BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2250
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 21, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
AB 2250 (Daly) - As Amended: April 24, 2014
SUBJECT : California Department of Transportation: managed
lanes
SUMMARY : Requires any revenue generated in managed lanes to be
used in the corridor in which it was generated. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Directs the California Department of Transportation
(Caltrans), when entering into a cooperative agreement with a
local agency for managed lanes on the state highway system, to
ensure that any revenue generated by the lanes is expended
within the corridor in which the lanes are located.
2)Defines "managed lanes" to include high-occupancy vehicle
lanes (HOV), high-occupancy toll lanes (HOT), and express toll
lanes, each as further defined.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes HOT lane facilities in Alameda, San Diego, and
Santa Clara counties.
2)Until January 1, 2012, authorized any regional transportation
agency to apply to the California Transportation Commission
(CTC) to establish HOT lanes. The CTC found HOT lane
facilities in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles County,
and Riverside County eligible under this provision.
3)Authorizes a network of toll roads in Orange County (State
Routes 73, 133, 241, and 261), financed by revenue bonds.
4)Authorizes Caltrans and regional transportation agencies,
until January 1, 2017, to enter into comprehensive development
lease agreements with public and private entities for
transportation projects that may charge users of those
projects tolls.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
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COMMENTS : Managed lanes-particularly HOT lanes-are increasingly
being implemented in metropolitan areas around the state and the
nation. HOT lanes allow single-occupant or lower-occupant
vehicles to use an HOV lane for a fee, while maintaining free or
reduced travel to qualifying HOVs. The purported benefits of
HOT lanes include enhanced mobility and travel options in
congested corridors and better usage of underutilized HOV lanes.
California is currently in the embryonic stage of what is sure
to be a substantial build out of HOT lanes around the state in
the very near future. The Metropolitan Transportation
Commission, for example, is in the midst of developing a
regional HOT lane network that will extend for hundreds of miles
from Sonoma County in the north to Gilroy in the south. How
these lanes are managed and operated will likely depend on
efforts currently underway within the Administration to develop
managed lane policies.
One of these efforts began last year as part of the Governor's
proposed budget. In it, he directed the California State
Transportation Agency (CalSTA) to convene a workgroup consisting
of state and local transportation stakeholders to refine the
transportation infrastructure needs assessment; explore
long-term, pay-as-you-go funding options, and evaluate the most
appropriate level of government to deliver high-priority
investments to meet the state's infrastructure needs. Toward
this end, CalSTA released in February of this year its vision
and interim recommendations in a report entitled California
Transportation Infrastructure Priorities: Vision and Interim
Recommendations. Two of the recommendations were:
1)Support efforts to maintain and expand the availability of
local funds dedicated to transportation improvements, albeit
with conditions; and,
2)Work with the Legislature to expand the department's use of
pricing and express lanes to better manage congestion and the
operation of the state highway system while generating new
revenues for preservation and other corridor improvements.
Discussions with stakeholders during development of this report
raised concerns that regional transportation agencies may be
called upon by the Administration to contribute funding for the
state's underfunded highway maintenance program using, in part,
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revenue generated from managed lanes.
Indeed, the state's highway maintenance program is underfunded.
Funding to pay for most maintenance and repair on the state
highway system comes from taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel.
Revenue from these taxes is declining because of reduced fuel
consumption and funding shortfalls in the Federal Highway Trust
Fund. The projected funding available for the preservation of
state highway infrastructure is estimated at $1.8 billion
annually. However, the need for the rehabilitation and
reconstruction of the state highway system is about $7 billion
annually.
Regional transportation agencies have been much more successful
in funding transportation improvements, primarily from
self-imposed sales taxes for transportation. These self-help
counties contribute over $3 billion annually in sales tax
revenue to California's transportation systems. Increasingly,
these agencies are using, or plan to use, sales tax revenues to
fund development of managed lanes to improve the performance of
major highway corridors. Revenue generated by managed lanes is
used to cover costs associated with debt service, operations,
maintenance, and law enforcement of the managed lanes. Any
excess revenue is typically returned to the corridor from which
it is generated by way of increased transit service or highway
improvements.
Existing law does not currently provide specific additional
authority to develop HOT lanes (although there is limited
authority to develop tolled facilities under provisions
authorizing public-private partnerships). However, as the
Administration is currently looking to develop a broader managed
lane program, the author introduced this bill to ensure that the
state's managed lane policies and practices strike an
appropriate balance between the roles of Caltrans and local
agencies, including the need to ensure revenue generated by
managed lanes stays in the transportation corridor from which it
was generated. This policy is consistent with the Legislature's
previous specific HOT lane authorizations.
Furthermore, managed lanes are designed primarily to improve
overall corridor performance through enhanced throughput and any
excess revenue should be used to that end. Excess revenue from
managed lanes should not be used to maintain the state highway
system beyond the managed lanes. If this is allowed, it would
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likely have a chilling effect on regional transportation
agencies' willingness to assume financial risk associated with
financing construction and operation of managed lanes, to the
detriment of overall corridor management. Instead, revenue
should be used to further improve corridor performance, either
through transit, technology, or operational improvements.
Writing in support of this bill, the Self-Help Counties
Coalition (SHCC) asserts that its member agencies-local county
transportation agencies charged with delivering voter-approved
transportation sales tax measures-develop managed lanes to help
address the state's transportation needs. SHCC contends that
decisions over revenue allocation and tolling policies need to
rest with the agency assuming the project development,
construction, and financing risk and should remain available for
expenditure by the local agency in the respective corridor.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Council of Engineering Companies
California Asphalt Pavement Association
Self-Help Counties Coalition
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093