BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1779
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 25, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Cameron Smyth, Chair
AB 1779 (Galgiani) - As Amended: April 19, 2012
SUBJECT : Intercity rail agreements.
SUMMARY : Provides for the creation of a joint powers agency
(JPA) based in the San Joaquin Valley to administer intercity
passenger rail service, and authorizes the transfer of
responsibility for that service from the state. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Establishes the Intercity Passenger Rail Act of 2012 for the
San Joaquin Corridor.
2)States the intentions of the Legislature that, among other
duties, the Secretary of the Business, Transportation and
Housing Agency (Secretary) should authorize the California
Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to enter into an
interagency transfer agreement with respect to the San Joaquin
Corridor if a JPA and governing board are created and
organized that result in administrative or operating cost
reductions.
3)Requires, where the administration of the corridor service has
been transferred to a local JPA, the Secretary to allocate
funds to that entity for the operation of mutually agreed
services, in accordance with the interagency transfer
agreement, and requires the transfer of funds to that entity
for the administration and marketing of services.
4)Authorizes, but does not require, the JPA or the local or
regional entities to augment state-provided resources to
expand intercity passenger rail services or to address funding
shortfalls in achieving agreed upon performance standards.
5)Prohibits the JPA or local or regional agencies from using
existing sources of transit funding, as specified, to expand
services or address funding shortfalls in achieving agreed
upon performance standards.
6)Authorizes the JPA or local or regional agencies to identify
and secure new supplemental sources of funding for purposes of
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expanding or maintaining intercity rail passenger service
levels, that may include state and federal intercity rail
resources.
7)Authorizes Caltrans to provide any support services upon
mutual agreement with the JPA.
8)Requires operating costs to be controlled by various factors
as identified, including costs attributed to Section 209 of
the federal Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act
(PRIIA).
9)Authorizes the Secretary to modify, not later than December
31, 2014, performance standards for the San Joaquin Corridor.
10)Prohibits local resources to be used to offset any
redirection, elimination, reduction, or reclassification of
state resources for operating intercity rail services.
11)Allows Caltrans, upon authorization by the Secretary, through
an interagency transfer agreement, to transfer to the JPA all
responsibility for administering intercity passenger rail
service in the corridor.
12)Mandates the Secretary to require the JPA to demonstrate the
ability to meet the performance standards as established.
13)Authorizes Caltrans and any entity assuming the
administration of the San Joaquin Corridor to contract with
Amtrak or any other rail operator to operate the services and
authorizes these entities to contract with the railroad
corporations and other rail operators for the use of tracks
and other facilities, establishes that Caltrans is a
third-party beneficiary of the operation contract, and
requires a private contractor to agree that its labor
relations shall be subject to federal labor laws if selected
as the operator of the rail passenger service.
14)Deletes and recasts provisions that establish the San Joaquin
Joint Powers Authority (San Joaquin JPA). Allows for future
appointments of additional members if the service boundaries
of the San Joaquin Corridor are expanded.
15)Redefines the San Joaquin Corridor to extend the western
terminus beyond Oakland to the San Francisco Bay Area.
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16)Provides for the San Joaquin JPA to be created when at least
six of eleven eligible agencies electing to become members
enter into a joint powers agreement, as specified, by December
31, 2013.
17)Repeals and recasts the Steering Committee of the Caltrans
Rail Task Force to advise the JPA.
18)Makes findings and declarations relative to the state's
intercity rail passenger system, including the state's
interest in ensuring the protection of its $1.8 billion
investment in the system.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes Caltrans, in cooperation with local transportation
officials, to develop guidelines to implement the intercity
rail program and defines the intercity rail corridors within
which rail projects are eligible for funding, and requires
Caltrans to develop a comprehensive statewide rail passenger
and freight system plan.
2)Authorizes Caltrans to contract with Amtrak for intercity rail
passenger services and provides funding for these services
from the Public Transportation Account.
3)Authorized, until December 31, 1996, Caltrans, subject to
approval of the Secretary, to enter into an interagency
transfer agreement under which a JPA assumes responsibility
for administering the state-funded intercity rail service in a
particular corridor.
4)Establishes the terms of the interagency transfer agreements,
when approved by the Secretary, to include various elements as
specified.
5)Provides for the allocation of state funds by the Secretary to
a joint powers board under an interagency transfer agreement
based on the annual business plan for the intercity rail
corridor and subsequent appropriation of state funds.
6)Authorizes the Caltrans and any entity that assumes
administrative responsibility for passenger rail services
through an interagency transfer agreement to contract with
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specified entities for the use of tracks and other facilities
and for the provision of passenger rail services.
7)Authorizes the establishment of the San Joaquin JPA upon
agreement of the represented agencies for the purpose of
assuming responsibility for intercity passenger rail services
in the San Joaquin Corridor, and specifies the membership of
the agency, including members from the Capitol Corridor JPA
and from the County of Los Angeles.
8)Establishes the San Joaquin Valley Rail Committee to be
comprised of elected officials and members of the public
representing 13 counties along the San Joaquin train route.
9)Authorizes the Steering Committee of the Caltrans Rail Task
Force to confer with the Secretary to coordinate intercity
passenger rail service for the San Joaquin Corridor, including
assisting in the development of an appropriate management
structure for the San Joaquin corridor as an element of a
coordinated statewide intercity rail system.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. This bill is keyed fiscal.
COMMENTS :
1)This bill would enact the Intercity Passenger Rail Act of 2012
for the San Joaquin Corridor, which authorizes Caltrans to
transfer to a newly-created JPA the responsibility for
operating the San Joaquin Corridor passenger rail service. It
also specifies certain requirements for the membership and
operation of that JPA, including the provision that the JPA
must be operational by December 31, 2013 or else the transfer
authority would expire. This bill is sponsored by the San
Joaquin Valley Regional Policy Council and the Central Valley
Rail Working Group.
