid by vehicle owners in the
jurisdiction of each local agency in 2010-11 (local
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surcharge revenue).
Moderate state-mandated costs (not reimbursable) to
develop a transition plan, redistribute excess reserve
revenues, and post budget information on the call box fee
revenues on a website (local surcharge revenue).
SANDAG administrative costs of up to $440,000 and
operations costs of up to $700,000 annually, fully
covered by local surcharge revenues, to continue call box
and freeway emergency programs.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/15/12)
Automobile Club of Southern California
Chula Vista Council Member Steve Casta�eda
City of El Cajon
City of National City
City of San Diego
San Diego City Council Member David Alvarez
San Diego City Council Member Lorie Zapf
San Diego City Council Member Sherri S. Lightner
San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-0, 5/31/12
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Campos, Carter, Cedillo,
Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eng,
Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Beth Gaines,
Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Grove, Hagman,
Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger Hern�ndez, Hill,
Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lara, Logue,
Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Miller, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell,
Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel
P�rez, Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio,
Swanson, Torres, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada,
John A. P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Charles Calderon, Gorell, Hueso,
Mansoor, Mendoza, Valadao
JJA:n 8/15/12 Senate Floor Analyses
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SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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