BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1225|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1225
Author: Padilla (D)
Amended: 5/29/12
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMM. : 9-0, 4/24/12
AYES: DeSaulnier, Gaines, Harman, Kehoe, Lowenthal,
Pavley, Rubio, Simitian, Wyland
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 5/24/12
AYES: Kehoe, Walters, Alquist, Dutton, Lieu, Price,
Steinberg
SUBJECT : Interagency transfer agreement
SOURCE : Los Angeles-San Diego Rail Corridor Agency
DIGEST : This bill requires the Department of
Transportation to enter into a transfer of services
agreement with the Los Angeles-San Diego Corridor Agency
for the provision of intercity passenger rail service in
the corridor.
ANALYSIS : Since 1976, the Department of Transportation
(Caltrans) has been contracting with Amtrak for providing
intercity passenger rail service in the Los Angeles-San
Diego (LOSSAN) Corridor. The initial service was between
San Diego and Los Angeles and later extended to Santa
Barbara and San Luis Obispo. The institutional environment
in which the trains operate is complex. The trains operate
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over tracks that are owned by two public agencies in San
Diego County, the Orange County Transportation Authority,
the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation
Authority, the Union Pacific Railroad (UP), and the
Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railroad. In addition,
the Riverside County Transportation Commission (RCTC)
acquired the passenger rail rights between Fullerton and
Los Angeles from BNSF in the 1990s. This requires any
passenger rail operator, except Amtrak, to secure RCTC's
concurrence before initiating or increasing service in that
segment of the corridor. Railroad services operating in
the corridor include freight provided by UP and BNS, and
commuter rail service by METROLINK in Los Angeles, Orange,
San Diego, and Ventura counties and by the Coaster in San
Diego County. In addition to the state-supported service,
Amtrak operates interstate passenger rail services to
Seattle beginning in Los Angeles. In the future, the
segment of the corridor from Burbank to Los Angeles and
Anaheim will include high-speed rail service. One segment
of the corridor, Commerce to Fullerton, is among the most
heavily used corridors in the country with over 100 trains
daily traversing it. Currently, the number of passenger
and freight trains is about equal.
The LOSSAN Corridor is the second most heavily patronized
Amtrak corridor in the country, after the Northeast
Corridor between Washington-New York-Boston. Approximately
6.7 million passengers travel in LOSSAN corridor annually.
Of those passengers, 2.6 million use Amtrak, 2.4 million
rely on Metrolink, and the Coaster carries 1.7 million.
The travelers are very different. The users of Metrolink
and Coaster are typically commuters. The average length of
a commuter trip is 30 miles, the average fare is $6.69 and
income of the commuters is $75,000 annually. The Amtrak
rider is typically a leisure traveler, students, or a
business traveler who uses the service intermittently. The
average length of the trip is 90 miles, the average fare is
about $21, and traveler's average income is $80,000
annually.
In addition to the LOSSAN Corridor, the state has funded
Amtrak service from Bakersfield to Oakland via Stockton and
Martinez since 1979. In 1991, the state contracted with
Amtrak to operate service from Sacramento to Oakland/San
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Jose. The management of the service was devolved to the
Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Agency (CCJPA) in 1998 by an
interagency transfer agreement.
This bill is intended emulate the institutional
relationship between Caltrans and the CCJPA in the LOSSAN
Corridor.
Existing state law:
1. Authorizes Caltrans to:
A. Contract with Amtrak for intercity passenger rail
service.
B. Program in the State Transportation Improvement
Program (STIP) 15 percent of the funds available for
interregional transportation improvements to
intercity passenger rail and grade separations.
C. Enter into contracts with motor coach operators to
provide feeder bus service to intercity passenger
rail service, provided the service does not require
an operating subsidy.
D. Provide marketing services for the intercity
passenger rail program, acquire passenger cars and
locomotives, and take other actions to facilitate the
operation of the service.
