AB 125

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) Existing law establishes the Transportation Agency, which consists of various departments and state entities, including the California Transportation Commission and the Department of Transportation. Under existing law, the agency is under the supervision of an executive officer known as the Secretary of Transportation, who is required to develop and report to the Governor on legislative, budgetary, and administrative programs to accomplish comprehensive, long-range, and coordinated planning and policy formulation in the matters of public interest related to the agency. Existing law provides for the funding of public transit, including under the Mills-Alquist-Deddeh Act, also known as the Transportation Development Act. This bill would require the agency, on or before January 1, 2024, to establish and convene the Transit Transformation Task Force to include representatives from the department, various local agencies, academic institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and other stakeholders. The bill would require the task force to solicit and develop a structured, coordinated process for engagement of all parties to develop policy recommendations to grow transit ridership and improve the transit experience for all users of those services. The bill would require the agency, in consultation with the task force, to prepare and submit a report of findings and policy recommendations based on the task force's efforts to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature on or before October 31, 2025. The bill would require the report to include a detailed analysis of specified issues and recommendations on specified topics, including, among others, reforming the Transportation Development Act. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2028. (2) Existing law establishes the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program to fund transformative capital improvements that will modernize California's intercity, commuter, and urban rail systems and bus and ferry transit systems to achieve certain policy objectives. Existing law requires the Transportation Agency to evaluate applications for funding under the program and to approve a multiyear program of projects, as specified, and requires the California Transportation Commission to allocate funding to applicants pursuant to the program of projects approved by the agency. This bill would require that moneys appropriated in the annual Budget Act from the General Fund to the Transportation Agency for purposes of the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program be distributed pursuant to a population-based formula to regional transportation planning agencies instead of through a program of projects, as specified. The bill would authorize a regional transportation planning agency, subject to compliance with the requirements described below, to use those moneys to fund transit operating expenses within its jurisdiction or for the transformative capital improvements authorized under the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program. The bill would establish the Zero-Emission Transit Capital Program under the administration of the Transportation Agency and would require funds appropriated under the program to be allocated to regional transportation planning agencies pursuant to a population-based formula and another formula based on transit operator revenues within the jurisdiction of those regional transportation planning agencies, as specified. The bill would authorize a regional transportation planning agency, subject to the requirements described below, to fund zero-emission transit equipment and transit operating expenditures, as specified. The bill would require the Transportation Agency to develop and administer an accountability program to govern the distribution of funds made available to the Transportation Agency for the Zero-Emission Transit Capital Program and the General Fund component of the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program described above. The bill would require the Transportation Agency to adopt guidelines governing the distribution of these funding sources in consultation with specified local agencies. Under the accountability program, the bill would require a regional transportation planning agency to comply with certain requirements, including submitting a regional short-term financial plan to the Transportation Agency for approval, in order to receive moneys from these funding sources during specified fiscal years, as provided. The bill also would require the Transportation Agency to support the transit goals of the accountability program by, among other things, working with the Department of Transportation and each region to identify service improvements that could further grow ridership at the regional and interregional levels. The bill would, as part of the accountability program, require a regional transportation planning agency to submit a long-term financial plan to the Transportation Agency by June 26, 2026, as prescribed. The bill would make a regional transportation planning agency ineligible to receive a grant under the above-described existing Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program in the 2026–27 fiscal year, or any subsequent fiscal years, unless the Transportation Agency approves the long-term financial plan. The bill would make all these provisions subject to an appropriation of funds for these purposes in the Budget Act of 2023, 2024, 2025, or 2026. (3) Existing law requires the California Transportation Commission to advise and assist the Secretary of Transportation and the Legislature in formulating and evaluating state policies and plans for transportation programs in the state. Existing law requires the commission to organize itself into committees and requires commission members to receive a compensation of $100 per day, but not to exceed $800 for any commission business authorized by the commission during any month, when a majority of the commission approves the compensation by a recorded vote, plus the necessary expenses incurred by the member in the performance of the member's duties. Existing law also establishes advisory committees to the commission, including the Road Usage Charge Technical Advisory Committee and the Technical Advisory Committee on Aeronautics. This bill would require those members of advisory committees to the commission who are not members of the commission to receive a per diem of $100 for each day actually spent in the discharge of authorized advisory committee duties. The bill would also require those advisory committee members to be reimbursed for traveling and other expenses necessarily incurred in the performance