BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 935
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 10, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
K.H. "Katcho" Achadjian, Chair
AB 935 (Frazier) - As Amended: March 18, 2013
SUBJECT : San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation
Authority: terms of board members.
SUMMARY : Revises the membership of the Board of the San
Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Increases from five to seven, the number of board members on
the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation
Authority (WETA) by giving one additional appointment each to
the Senate Committee on Rules and the Speaker of the Assembly.
2)Establishes requirements for the existing appointments to WETA
made by the Governor, as specified:
a) Requires the Governor to appoint one resident of Contra
Costa County selected from a list of three nominees
provided by the Contra Costa Transportation Authority;
b) Requires the Governor to appoint one resident of San
Mateo County selected from a list of three nominees
provided by the San Mateo County Transportation Authority;
and,
c) Requires the Governor to appoint one resident of Solano
County selected from a list of three nominees provided by
the Solano Transportation Authority.
3)Requires the Governor to appoint a resident of the counties,
as specified in 2) above, if the respective authorities fail
to submit the list of three nominees within 45 days of a
vacancy.
4)Establishes the initial terms for the additional appointees,
as follows:
a) A two-year term for the additional member appointed by
the Senate Committee on Rules; and,
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b) A six-year term for the additional member appointed by
the Speaker of the Assembly.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Repealed the San Francisco Bay Area Water Transit Authority
(BAWTA) and establishes a new replacement entity, WETA, to
consolidate and operate ferry services in the San Francisco
Bay Area and to plan and respond to emergencies or disasters
affecting the transportation system in the San Francisco Bay
Area.
2)Requires the WETA board to consist of five members, as
follows:
a) Three members appointed by the Governor and confirmed by
the Senate;
b) One member appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules;
and,
c) One member appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly.
3)Requires the Governor to make the initial appointments of the
three members no later than January 11, 2008.
4)Requires each member of the board to be a resident of a county
in the Bay Area region.
5)Requires the Governor to designate the chairperson and the
vice chairperson of the board.
6)Establishes a six-year term for board members and staggers the
terms following the expiration of the terms of the initial
appointments as follows:
a) Two years for two of the members appointed by the
Governor;
b) Six years for one of the members appointed by the
Governor;
c) Four years for the member appointed by the Senate
Rules Committee; and,
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d) Four years for the member appointed by the Speaker
of the Assembly.
7)Requires the members appointed following the expiration of
terms established in 6) above, to serve six years.
8)Requires the appointing entity to immediately fill a vacancy
for the unexpired portion of the term in which the vacancy
occurs.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)BAWTA was established by SB 428 (Perata), Chapter 1011,
Statutes of 1999, to develop a comprehensive plan for
developing and enhancing ferry services throughout the Bay
Area. When Bay Area interests realized that implementation of
the plans required an organization focused on operations and
emergency water transit services, they successfully enacted
SB 976 (Torlakson), Chapter 734, Statutes of 2007 that replaced
BAWTA with WETA.
The BAWTA board consisted of 11 members, four gubernatorial
appointments, two Senate Rules Committee appointments, two
Assembly Rules Committee appointments, and three members from
an established community advisory committee. SB 796
(Torlakson) replaced the 11-member BAWTA board with a
five-member WETA board, as specified in current law.
2)This bill expands the membership of the WETA board from five
to seven members to include two additional appointments, one
by the Senate Committee on Rules and one by the Speaker of the
Assembly. Current law requires that all of the appointed
members are residents of a Bay Area county. This bill would
require that the three gubernatorial appointments are
residents from Contra Costa County, San Mateo County, and
Solano County. Additionally, this bill requires that the
Governor select each member from a list of three nominees
created by the transportation authority in each of the three
respective counties.
This bill limits the Governor's appointment selection from any
Bay Area county resident to a list of nine potential members
if the Contra Costa, San Mateo, and Solano Transportation
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Authority provide the list within 45 days of a vacancy. If
the list is not provided within the 45 day time frame
established by this bill then the Governor can appoint one
member who is a resident of Contra Costa County, one member
who is a resident of San Mateo County, and one member who is a
resident of Solano County. The author and supporters argue
that this bill will provide representation for the counties
served by the nine existing terminals and the seven expansion
sites considered in WETA's recently adopted Short Range
Transit Plan. This bill is author-sponsored.
3)The author argues that the three counties to which the
Governor must limit his appointments to are all counties that
play an important role in WETA and have increasing interests
in the new routes that are being determined to each of the
respective counties. Currently WETA has nine ferry terminals,
one in Solano County, four in the City and County of San
Francisco, one in San Mateo County, and three in Alameda
County. Proposed routes include four in Contra Costa County,
one in San Mateo County, one in Alameda County, and one in the
City and County of San Francisco.
4)According to WETA, the Contra Costa County Ferry Subcommittee
includes WETA staff, the Contra Costa Transportation
Authority, and representatives from the cities of Antioch,
Martinez, Hercules and Richmond. The goal of the Subcommittee
is to study the implementation of ferry expansion services to
Contra Costa County. The Committee may wish to consider
whether it is timely for this bill to require representation
of a board member from a county that currently does not have a
ferry route while other counties like the City and County of
San Francisco, which is the destination for every ferry route,
are not guaranteed representation on the board under this
bill.
AB 2433 (Hill), Chapter 305, Statutes of 2012, established a
schedule for staggering the terms of WETA board members. The
analysis for the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee
noted that the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors requested an
amendment to promote direct geographic representation on the
WETA board; however, the amendment was never taken by the
author.
5)Furthermore, if the WETA board is to be established based on
county representation, the Committee may wish to consider
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other factors like the number of terminals, the number of
ferry routes per year, or the percentage of total ridership in
each county when evaluating which counties should be
guaranteed representation on the WETA board. Opponents also
argue that while various factors could be used in determining
the makeup of the board in terms of geographical importance,
this bill fails to include other stakeholders like organized
labor.
6)The Committee may wish to ask the author to discuss the
concerns with the existing board membership that necessitates
this bill. The author's office argues that the current board
does not specifically represent counties affected by WETA
board decisions; however, this bill will only ensure that
representation for three counties.
7)The Committee may wish to ask the author if there is consensus
from interested stakeholders on the proposed changes to WETA's
board membership. The Committee has heard other bills that
revise membership of the governing body, and has generally
only supported those bills that have brought forward a change
that is met with consensus. This bill could create winners
and losers on what is essentially a regional issue.
8)Support arguments : Supporters argue that it is important for
the board to represent the counties affected by WETA board
decisions, including those counties with expansion sites under
consideration.
Opposition arguments : Opponents argue that this bill will
change the governing board of WETA from five at-large members
to a seven-member board with three geographical stakeholders.
Additionally, if the board is to become a stakeholder board
then all interests should be represented including all
counties served by the Bay Area ferry system and organized
labor.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
City of Antioch
City of Hercules
Contra Costa Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO
Contra Costa Transportation Authority
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Pittsburg Chamber of Commerce
San Mateo County Board of Supervisors
Solano Transportation Authority
Opposition
International Longshore and Warehouse Union
Analysis Prepared by : Misa Yokoi-Shelton / L. GOV. / (916)
319-3958