BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1225
Page 1
Date of Hearing: August 8, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
SB 1225 (Padilla) - As Amended: August 6, 2012
Policy Committee:
TransportationVote:13-0
Local Government 8-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill authorizes Caltrans to enter into an interagency
transfer agreement (ITA) with the Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis
Obispo (LOSSAN) Agency for that agency to administer intercity
rail service in this corridor. Specifically, this bill:
1)Provides that if the Secretary of Business, Transportation,
and Housing, pursuant to current law, determines that
transferring responsibility for intercity rail service to the
LOSSAN would yield cost reductions, Caltrans is authorized to
enter into a three-year ITA with LOSSAN, which is to be
accomplished by June 30, 2014.
2)Stipulates that the level of service funded by the state shall
be determined in the ITA and that state funding for the LOSSAN
corridor shall in no case be less than the state funding level
provided for the corridor in the 2012-13 operating contract
between Caltrans and Amtrak, and shall include the same
funding level for feeder bus service provided as of January 1,
2013.
3)Stipulates that funding from local resources shall not be
available to offset any redirection, elimination, reduction,
or reclassification by the state of state resources for
operating intercity rail service in the LOSSAN corridor.
4)States legislative intent that state funding, for an intercity
rail corridor for which administrative responsibility has been
transferred to a JPA, should be maintained at least at the
current funding level for at least five years.
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FISCAL EFFECT
One-time special fund cost to Caltrans in the range of $200,000
to implement a transfer agreement with the JPA, including
supporting the transition of Caltrans' equipment and facilities.
Caltrans also indicates a one-time payment of $300,000 to
$400,000 would be made to the JPA associated with the transfer
of operational and capital projects. Caltrans would thereafter
realize ongoing administrative savings of about $300,000 �State
Highway Account].
The LOSSAN farebox recovery ratio (ratio of revenues to
expenses) in 2010-11 was 54%. Currently, for the Pacific
Surfliner services, Amtrak pays 30% of the operating deficit
(about $20 million per year) and Caltrans pays the remaining 70%
operating deficit over fare revenues. The federal Passenger Rail
Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (Section 209) requires
states, starting October 1, 2013, to pay 100% of the costs of
short-distance intercity Amtrak services and capital costs. SB
1225 establishes 2012-13 as the time period upon which the state
funding level amount is to be maintained for a three-year
period, which pre-dates the time when the state will lose the
current $20 million Amtrak subsidy, thus the bill does not
create a mandated state backfill of this amount.
Notwithstanding the above, however, the bill also creates cost
pressure by expressing legislative intent to maintain funding
for three years at a level at least equal to the "current level
of service" in the corridor. Fulfilling this intent would
require a state backfill for the $20 million Amtrak subsidy.
This inconsistency should be addressed by changing this language
to "current level of funding".
COMMENTS
1)Background . Intercity passenger rail service is a component of
the state's overall transportation system and operates between
several regions of the state. Intercity services include three
state-supported corridor routes and four Amtrak long-distance
routes. The three in-state intercity routes were funded,
planned and administered by Caltrans until July 1998, when the
Capitol Corridor JPA assumed administration of the
Auburn-Sacramento-Oakland-San Jose corridor. (The CCJPA was
established through SB 457 (Kelley)/Chapter 263 of 1996.) The
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other two intercity rail passenger services, the Pacific
Surfliner and the San Joaquin continue to be administered by
Caltrans.
The 351-mile-long LOSSAN rail corridor (San Diego to Los
Angeles to San Luis Obispo) is the second busiest passenger
rail corridor in the nation, second only to the
Boston-to-Washington D.C. Northeast Corridor. More than nine
million passenger riders make trips on LOSSAN corridor
commuter and intercity trains annually. The corridor runs
through a six-county area, connecting major metropolitan areas
of Southern California and the Central Coast.
There are three passenger rail carriers along this route:
Amtrak's intercity service and the Metrolink and Coaster
commuter lines. Amtrak operates both the long distance
intercity Coast Starlight (Los Angeles to Seattle) and the
Pacific Surfliner passenger trains. The Pacific Surfliner
route (essentially comprising the LOSSAN rail corridor) is
under the administration of Caltrans.
2)LOSSAN Corridor Agency . To coordinate the interconnected rail
passenger intercity and commuter services within the Pacific
Surfliner corridor, the LOSSAN corridor agency was formed as
JPA in 1989. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan
Transportation Authority, Orange County Transportation
Authority, North County Transportation District, San Diego
Association of Governments, San Diego Metropolitan Transit
System, San Luis Obispo Council of Governments, Santa Barbara
County Association of Governments, Ventura County
Transportation Commission, and Caltrans are voting members of
the JPA. The Southern California Association of Governments,
Amtrak, and the California High-Speed Rail Authority are
non-voting, ex-officio members of the JPA. There are four
additional non-voting technical advisory committee members
representing the Burlington Northern Sante Fe Railroad, the
California Public Utilities Commission, the Southern
California Regional Rail Agency, and Union Pacific Railroad.
The LOSSAN corridor agency advises Caltrans, as administrator
of the corridor, on Amtrak services and facility improvements
within the corridor. Legislation enacted in 1996 provided an
opportunity for the LOSSAN corridor agency to create a JPA to
assume responsibility for the LOSSAN intercity passenger
service by December 31, 1996. An agreement with Caltrans
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could not be reached because the local agencies were unable to
reach a timely consensus on the structure of the corridor
agency. Accordingly, the responsibility for the service
remains with Caltrans. This bill is the second attempt for
the separate agencies to reach consensus on an interagency
transfer agreement.
3)Purpose . The member agencies argue that placing passenger rail
service in the LOSSAN corridor under local management will
result in a more efficient and effective allocation of
resources and decision-making related to service expansion,
frequencies, extensions, connectivity, and schedules. They
further contend that a unified voice will be more effective at
the state and federal level when advocating on passenger rail
issues, including funding for capital improvements.
4)Related Legislation . AB 1779 (Galgiani), pending in Senate
Appropriations, provides for the establishment of a joint
powers agency (JPA) to administer intercity rail service in
the San Joaquin Valley.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081