BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 486
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Date of Hearing: June 23, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
SB 486 (DeSaulnier) - As Amended: July 1, 2014
SENATE VOTE : Not applicable
SUBJECT : California Department of Transportation: planning and
programming
SUMMARY : Modifies processes for developing and adopting the
California Department of Transportation's (Caltrans') long-range
transportation planning and programming documents.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Makes legislative findings and declarations regarding:
a) A recent external assessment of Caltrans that called for
reforms to update the department's mission, strengthen its
performance, and align its work with broad state policy
goals; and,
b) The need to develop a long-term, inclusive planning
process for Caltrans, similar to the already-established
regional transportation planning process.
2)Authorizes the California Transportation Commission (CTC), in
consultation with Caltrans, to develop and adopt specific
goals for the department.
3)Directs CTC to develop performance measures for each of the
adopted goals and to include in its annual report an
evaluation of Caltrans' progress towards meeting these goals.
4)Authorizes CTC to establish guidelines for Caltrans to follow
in developing the California Transportation Plan (CTP),
commencing with the 2020 update of the plan.
5)Directs Caltrans, by December 15, 2015, and by December 15,
2020, to submit to CTC an interregional transportation
strategic plan (ITSP) directed at achieving a high-functioning
and balanced interregional transportation system; requires the
ITSP to be consistent with the CTP.
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6)Requires CTC to hold two public hearings prior to adopting the
interregional transportation improvement program (ITIP), and
modifies the date by which Caltrans must submit its draft ITIP
to CTC to allow time for public review of the program.
7)Requires projects included in the ITIP to be consistent with
the ITSP.
8)Requires Caltrans to reflect public comments in the final
ITIP.
9)Requires CTC, when approving the final ITIP, to evaluate the
extent to which the program is consistent with statutorily
established funding priorities.
10)Requires CTC to develop guidelines for Caltrans to follow in
developing the State Highway Operation and Protection Program
(SHOPP), including prescribed elements.
11)Requires all SHOPP projects to include projection initiation
documents.
12)Authorizes CTC to decline to adopt the SHOPP if it determines
that the program is not sufficiently consistent with the
guidelines developed and adopted by the commission.
13)Requires CTC to include in its annual report a discussion and
analyses of Caltrans' support costs and expenditures.
14)Makes other technical, related modifications to the existing
ITIP process, and deletes obsolete provisions related to CTC's
annual report.
15)Deletes obsolete provisions related to the conversion of data
related to the state highway system from paper storage to
electronic storage.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Vests CTC with responsibility to advise and assist the
Secretary of the California State Transportation Agency
(CalSTA) and the Legislature in formulating and evaluating
state policies and plans for California's transportation
programs.
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2)Requires Caltrans to update the CTP by December 31, 2015, and
every 5 years thereafter. The CTP is required to address how
the state will achieve maximum feasible emissions reductions
and to identify the statewide integrated multimodal
transportation system needed to achieve these results.
Caltrans is required to submit a draft report to CTC and the
Legislature and specifically requires Caltrans to consult with
and coordinate its planning activities with specified entities
and to provide an opportunity for review and comment. The CTP
is required to be consistent with statements of legislative
intent.
3)Directs Caltrans to develop STIP guidelines and authorizes CTC
to amend the guidelines after conducting at least one public
hearing.
4)Sets forth the process by which CTC adopts the STIP, a
biennial five-year program of projects. Only projects that
are first included in a regional transportation improvement
program submitted by a regional transportation agency or in
the ITIP submitted by Caltrans may be included in the STIP.
STIP funds are available only for capital improvements, not
for operating or maintenance costs.
5)Requires Caltrans, by December 15 of each odd-numbered year,
to submit to CTC a five-year ITIP consisting of projects to:
i) Improve state highways;
ii) Improve the intercity passenger rail system; and,
iii) Improve the interregional movement of people,
vehicles, and goods.
6)Directs Caltrans to develop the SHOPP, a program of major
capital projects necessary to preserve and protect the state
highway system. Projects in the SHOPP are limited to those
that do not add new capacity to the system.
