Legislative Bulletin for October 12, 2009

California Transit Association Sponsored Bills
Signed by the Governor

On October 11th, which was the last day for the governor to act on legislation, Governor Schwarzenegger took action on 715 bills, of which 456 were signed and 259 were vetoed. We are pleased to report that the governor signed the California Transit Association's two sponsored bills:

• AB 729 (Evans) Extends the sunset date, from January 1, 2011 to January 1, 2015, for transit operators to enter into design-build contracts.
  
  
• AB 1072 (Eng) Will provide transit operators with predictability in spending transit capital revenue made available through the allocation of the Proposition 1B Public Transportation Modernization, Improvement, and Service Enhancement Account (PTMISEA) program by locking in a formula for issuance of those funds. The bill will also allow recipients to “bank” their allocations over multiple years so that they can accumulate funds for high-priority projects.
  

Other Association priority bills that the governor signed include:

• AB 672 (Bass) Authorizes letters of no prejudice (LNOP) for certain bond-funded transportation projects, allowing these projects to move forward if bond funding is not yet available.

• AB 1203 (Ma), Requires the California Emergency Management Agency (Cal EMA), by February 1 of each fiscal year, to select eligible applicants for transit system safety projects from the Transit System Safety, Security and Disaster Response program (TSSSDRA) pursuant to Proposition 1B, and provide the State Controller with a list of the projects and sponsoring agencies eligible to receive an allocation. This bill provides clarifying language that directs the administration of the 25 percent waterborne component of the Account funds to be administered by way of an up-front "allocation" of funds as opposed to on a reimbursement basis.  This will allow for faster receipt of these needed funds, and will ensure that these transit agencies are able to continue to provide essential disaster and emergency response services.
  

• SB 83 (Hancock), Authorizes a countywide transportation planning agency to place on the ballot a majority vote local measure that would impose a fee of up to $10 on each vehicle registered in that county. The fee would be used to pay for programs and projects including providing matching funds for bond-funded transportation projects and creating or sustaining congestion or pollution mitigation programs and projects, such as transit projects.

Other transit-related bills signed by the Governor:

• SB 716 (Wolk) Authorizes the use of local transportation funds (TDA) to be used for farm worker vanpools in counties with a population of less than 500,000 as of the 2000 census, upon a finding by the transportation planning agency that there are no unmet transit needs or no unmet transit needs that are reasonable to meet.

The governor vetoed the following transit-related bills:

• AB 338 (Ma) Would have recast the area included in a transit village plan to include all land within a 1/2 mile of a transit station, and eliminates the requirement of voter approval for the formation of an infrastructure financing district, adoption of and infrastructure financing plan, and an issuance of bonds for the purpose of developing and financing a transit facility.

• AB 1158 (Hayashi) Would have added the characteristic of other land uses, including educational facilities, that provide direct linkages for people traveling to and from primary and secondary education schools, community colleges, and universities, to the list of specified characteristics that a transit village plan may address.

Please contact Legislative and Regulatory Assistant Sabrina Means
at sabrina@caltransit.org if you have any questions.