E. Prepare a 10-year intercity passenger rail plan
updated every two years to be adopted by the
California Transportation Commission.
2. Authorizes Caltrans, subject to the approval of the
Secretary of Business and Transportation Agency
(Secretary), to enter into an agreement with a joint
powers board transferring responsibility for
administering intercity passenger rail service in a
corridor.
3. Assigns Caltrans responsibility for operating intercity
passenger service for trains operating up to 125 miles
per hour.
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4. Requires a joint powers board to submit an annual
business plan which is the basis of a budget request for
service.
5. Authorizes the Secretary to do the following:
A. Establish the level of state funding available for
operation of intercity passenger rail service in
available in each corridor in which service operates.
B. Allocate funds to a joint powers board consistent
with an interagency agreement that includes, among
other things, the level of service to be operated.
6. Authorizes joint powers agencies to augment state funds
at their discretion to expand service, address funding
shortfalls, or achieve agreed upon performance
standards.
Existing federal law:
1. Authorizes states or state-created entities to contract
with Amtrak for intercity passenger rail service.
2. Requires states, according to a national cost allocation
process adopted by the Service Transportation Board, to
pay the full operating and capital cost for intercity
passenger rail service in which the service is less than
750 miles in length beginning in October 1, 2013.
Interstate service is exempt from this provision.
This bill:
1. Requires the LOSSAN Corridor Agency to enter into an
interagency transfer agreement with Caltrans for
assuming all responsibility for administering state
funded intercity passenger rail service in the corridor
by June 30, 2014.
2. Specifies that the term of the transfer agreement with
the LOSSAN Corridor Agency will be for five years, but
may be extended by mutual agreement.
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3. Prohibits the state from requiring a corridor agency to
use local funds to augment service or to fund shortfalls
when agreed upon performance standards are not reached.
4. Stipulates that this bill is only operative if the
members of the LOSSAN Corridor Agency amend the joint
powers agreement to expand the agency's authority to
enter into an interagency agreement.
5. Requires the level of service (number of round trips
operated) funded by the state to be no less than the
level of service funded as of January 1, 2013.
6. Specifies that funding by the state for the LOSSAN
Corridor shall not be less than the funding level
provided in the 2012-13 fiscal year operating contract
between Caltrans and the Amtrak for the LOSSAN Corridor.
7. Requires the state provide the same level of funding for
feeder bus service as provided on January 1, 2013.
8. Requires the interagency transfer agreement to identify
funds to be transferred to the LOSSAN Agency, including
operating subsidies, and funds currently used by the
department for administration and marketing of the
corridor, adjusted annually for inflation.
9. Prohibits the use of local funds for expenditure to
offset any redirection, elimination, reduction, or
reclassification of state resources for operating
intercity passenger rail services in the corridor.
10.States legislative intent that the intercity passenger
rail service in the LOSSAN corridor maintain a ratio of
fare revenue to operating cost of at least 58 percent.
Background
In the last 35 years, the number of intercity trains funded
by the state resources operating in the LOSSAN Corridor has
increased from 1 to 11 round trips between Los Angeles and
San Diego on weekdays, of which five are extended to San
Barbara. Two of the Santa Barbara trains provide round
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trip service to San Luis Obispo. There are also five round
trips daily from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara. Since the
beginning of service, $1.152 billion has been invested in
the corridor. Of that amount, $746 million, or 65% of the
investment, has been state funds. The next largest
investor in the corridor has been local governments, with
$188 million, about 16% of the funds. The remaining 20% of
the investment has been from federal sources, Amtrak, and
the private railroads. Caltrans has been responsible for
managing the investment program.
Even with the investments in the corridor, the track and
signaling system in the corridor from Ventura County to San
Luis Obispo is antiquated. In San Diego County, there are
segments of the corridor that remain single track. Lack of
double track and inadequate signaling reduces system
capacity and reliability of service.