7)Authorizes CTC to review the SHOPP relative to its overall
adequacy, level of funding needed to implement the program,
and the impact of those expenditures on the STIP.
8)Requires CTC to adopt and submit to the Legislature, by
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December 15 of each year, an annual report with specific
elements, including, for the years 2001 to 2008:
a) A summary and discussion of short-term loans and
transfers authorized as part of the now-obsolete Traffic
Congestion Relief Act of 2000;
b) A summary and discussion on the cash-flow and project
delivery impact of those loans and transfers; and,
c) A summary of any guidance provided to the department
relative to those loans and transfers.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS : The genesis of SB 486 is, at least in part, a
recently released report issued by the State Smart
Transportation Initiative (SSTI). SSTI was commissioned CalSTA
to assess Caltrans' performance and to make recommendations for
improvements.
In short, the SSTI report found that Caltrans is "significantly
out of step" with best practices in the transportation field and
with many of the state's policy expectations. To support its
conclusion that Caltrans needs modernizing, the SSTI report
cites numerous areas in which Caltrans' performance was
inconsistent and sometimes directly at odds with the state's
overarching policies, particularly those aimed at reducing
greenhouse gas emissions. Specifically, SSTI noted:
1)Caltrans, with its long history as a highway-building
department, continues to design projects that foster higher
auto-mobility rather than projects that, for example, lead
instead to compact development and lower vehicle miles
traveled.
2)State policies related to greenhouse gas emission reductions
work "around" Caltrans rather than through it, such as SB 375
that places the onus of reducing greenhouse gas emissions on
metropolitan planning organizations and the Air Resources
Board.
3)Caltrans' management has failed to understand sustainability
policies much less require that these policies be incorporated
in the department's programs.
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SSTI asserts that California would be better served by a
stronger state transportation department that is better aligned
with California's overarching policy goals, particularly those
related to sustainability.
SB 486 intends to do just that-better align state priorities
with Caltrans' planning processes and to use this pairing to
ensure the department's investments reflect these priorities.
Within this context, SB 486 seeks to remedy three specific
perceived problems:
1)Caltrans lacks a strong performance management approach. SSTI
made this argument in its report, suggesting that "Caltrans
should dedicate resources to push performance-based management
throughout the organization."
2)Caltrans' programming documents, namely the ITIP and the
SHOPP, are not sufficiently in line with the state's
overarching goals or the department's long-term planning
efforts. For example, to this point SSTI asserts that the
department's "California Interregional Blueprint provides
sound guidance but often does not effectively guide investment
or policy."
3)Caltrans's ITIP and SHOPP are developed in an insular
environment and therefore fall short of reflecting broader
goals. SSTI suggests that "CalSTA and Caltrans should use CTC
review process to impose a policy review of all proposed
investments."
SB 486 relies on CTC to provide greater, independent oversight
of the department's efforts as a means to help resolve these
problems. Under SB 486, CTC will have greater responsibilities
to:
1)Develop specific goals and performance measures for Caltrans;
2)Provide guidance in the development of the CTP (and in the
near-term, the ITSP) ultimately to inform the projects that
Caltrans selects for inclusion in the ITIP;
3)Establish guidelines for the SHOPP; and,
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4)Publically vet the ITIP and the SHOPP.
Caltrans is, and has been for some time, developing a
comprehensive CTP, which is due December 2015. Imposing new
requirements for CTC guidance at this point would be disruptive
to the effort and should be avoided. Consequently, SB 486
directs CTC to provide guidance in the development of the CTP
beginning with the update due in 2020. However, 2020 is too
long to wait before the process is improved with CTC guidance.
Therefore, in the interim, SB 486 directs CTC to provide
oversight by way of approval in the development of the ITSP,
from which the 2016 and 2018 ITIP will be developed.
Regarding the SHOPP, SB 486 reinforces CTC's role in the process
by specifically requiring the commission to develop guidelines
for Caltrans to follow in developing the SHOPP and by
authorizing CTC to evaluate the program for, among other things,
consistency with CTC's guidelines.
Related legislation: SB 151 (DeSaulnier) requires SHOPP
projects to have capital and support costs allocated by CTC. SB
151 is in Assembly Appropriations Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Transportation Commission
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093