BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                     SB 791
                                                                     Page  1

        SENATE THIRD READING
        SB 791 (Steinberg)
        As Introduced  February 18, 2011
        Majority vote 

         SENATE VOTE  :37-0  
         
         TRANSPORTATION      13-0                                         
         
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        |Ayes:|Bonnie Lowenthal,         |     |                          |
        |     |Jeffries, Achadjian,      |     |                          |
        |     |Blumenfield, Bonilla,     |     |                          |
        |     |Buchanan, Eng, Furutani,  |     |                          |
        |     |Galgiani, Miller, Norby,  |     |                          |
        |     |Portantino, Solorio       |     |                          |
        |     |                          |     |                          |
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         SUMMARY  :  Repeals obsolete reporting requirements of the California 
        Transportation Commission (CTC) relative to the Traffic Congestion 
        Relief Program (TCRP).  

         EXISTING LAW  :  

        1)Establishes the CTC to advise and assist the Secretary of the 
          Business, Transportation and Housing Agency and the Legislature in 
          formulating and evaluating state policies and plans for 
          transportation programs in the state.  

        2)Establishes the TCRP to provide roughly $5 billion to relieve 
          traffic congestion, provide additional funding for local street 
          and road deferred maintenance, and provide additional 
          transportation capacity in high growth areas of the state.  

        3)Requires the CTC to adopt and submit to the Legislature, by 
          December 15 of each year, an annual report summarizing the 
          commission's prior-year decisions in allocating transportation 
          capital outlay appropriations and identifying timely and relevant 
          transportation issues facing California.  

        4)Requires, until 2008, CTC's annual report to include summaries and 
          discussions related to loans, cashflow, expenditures, fund 
          conditions, and other financial transactions involving the TCRP.  

         FISCAL EFFECT  :  None  








                                                                     SB 791
                                                                     Page  2


         COMMENTS  :  In 2000, the Traffic Congestion Relief Act committed 
        roughly $5 billion to 141 specified transportation projects intended 
        to provide congestion relief, increase connectivity, and speed goods 
        movement.  Originally, TCRP was to be funded by a combination of 
        General Fund and gasoline sales tax revenues between 2000-01 and 
        2005-06.  Soon after the program's enactment, however, the General 
        Fund ran into a deficit and funding for the program had to be 
        postponed.  AB 438 (Budget Committee), Chapter 113, Statutes of 
        2001, postponed funding for the program for two years and remedied 
        the postponement by extending the program for two years, through 
        2007-08.  AB 438 also added requirements that the CTC include in its 
        annual report, until 2008, information regarding the impact of the 
        funding changes to the program.  

        This bill deletes this obsolete reporting requirement.  


         Analysis Prepared by  :   Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093 FN: 
        0001301