BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: SB 415
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: price
VERSION:
8/21/2012
Analysis by: Art Bauer FISCAL: Yes
Hearing date: August 28, 2012
SUBJECT:
State highway relinquishments
DESCRIPTION:
The bill authorizes the California Transportation Commission
(CTC) to relinquish park-and- ride lots to county transportation
commissions or regional transportation planning agencies,
provided the agencies agree to the terms and conditions
established by the CTC.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
Identifies the California state highway system through a
description of segments of the state's regional and
interregional roads that the Department of Transportation
(Caltrans) owns and operates.
Provides that any expansion or deletion of the state
highway system occurs through a statutory process requiring
the CTC to make findings that it is in the best interest of
the state to include or delete a specified portion of
roadway from the system.
This bill authorizes the CTC to relinquish park-and-ride lots to
county transportation commissions and regional transportation
planning agencies provided the agencies agree to the CTC's terms
and conditions, and agree not to diminish the number of parking
spaces in the park-and-ride lots.
COMMENTS:
1. Purpose . Caltrans has established Park-and-ride lots
throughout the state as sites where individuals can park
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their cars and form car pools or meet buses for their
journey to and from work. The purpose of the lots is to
encourage ride sharing or the use of buses.
The purpose of this bill is to establish a procedure for
transferring park-and-ride lots to regional agencies that
may wish to assume the management of the state developed
lots.
2. Background . The Los Angeles County Metropolitan
Transportation Authority (MTA), a county transportation
commission and the sponsor of this bill, has observed that
Caltrans park-and-ride lots are not well maintained.
According to MTA, the lots frequently have an accumulation
of litter, poor lighting, and directional signs are often
in disrepair. In addition, the lots, in some instances, may
present untapped joint development opportunities.
Caltrans currently operates 320 park-and-ride lots with
65,886 parking spaces throughout California. Of these,
Caltrans owns 207 lots with 24,377 parking spaces.
Nineteen of the Caltrans-owned lots with 3,812 spaces are
located beneath bridges and elevated freeways and are
ineligible for relinquishment, leaving 188 lots with 20,565
spaces throughout the state potentially eligible for
relinquishment.
In Los Angeles County, Caltrans currently owns and operates
41 park-and-ride lots with 10,475 spaces. Ten of these
lots with 2,354 spaces are located beneath bridges and
elevated freeways and are ineligible for relinquishment,
leaving 31 lots with 8,121 spaces potentially eligible for
relinquishment.
Under existing law, the CTC may enter into a lease
agreement with a public agency and lease the space under
bridges and elevate freeways to be used as a park-and-ride
facility.
3. Issues . The relinquishment of a state highway or a
segment of a highway is a three-step process. Because
state highways are defined in statue, legislation must
authorize the CTC to relinquish a segment of highway.
Typically, a relinquishment bill requires that the local
agency assuming responsibility for the state highway to
agree not to return the highway to the state. The second
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step is the negotiation of the specific terms and
conditions of the relinquishment between Caltrans and the
local agency seeking control of the highway. The third
step requires the CTC to confirm the agreement between
Caltrans and the local agency by enacting a resolution
authorizing the relinquishment. This action deletes the
highway from the state highway system.
The one exception to the requirement for specific
legislation authorizing a relinquishment is when a state
highway is relocated to a newly constructed alignment. The
pre-existing highway may be relinquished to a city or
county by action of the CTC. Because park-and-ride lots
are not specified in statue, their relinquishment will not
require legislative review.
4. Flaw in SB 415 . This bill does not preclude a county
transportation commission or a regional transportation
planning agency from returning park-and-ride lots to
Caltrans after it has assumed responsibility for the lots
through relinquishment. In the future, a local agency may
decide, perhaps as a cost saving measure, to return the
lots it manages back to Caltrans. To be sure, Caltrans may
require, as a condition for relinquishment, a local agency
to stipulate that it will not return the lot to the state.
If this is not mandated, it is unclear that a consistent
state policy may be developed regarding the return of the
lots to Caltrans.
Next year the author may wish to sponsor an amendment
requiring local agencies to agree to not returning the lot
to the state. Perhaps this amendment could be included in
next session's omnibus bill.
5. Concurrence hearing . This bill was referred to the
committee under Senate Rule 29.10 in order for the
committee to review the new subject matter of this bill.
On a concurrence hearing such as this, the committee may
only take one of two actions: 1) hold the bill; or 2)
return the bill to the Senate Floor for concurrence in
Assembly amendments.
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 79-0
Appr: 17-0
Trans: 13-0
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Rules: 11-0
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Monday, August 27, 2012)
SUPPORT: Los Angeles County Transportation Metropolitan
Transportation Authority (sponsor)
OPPOSED: None received.