BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2250
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 2250 (Daly)
As Amended June 26, 2014
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |78-0 |(May 15, 2014) |SENATE: |32-0 |(August 20, |
| | | | | |2014) |
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Original Committee Reference: TRANS.
SUMMARY : Requires any revenue generated from a managed lane
that is administered by a local agency on a state highway to be
used in the corridor in which it was generated.
The Senate amendments recast the bill's provisions to provide
greater clarity.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS : Managed lanes - particularly high occupancy toll
(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
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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,
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,
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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 the California
Department of Transportation (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.
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.
Related legislation: SB 983 (Ed Hernandez) of the current
legislative session, extends indefinitely the California
Transportation Commission's authority to approve regional
transportation agencies' applications to develop and operate HOT
lanes and expands the authority to include applications
submitted by the Caltrans. The bill is in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
SB 1298 (Ed Hernandez) of the current legislative session,
repeals and recasts specific authority for the Los Angeles
County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to operate a
value-pricing and transit development program including HOT
lanes on State Routes 10 and 110.
Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
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