BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1780
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Date of Hearing: May 2, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1780 (Bonilla) - As Amended: March 29, 2012
Policy Committee: Transportation
Vote: 11-1
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill assigns the cost for state review of project study
reports (PSRs) or equivalent planning documents for
transportation projects. Specifically, this bill:
1)Mandates that, for projects on the state highway that are in
an adopted regional transportation plan, a voter-approved
county sales tax measure expenditure plan, or other
voter-approved transportation program, Caltrans is to perform
its statutorily-required review and approval of the PSR at its
own expense; for other projects, Caltrans's costs for PSR
review and approval are to be paid by the entity performing
the work.
2)Provides that, if Caltrans is not available to complete a PSR
for a state highway project on behalf of another agency, the
other agency may prepare one at its own expense.
FISCAL EFFECT
Under this bill, the costs for Caltrans' review of local
transportation agencies' PSRs-several million dollars
annually-would be borne by the State Highway Account in
perpetuity. As discussed below, this is contrary to the
governor's budget but consistent with the Legislature's position
on this issue.
COMMENTS
1)Background . A PSR-also referred to as a Project Initiation
Document (PID)-is a technical report that thoroughly documents
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the scope, cost, and schedule of a project. All projects on
the state highway system, whether state or locally sponsored
and/or funded, require an approved PID before they can be
programmed and proceed to the capital outlay phase.
The PID program has come under scrutiny in recent years by the
Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO), which has focused on a
significant over-production of PIDs, the resultant wasteful
expenditures, and whether the scope of PIDs yields more
information than necessary at such an early stage of a
project. In addition, the LAO has highlighted a lack of any
cost-sharing arrangements with other agencies for the
development of PIDs.
In the governor's 2011-12 budget proposal, the cost of
Caltrans' review and approval of local transportation
agencies' PIDs ($7.3 million and 66 positions) was to be
reimbursed by those agencies. The Legislature rejected this
proposal-switching this workload to state funding-but the
governor vetoed the Legislature's action, leaving this work
unfunded in the budget. In September 2011, the Department of
Finance submitted a Budget Control Section 28.00 request,
enabling Caltrans to receive reimbursement for the PIDs work.
The 2012-13 budget request continues this approach, proposing
$10.6 million and 67 positions in reimbursement authority for
Caltrans. In March, Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 3 voted
to again reject this proposal and instead fund Caltrans' PID
review with state funds.
2)Purpose . This bill, sponsored by the Self-Help Counties
Coalition, assigns Caltrans with the responsibility to develop
PIDs and to pay for costs to review and approve those
locally-produced PIDs for projects on the state highway system
that are in established programming documents. For all other
projects, Caltrans's costs for review and approval of the PIDs
are to be paid by the entity performing the work.
3)Prior Legislation . Last year, AB 1134 (Bonilla), which was
substantially similar to this bill, was held on this
committee's Suspense file.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081
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