BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2971
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 2971 (DeSaulnier)
As Amended August 19, 2008
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |44-33|(May 28, 2008) |SENATE: |22-16|(August 22, |
| | | | | |2008) |
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Original Committee Reference: L. GOV.
SUMMARY : Directs the California Department of Transportation
(Caltrans) to consider bicyclist and pedestrian safety when it
develops its safety programs.
The Senate amendments :
1)Recast provisions related to transportation safety funds to
require Caltrans, by January 1, 2010, to establish guidance
and criteria to ensure the needs of bicyclists and pedestrians
are addressed when it develops its safety programs.
2)When evaluating highway safety project funding processes,
require Caltrans to take into consideration the following
factors:
a) Removal of unsafe conditions so significant that they
effectively constitute barriers to bicycle and pedestrian
access;
b) Land use context of proposed highway safety improvement
projects as evidence of unmet demand for bicycle and
pedestrian access;
c) Additional bicycle and pedestrian safety features to a
highway safety project, thereby creating additional
benefits to that project and increasing its priority; and,
d) Input from bicycle and pedestrian interest groups.
3)Strike all provisions related to the Subdivision Map Act.
EXISTING LAW :
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1)The federal Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient
Transportation Equity Act-A Legacy for Users of 2005
(SAFETEA-LU), requires Caltrans to identify key safety needs
of the state and strategies to address these needs. The
federal act directs states to use their federal dollars for
hazard eliminations in a strategic manner, according to the
SHSIP, directing funds to the highest/best use. California's
annual appropriation for its SHSIP is approximately $100
million.
2)Divides the annual federal appropriation for safety equally
between the state for state highway purposes and local
agencies for local streets and roads.
3)Directs Caltrans, in consultation with the California Highway
Patrol (CHP), to establish and administer a "Safe Routes to
School (SR2S) competitive grant program for capital
improvements of bicycle and pedestrian safety and traffic
calming projects. Funding for the SR2S program is
approximately $25 million annually.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill:
1)Made legislative findings regarding statewide bicycle funding
and compared that funding to the state's overall
transportation dollars.
2)Similarly, compared bicycle- and pedestrian-related traffic
fatalities to all traffic fatalities.
3)Concluded that an imbalance exists between the number of
pedestrian- and bicycle-related fatalities and the amount of
funding allocated to address these types of fatalities.
4)Acknowledged the strategic objectives of the "Strategic
Highway Safety Implementation Plan (SHSIP)," required under
federal law and prepared by the Department of Transportation
(Caltrans).
5)Established the Fair Share for Safety Program.
6)Directed Caltrans to conduct an annual analysis of fatality
rates for all modes of travel, pursuant to the SHSIP, and to
apportion the state's federal transportation safety dollars
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proportional to the rate of fatalities for each mode of
travel.
7)Authorized a local agency to require the payment of a fee as a
condition of issuing a building permit for purposes of
defraying the actual or estimated cost of constructing
transportation facilities, including pedestrian, bicycle,
transit and traffic-calming facilities.
8)Stated that the ordinance may require the payment of the fees
if the ordinance refers to the circulation element of the
general plan to the provisions in that plan that identify the
pedestrian, bicycle, transit, and traffic-calming facilities
that are required to minimize the use of automobiles and
minimize the traffic impacts of new developments on existing
roads.
9)Stated that the ordinance could require the payment of fees if
the ordinance provided that the payment of fees would not be
required unless the other transportation facilities would be
in addition to, or a reconstruction of, any existing
pedestrian facilities, bicycle facilities, transit facilities,
or traffic-calming devices serving the area at the time of the
adoption of the boundaries of the area of benefit.
10) Required that fees collected pursuant to the ordinance for
pedestrian, bicycle, transit, and traffic-calming facilities
be deposited in a multimodal fund.
11) Stated that a local agency imposing the fee could advance
money from its general fund or road fund to pay the cost of
constructing the improvements and could reimburse these funds
for any advances from the multimodal fund.
12) Stated that a local agency imposing the fee could incur an
interest-bearing indebtedness for the construction of the
transportation facilities and the sole security for repayment
would come from moneys in the multimodal fund.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : According to the author, "This bill seeks to address
the imbalance that exists between the number of pedestrian and
bicycle related fatalities and the funding available to address
these types of fatalities."
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Projects in the SHSIP are supposed to be strategically
prioritized-that is, the SHSIP directs priority to funding
projects that deliver the greatest safety for the price.
Consequently, provisions in this bill intended to direct safety
funds proportional to the needs may already be consistent with
the existing SHSIP process.
Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
FN: 0007370