LOSSAN Corridor Agency . The LOSSAN Corridor Agency is
currently made up of nine members: Caltrans, Los Angeles
County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, North County
Transit District, Orange County Transportation Authority,
San Diego Association of Governments, San Diego
Metropolitan Transit System, San Luis Obispo Council of
Governments, Santa Barbara County Association of
Governments, and the Ventura County Transportation
Commission. The Agency advises Caltrans on Amtrak services
and facility improvements for the corridor. Legislation
enacted in 1996, provided an opportunity for the LOSSAN
Agency to create a joint powers group to assume
responsibility for the LOSSAN intercity passenger service
by December 31, 1996. An agreement with Caltrans could not
be reached, because the local agencies were unable to reach
a consensus on the structure of the corridor agency. The
responsibility for the service remains with Caltrans.
This bill establishes a deadline of December 31, 2013 for
the LOSSAN Agency to enter into an agreement with the state
to devolve the service.
Caltrans' role . Caltrans' Division of Rail is the largest
state rail agency in the country. It has earned this
distinction by managing the largest state-contracted Amtrak
service. Caltrans has managed the $2.8 billion statewide
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capital improvement program for the intercity passenger
rail program. About 8% of the STIP funds are dedicated to
interregional rail, for which Caltrans is responsible for
programming. Caltrans funded and is managing the design
and construction in collaboration with BNSF of a third new
track and signal system, costing $165 million, between Los
Angeles and Fullerton. This will significantly improve
system capacity and reliability for both passenger and
freight service.
With funds provided from Proposition 116, the Clean Air and
Transportation Improvement Act of 1990, Caltrans managed
the development and design of a bi-level (double deck)
intercity passenger rail car. Last year, the Federal
Railway Administration designated that car, referred to as
the "California" car, as the only bi-level car in the
country eligible for federal funding. Caltrans is managing
a $552 million project for the procurement of 135 bi-level
cars. Depending on the final bid, Caltrans will acquire
about 40 cars. The rest are for Illinois, Iowa, and
Missouri. Next year, Caltrans will manage the procurement
of 27 locomotives, of which six are for California. The
total value of this acquisition is expected to be $130
million.
This bill shifts operating responsibility to the LOSSAN
Corridor Agency, but maintains the state's responsibility
for STIP preparation for the rail program and equipment
acquisition.
Comments
The LOSSAN Corridor Agency is proposing to become an agent
of the state by entering into an interagency transfer
agreement with Caltrans to manage the operation of Amtrak
services with existing state resources in order to better
coordinate schedules and other operating matters with the
commuter rail services provided by Metrolink and Coaster.
The author's office points out that the LOSSAN corridor
parallels two of Southern California's most heavily
congested freeways, Interstate 5 and Highway 101, through
six counties: San Diego, Orange County, Los Angeles,
Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. The line
provides an alternative to driving these corridors and
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benefits southern California in terms of increased
mobility, congestion relief, and decreased greenhouse gas
emissions.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
One-time costs to Caltrans of approximately $200,000
(Public Transportation Account) to administer the
transition of operations and management to the JPA.
Cost pressures of approximately $25 million annually
(Public Transportation Account) from 2014-15 to 2019-20
to continue operating costs at the current Amtrak cost
allocation. Currently, the LOSSAN corridor is funded
with approximately $24 million in state funds and $25
million in federal funds, but as of October 2013, federal
funds will no longer be available and the corridor will
require nearly $50 million in state funding to operate at
current levels of service, which is mandated in the bill.
Additional cost pressures related to provisions in the
bill that would shift financial risk from the JPA to the
state, while also removing operational and management
decisions from the state and shifting them to the JPA.
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/29/12)
Los Angeles-San Diego Rail Corridor Agency (source)
Amtrak
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Orange County Business Roundtable
Orange County Transportation Authority
Sacramento Regional Transit District
San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission
Ventura County Transportation Commission
JJA:mw 5/29/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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