of advisory committee duties. (4) Existing law provides for the allocation of various revenues under the Transportation Development Act, to transit operators that meet specified requirements, including, as applicable, requirements related to operating costs, fare box ratios, and revenues, as specified. Existing law exempts those entities, for the 2019–20 to 2022–23 fiscal years, inclusive, as provided, from penalties or other provisions that would reduce the amount of revenues allocated as a result of failing to meet those requirements. This bill would extend those entities' exemptions through the 2025–26 fiscal year, as specified. (5) The Vehicle License Fee Law, in addition to any other fee imposed on a vehicle by that law or by the Vehicle Code, imposes a transportation improvement fee on each vehicle and requires a portion of the revenues attributable to the fee to be transferred to the Public Transportation Account for the State Transit Assistance Program. Existing law continuously appropriates those funds to the Controller under a program commonly known as the State of Good Repair Program for allocation to transit agencies pursuant to specified formulas. Existing law restricts the expenditure of moneys under this program to (A) transit capital projects or services to maintain or repair a transit operator's existing transit vehicle fleet or existing transit facilities; (B) the design, acquisition, and construction of new vehicles or facilities that improve existing transit services; or (C) transit services that complement local efforts for repair and improvement of local transportation infrastructure. Existing law authorizes the recipient transit agency to instead expend funds apportioned for the 2019–20 to 2022–23 fiscal years, inclusive, under the program on any operating or capital expenses to maintain transit service levels if the governing board of the recipient transit agency makes a specified declaration. Existing law requires the Controller to allocate a specified portion of this funding for the 2019–20 to 2022–23 fiscal years, inclusive, to recipient transit agencies pursuant to specified individual operator ratios, as prescribed. This bill would extend the authorization of a recipient transit agency to additionally expend funds apportioned through the 2025–26 fiscal year under the program on any operating or capital expenses to maintain transit service levels if the governing board of the recipient transit agency makes that specified declaration. By expanding the purposes for which continuously appropriated funds may be used, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would require the Controller to instead allocate a specified portion of that funding for the 2019–20 to 2025–26 fiscal years, inclusive, pursuant to specified individual operator ratios, as prescribed. (6) Existing law requires the transfer of a specified portion of the sales tax on diesel fuel, in addition to various other revenues, to the Public Transportation Account, a trust fund in the State Transportation Fund. Existing law requires funds in the account to be allocated for various public transportation and transportation planning purposes, with specified revenues in the account to be allocated by the Controller to specified local transportation agencies for public transportation purposes, pursuant to the State Transit Assistance Program. Existing law continuously appropriates a specified portion of the revenues attributable to the sales tax on diesel fuel and various other revenues to the Controller for allocation to each local transportation agency by formulas based 50% on population and 50% on transit operator revenues. Existing law requires each State Transit Assistance Program-eligible operator within the jurisdiction of the allocating local transportation agency to receive a proportional share of the revenue-based program funds based on the qualifying revenues of that operator, as defined. Existing law, for the 2020–21 to the 2022–23 fiscal years, inclusive, requires the Controller to calculate and publish the allocation of transit operator revenue-based funds made pursuant to the State Transit Assistance Program based on the same individual operator ratios published by the Controller in a specified transmittal memo, and authorizes the Controller to revise that transmittal memo, as specified. This bill would require, for the 2023–24 to 2025–26 fiscal years, inclusive, the Controller to calculate and publish the allocation of transit operator revenue-based funds made pursuant to the State Transit Assistance Program based on the same individual operator ratios published by the Controller in a specified transmittal memo, and would authorize the Controller to revise that transmittal memo, as specified. (7) Existing law vests the Department of Transportation with full possession and control of the state highway system and associated property. Existing law provides for cooperative agreements between the department and public entities for the performance of work by the department and those entities and apportionment of associated expenses. This bill would prohibit the department from charging any self-help counties with countywide sales tax measures dedicated to transportation improvements more than 10% for administration indirect cost recovery and would require the department to charge those self-help counties for functional overhead. (8) Existing law authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles to establish a pilot program to evaluate the use of optional mobile or digital alternatives to driver's licenses and identification cards, subject to certain requirements, including, but not limited to, the voluntary participation of persons in the program and a limitation on the percentage of licensed drivers who can participate in the program. Existing law requires the department, in developing and implementing the use of digital driver's licenses and identification cards, to ensure the protection of personal information and include specified security features that protect against unauthorized access to information. This bill would expand the percentage of licensed drivers who can participate in the program from 0.5% to 5%. (9) Existing law requires the Department of Transportation to improve and maintain the state highways. This bill would appropriate $5,802,000 to the department to support statewide efforts addressing homelessness within the state highway system right-of-way. The bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2026, to submit a report to the fiscal committees of the Legislature and the Legislative Analyst's Office summarizing the outcomes associated with the activities undertaken by its encampment coordinators. (10) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.