BILL ANALYSIS
AB 744
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 744 (Torrico)
As Amended June 1, 2009
Majority vote
TRANSPORTATION 12-1 APPROPRIATIONS 13-4
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|Ayes:|Eng, Jeffries, |Ayes:|De Leon, Ammiano, Charles |
| |Blumenfield, Buchanan, | |Calderon, Davis, Fuentes, |
| |Furutani, Galgiani, | |Hall, Miller, |
| |Bonnie Lowenthal, Miller, | |John A. Perez, Price, |
| |Niello, John A. Perez, | |Skinner, Solorio, |
| |Solorio, Torlakson | |Torlakson, Krekorian |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+---------------------------|
|Nays:|Conway |Nays:|Nielsen, Duvall, Harkey, |
| | | |Audra Strickland |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Authorizes the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) to
develop a Bay Area Express Lane Network (network).
Specifically, this bill :
1)Declares the intent of the Legislature to authorize BATA to
develop the network to provide the following objectives:
a) Higher passenger throughput and reduced travel delays,
especially for those traveling by carpool, vanpool, or bus;
b) An efficient, effective, consistent, and seamless system
for network customers;
c) Benefits to travelers within each corridor commensurate
with the revenues collected in that corridor;
d) Expedited delivery of the network using a rapid delivery
approach that, to the greatest extent possible (recognizing
safety, operational, and environmental constraints) relies
on the existing highway right-of-way and minimizes
environmental impacts; and,
e) Use of network revenue to finance project development,
construction, other corridor improvements, operation, and
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maintenance of the network; also, use of network revenue to
provide transit capital and operations funding to improve
transit service in the corridor and provide other mobility
improvements to the network corridors.
2)Further declares the intent of the Legislature that:
a) Network policies be developed by BATA in collaboration
with the California Department of Transportation
(Caltrans), Department of the California Highway Patrol
(CHP), and Bay Area congestion management agencies;
b) BATA use a corridor-based structure to recognize commute
sheds and geographic communities of interest as the most
effective and user-responsive models for implementation of
the network;
c) Network corridor revenues be reinvested in the corridor,
based on corridor investment plans, to provide, for
example, additional capital improvements on the freeway and
parallel arterials, transit capital and operations to
improve public transit service in the corridor, and
enhanced operations and management of the corridor; and,
d) The network provides customers with an efficient,
easy-to-use system, including for example, consistent
geometric design and signage.
3)Authorizes BATA to use toll bridge revenues for the network,
under specified conditions and so long as BATA anticipates
that funding the network will not necessitate an increase in
the amount of bridge toll rates.
4)Authorizes BATA to pledge bridge toll revenues and other
income to acquire, construct, administer, and operate the
network if it determines that funding for the network is not
available on acceptable terms without the pledge and provided
it projects the additional obligations will not necessitate an
increase in bridge toll rates.
5)Authorizes, nonetheless, BATA to increase tolls if it is
necessary to do so to meet its obligations.
6)Requires BATA to establish a Bay Area Express Lane Network
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Project Oversight Committee (committee) and prescribes its
membership to include representatives of BATA, Caltrans, and
CHP. The committee will also include a representative of each
of the congestion management agencies within the geographic
jurisdiction of BATA's sister agency, the Metropolitan
Transportation Commission (MTC), that:
a) Has committed substantial funding to the development of
an express lane corridor;
b) Has adopted a policy in support of developing an express
lane;
c) Is located in an express lane corridor; or,
d) Has residents that comprise a significant share of the
potential travelers in the network.
7)Requires the committee to recommend a development plan, with
prescribed elements and policies for the network, and
prescribes the approval process to be followed by BATA;
requires the plan to be updated at least every four years.
8)Sets forth procedures and requirements for the establishment
of corridor working groups to be responsible for the
preparation of a project study report or equivalent project
initiation document and corridor investment plans. The
corridor investment plans should provide consistency with the
overall network yet reflect the needs of individual corridors;
prescribe elements to be included in the corridor investment
plans, including an examination and detailed analysis of
equity considerations and the impact of the proposed network
segment on low-income travelers, transit riders, and
carpoolers; provides procedures to govern the approval process
of corridor investment plans by BATA.
9)Grants BATA broad authority to acquire, administer, and
operate an express lane network on state highways within the
geographic jurisdiction of MTC, to be funded from network
revenues, revenue bonds, and contributions and loans from
federal, state, or local agencies.
10)Authorizes BATA to impose a fee for use of the network, based
on a fee structure developed by BATA.
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11)Sets forth requirements BATA must adhere to in setting and
changing toll schedules, including providing public hearings.
12)Requires BATA to carry out the network in cooperation with
Caltrans and CHP and to ensure minimum specific levels of
service are maintained.
13)Continuously appropriates to Caltrans, for expenditures
related to the network, all amounts paid to it by BATA;
provides similar continuous appropriation authority for the
CHP.
14)Requires agreements between BATA, Caltrans, and the CHP and
requires the agreements to assign specific obligations,
responsibilities, and liabilities.
15)Directs all revenue generated by the network to be deposited
in BATA's Express Lane Network Account (account), created by
this bill, and prescribes eligible expenditures from the
account.
16) Prescribes allowable uses of "net corridor revenue," as
defined; allows BATA to reserve up to 5% of the net corridor
revenue as a reserve and directs all remaining net corridor
revenue to be distributed to corridors for expenditure
according to each corridor investment plan; also authorizes
BATA to disburse net corridor revenue to eligible recipients,
including congestion management agencies.
17)Vests BATA with the responsibility to control and maintain
the account.
18)Requires BATA to, within one year from the effective date of
this bill, assume all rights and obligations of the following
agencies with respect to their individual authorities to
construct and operate value-pricing, high-occupancy toll (HOT)
lanes:
a) Sunol Smart Carpool Lane Joint Powers Authority;
b) Alameda County Congestion Management (ACCM) Agency; and,
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c) Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA).
