BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1778
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 23, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
AB 1778 (Williams) - As Amended: April 17, 2012
SUBJECT : Local Transportation Funds: Ventura County
SUMMARY : Sets forth use-it-or-lose-it provisions for Local
Transportation Fund (LTF) funds in Ventura County.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Strikes obsolete reporting language.
2)For Ventura County only, provides for the redistribution by
the Ventura County Transportation Commission (VCTC) of LTF
funds that remain unencumbered for more than one year or
unexpended for more than two years.
3)Provides that funds returned to VCTC are to be redistributed
to transit operators or consolidated transportation service
providers (transit operators) in proportional amounts based on
population if both of the following conditions are met:
a) The transit operator is eligible to receive funding in
proportional amounts based on population; and,
b) The transit operator did not have any funds returned to
VCTC for lack of use during the previous year.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Earmarks -cent of the state sales tax for transit and directs
the revenue to the LTF in each county.
2)Vests regional transportation planning agencies (RTPAs) with
the responsibility to allocate LTF funds, generally to cities,
counties, and transit districts by population.
3)Authorizes the use of LTF funds for a wide variety of
transportation programs, including planning and program
activities, pedestrian and bicycle facilities, community
transit services, public transportation, bus and rail
projects, and farm worker vanpools program.
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4)Authorizes rural counties (those with a population under
500,000) to use their LTF funds for purposes other than public
transportation and community transit services, such as local
streets and roads, under certain conditions.
5)Provides that, before funds can be used for local streets and
roads, the RTPA in a rural county must hold public hearings
and make a finding that all reasonable transit needs have been
met.
6)Generally requires each county with a population of less than
500,000 as of the 1970 federal census but more than 500,000 as
of the 2000 (or subsequent) federal census to use its LTF
funds for transit.
7)Provides that, for counties that would be impacted by this
change from rural to urban due to population growth since
1970, the requirement to use LTF funds for public
transportation and community transit services will not become
operative until July 1, 2014.
8)Also provides for these counties, except Ventura County, that
the requirement to use LTF funds for public transportation and
community transit services applies to urbanized areas of a
county, not the necessarily the entire county. LTF funds can
be used in non-urbanized areas in these counties for local
streets and roads, provided that there are no unmet transit
needs in the area.
9)Provides that the VCTC may submit to the legislative policy
committees a report analyzing options for organizing public
mass transportation services in Ventura County and expending
LTF revenues. VCTC may also submit a legislative proposal to
implement a plan based on recommendations of the report.
10)Provides that, if VCTC does not secure legislation to
implement its proposed plan by the end of the 2011-12 Regular
Session, its LTF revenues would be available solely for public
transportation or community transit services, even in the
county's rural areas, beginning July 1, 2014.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS: In 2009, SB 716 (Wolk), Chapter 609, Statutes of
2009, updated counties' designation as either rural or urban for
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purposes of using LTF funds, based on the 2000 (and subsequent)
census rather than the 1970 census. For those counties whose
designation changed, SB 716 provided a sort of hybrid use of the
LTF funds-urban cities within the county would be required to
use LTF funds for public transportation or community transit
services and rural areas of the county could continue to use LTF
funds for other purposes, assuming certain conditions were met.
The operative date of these changes was postponed until July 1,
2014, to give the counties an opportunity to adjust to the new
LTF requirements.
SB 716, however, set forth unique provisions for Ventura County,
one of the counties whose designation changed from rural to
urban. For Ventura County, SB 716 provided an opportunity for
VCTC to submit a plan to the Legislature (and to secure
subsequent legislation) that would set forth an alternative
means of distributing LTF funds throughout the county. VCTC had
until December 31, 2011, to submit the plan and until the end of
the 2011-12 Regular Session to secure subsequent legislation
otherwise all of the county's LTF funds would be directed to
public transportation or community transit service as of July 1,
2014.
There are 10 cities within Ventura County, 4 of which exceed a
population of 100,000, according to 2010 data. The other 6
cities have populations well below 100,000. Under SB 716, all
Ventura's cities, large or small, will be required to use their
LTF funds for public transportation and community transit
services as of July 1, 2014 (unlike the other counties whose
population grew over 500,000 after 1970 who will have the option
to use LTF funds for purposes other than public transportation
and community transit services in rural areas of the county).
At least three of Ventura's smaller cities (Moorpark, Port
Hueneme, and Santa Paula) are reportedly planning on using their
LTF funds (totaling approximately $1.2 million cumulatively) for
local street and roads projects in Fiscal Year 2013-2014.
Additionally, Simi Valley, which uses its local General Funds to
fund its transit activities, typically uses it's approximately
$3 million annually in LTF funds for streets and roads projects.
Under this bill, these LTF funds will no longer be available
for these other purposes.
The author is concerned that some LTF recipients in Ventura
County have a history of diverting transit funds and do not
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spend their LTF funds on public transportation or community
transit services, as they will be required to do beginning July
1, 2014. Consequently, the author has introduced AB 1778 to
ensure that, in the event an LTF recipient in Ventura County
does not use its LTF funds, the funds will not sit idle but
will, instead, be redistributed for their intended purpose-that
is, for public transportation-related services.
Proposed amendments: The bill includes a drafting error that
confuses the redistribution of returned funds. The bill
provides that, in order to be eligible to receive returned
funds, a transit operator must be "eligible to receive funding
in proportional amounts based on population." The bill should
be amended to, instead, provide that the transit operator must
be eligible to claim funds under Article 4 (public
transportation) and Article 4.5 (community transit services) of
the Public Utilities Code.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Ormond Beach Observers
Opposition
City of Moorpark
City of Simi Valley
Ventura County Transportation Commission
Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093