2)According to the author, AB 1779 "will enable the transfer of
administrative responsibility of the San Joaquin intercity
passenger rail service from Caltrans to a new joint powers
authority.
In 1996, the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority (CCJPA)
was created to oversee the administration of the Capitol
Corridor service under the provisions of Senate Bill 457
(Kelley), Chapter 263, Statutes of 1996. Over the last 15
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years, without direct financial contribution by member
agencies, the CCJPA has successfully managed the Capitol
Corridor between Auburn and San Jose?
In addition to more cost effective administration and
operations, the CCJPA has shown that there are several other
potential benefits to local authority administration of
intercity passenger service including: the ability to have a
stronger voice in advocating for service improvements and
expansions; local decision-making that is more responsive and
adaptive to passenger issues; the ability to take better
advantage of joint marketing and partnerships with local
agencies; and more engagement by local communities to support
the service.
This year, transportation planning agencies throughout the
Central Valley began working together in order to set up a
regional Joint Powers Authority and to support legislation
that would reauthorize regional governance of the San Joaquin
intercity rail service.
Following the model of the CCJPA, AB 1779 is permissive
legislation which would enable regional governance/management
of the existing San Joaquin intercity passenger rail service
between Bakersfield-Fresno-Stockton-Sacramento-SF Bay Area."
3)According to the sponsor, "�w]e appreciate that AB 1779
follows the model of the CCJPA, and is permissive legislation,
which would enable regional governance and management of the
existing San Joaquin intercity passenger rail service between
Bakersfield-Fresno-Stockton-Sacramento-San Francisco Bay
Area?Formal support for the Intercity Passenger Rail Act of
2012 for the San Joaquin Corridor was approved at the San
Joaquin Valley Regional Policy Council's March 23, 2012
meeting where elected officials from all eight San Joaquin
Valley counties unequivocally expressed support for this
important initiative."
4)Intercity passenger rail service is a component of the state's
overall transportation system and operates between several
regions of the state. Accordingly, intercity rail travel
services are provided between metropolitan areas and to rural
areas. For California, intercity rail passenger services
include three state-supported corridor routes and four Amtrak
long-distance routes. The three in-state intercity rail
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routes were funded, planned and administered by Caltrans until
July, 1998, when the Capitol Corridor JPA assumed
administration of the Capitol Corridor
(Auburn-Sacramento-Oakland-San Jose). The other two intercity
rail passenger services, the Pacific Surfliner and the San
Joaquin continue to be administered by Caltrans.
5)The Joint Exercise of Powers Act allows two or more public
agencies to use their powers in common if they sign a joint
powers agreement. Sometimes an agreement creates a new public
entity called a joint powers agency or joint powers authority,
which is separate from the parties to the agreement. JPAs are
subject to the provisions of the Ralph M. Brown Act.
6)This bill would authorize the creation of a regionally-based
JPA to assume administrative responsibility from Caltrans for
the San Joaquin Corridor, which is the intercity passenger
rail corridor stretching from Los Angeles to the San Francisco
Bay Area, via an interagency transfer agreement.
That JPA would be initially composed of not more than eleven
members (representing public agencies in Sacramento, San
Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare,
Kern, Contra Costa and Alameda Counties). The authorities for
Contra Costa and Alameda Counties remain blank in the current
version of the bill because the author is waiting for a
response from those counties as to the preferred agency
representative. At least six of the
eleven designated agencies must elect to appoint a member to the
JPA board before December 31, 2013 in order for the JPA to be
formally organized and the interagency transfer agreement to
be executed.
Pursuant to the terms of the bill, the JPA shall require a
majority vote of the board for all decisions, except for the
approval or revision of the business plan, or the addition of
new members as a result of service extensions, which will
require a two-thirds vote. Having been formed pursuant to the
Joint Exercise of Powers Act (Government Code Section 6500, et
seq.), the JPA authorized by this bill would operate in all
other ways required by that Act.
7)In light of the state's proposed high-speed rail project, the
Committee may wish to consider how the JPA created by this
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bill might affect the planning of that effort, and whether or
not the unsettled nature of high-speed rail makes this measure
premature.
8)On June 15, 2011, this Committee heard SB 325 (Rubio), Chapter
234, Statutes of 2011, which created the Central California
Railroad Authority to ensure the continuation of short line
rail service in the San Joaquin Valley for shippers and
receivers. The Committee approved the bill on a 7-2 vote.
A similar bill, SB 1225 (Padilla 2012), would authorize, until
December 31, 2013, Caltrans to transfer the administration of
the Pacific Surfliner intercity rail corridor to a joint
powers board established for that purpose. The bill is to be
heard in the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee on
April 24, 2012.
9)Support arguments : According to the author, "a regionally
managed San Joaquin intercity passenger rail service can
result in much higher frequencies of service, and increases in
ridership and revenue...Increases in San Joaquin intercity
passenger rail service and ridership will result in more jobs,
improve air quality, and will help promote sustainable
development."
Opposition arguments : This bill is arguably premature, in
part because its blending of high speed and conventional
commuter and intercity passenger rail service would take place
in advance of the major changes that will be caused by the
state's high-speed rail planning and implementation.
Moreover, the railroad in question is closer to being
state-wide than regional. Finally, it requires maintaining
the current service level but without specified funds.
10)This bill is double-referred to the Transportation Committee,
where it was heard on April 17, 2012, and approved on an 11-0
vote.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
San Joaquin Valley Regional Policy Counsel �CO-SPONSOR]
Central Valley Rail Working Group �CO-SPONSOR]
San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission
Cities of Elk Grove and Sacramento
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Hank Dempsey / L. GOV. / (916) 319-3958