19)Grants BATA authority to issue bonds secured by network
revenues, with the stipulation that the state will not
authorize fee-based publicly or privately owned express lanes
or high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes within the geographic
jurisdiction of the MTC, other than express lanes authorized
in the network.
EXISTING LAW:
20)Created MTC as the transportation planning, coordinating, and
financing agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area
and prescribed its membership and responsibilities.
21)Created BATA, within MTC, to administer all tolls on the San
Francisco Bay Area's seven state-owned toll bridges and to
provide joint oversight of the toll bridge construction
program with Caltrans and the California Transportation
Commission, Caltrans owns and operates the state-owned
bridges.
22)Authorizes a joint powers authority (consisting of the ACCM
Agency, Alameda County Transportation Improvement Authority,
and VTA to conduct, administer, and operate a value-pricing
HOT lane program on the Sunol Grade on State Route 680 in
Alameda and Santa Clara Counties.
23)Authorizes the ACCM Agency to conduct, administer, and
operate a value-pricing HOT lane program on a corridor within
in Alameda County and VTA to operate a value-pricing HOT lane
program on any two corridors in its HOV lane system.
24)Authorizes the San Diego Association of Governments to
conduct, administer, and operate a value-pricing and transit
development program on no more than two corridors within San
Diego County. Allows the HOV lanes to be used as HOT lanes.
25)Authorizes regional transportation agencies or Caltrans to
enter into an unlimited number of comprehensive development
lease agreement with public or private entities for
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transportation projects, under the following key conditions:
a) Projects must be primarily designed achieve improved
mobility, improved operations or safety, and quantifiable
air quality benefits;
b) At least 60 days prior to executing a final lease
agreement, the project sponsor (i.e., Caltrans or a
regional transportation agency) must submit the agreement
to the Legislature and to the Public Infrastructure
Advisory Committee for review;
c) Prior to submitting a proposal, the project sponsor
would have to conduct a least one public hearing;
d) Existing non-toll or non-user-fee lanes cannot be
converted to toll lanes except that HOV lanes can be
converted to HOT for vehicles not otherwise meeting the
occupancy level requirements for those lanes; and,
e) No lease agreements can be entered into after January 1,
2017.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
26)The sponsor, MTC, estimates that the network will cost $7.6
billion to build, finance, and operate, and will generate
$13.7 billion in tolls over the next 25 years. The $6.1
billion in net revenue over this period would be available to
finance additional improvements in the express lane corridors.
27)Significant additional costs to Caltrans for staff to
participate in the oversight committee and each of the
corridor working groups, which Caltrans estimates will total
15. This bill does not establish deadlines for the work
products of these entities, but costs would probably be around
$1 million for two to three years and somewhat less after this
time. Costs for CHP participation on the oversight committee
and working groups would probably be around one-half of
Caltrans' costs.
28)This bill continuously appropriates all moneys necessary for
BATA to reimburse the CHP and Caltrans for all costs related
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to the network program, pursuant to cooperative agreements.
Continuous appropriations are contrary to the general policy
of this committee. MTC argues that this would be a continuous
appropriation of "local" funds, i.e., those generated through
tolls imposed by a regional body.
COMMENTS : AB 744 authorizes BATA to finance, construct, and
operate an 800-mile express lane network, involving conversion
of 500 miles of existing or fully funded HOV lanes to
congestion-priced express lanes. The network is expected to
provide free-flowing traffic for carpools, buses, and toll
payers, using congestion pricing. Tolls for non-carpools using
the express lanes will be collected electronically.
MTC estimates that the network will boost worker productivity by
$100 billion by reducing freeway delay and reduce CO2 by 10
million metric tons.
This bill is intended to create a framework for collaboration
and partnership in development of the network. It establishes
BATA as the lead agency to plan, finance, and manage the HOT
network. Expenditure plans will be developed from a "bottoms
up" process in each individual travel corridor, led by
congestion management agencies.
Although AB 744 represents a region-wide congestion pricing plan
that is bolder than most that have come before the Legislature,
it is not the first. Congestion pricing HOT lanes have already
been approved by the Legislature in specific corridors in both
northern and southern California. Furthermore, just last year
the Legislature passed congestion-pricing authorizations for
Riverside County and Los Angeles County, not to mention broad
authority for public-private partnerships passed already this
session.
According to the California Automobile Association (AAA) of
Northern California, writing in support of this bill, "Research
from the first HOT lane projects built in the late 1990s in
Southern California and the Houston area shows that the toll
lanes are used by motorists of all income levels on an as-needed
basis?HOT lanes in California and Texas also gained support
among motorists who didn't use them regularly because they were
seen as diverting more vehicles from the regular lanes. To that
end, AAA of Northern California believes that a HOT lane network
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is supportable so long as there are parallel free existing lanes
for commuters and that toll revenue is used to improve the
corridor(s) in which it is collected."
Related legislation: SB 4 X2 (Cogdill), Chapter 2, Statutes of
2009, grants broad authority for pubic-private partnerships for
transportation.
AB 798 (Nava) of 2009, would create the California
Transportation Financing Authority (CTFA) to provide for
increased construction of new capacity or improvements for
transportation systems through the issuance of revenue bonds.
That bill passed out of Assembly Appropriations Committee and
is being sent to the Assembly Floor.
AB 2032 (Dutra), Chapter 418, Statutes of 2004, authorized HOT
lane programs in Alameda, San Diego, and Santa Clara Counties.
AB 574 (Torrico), Chapter 498, Statutes of 2007, struck the
sunset date on the authority to administer HOT lanes in these
three counties.
Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
FN: 0001337