BILL NUMBER: AB 914 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 29, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 8, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Brown
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Chang, Linder, Mayes, Obernolte,
Rodriguez, and Steinorth)
(Coauthor: Senator Leyva)
FEBRUARY 26, 2015
An act to add Section 149.11 to the Streets and Highways Code,
and to amend Section 5205.5 of the Vehicle Code,
relating to transportation.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 914, as amended, Brown. Toll facilities: County of San
Bernardino.
Existing law provides for the Department of Transportation and
local authorities, with respect to highways under their respective
jurisdictions, to authorize or permit exclusive or preferential use
of highway lanes for high-occupancy vehicles (HOVs). Existing law
authorizes the development and implementation of a value-pricing
program consisting of high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes in
various corridors under certain circumstances, pursuant to
which vehicles that do not meet the vehicle occupancy requirements
for use of an HOV lane may use the lane upon payment of a toll.
This bill would authorize the San Bernardino County Transportation
Commission to construct and operate certain transportation
facilities, as defined, conduct, administer, and
operate a value-pricing program that includes HOT lanes and other
toll facilities on Interstate Highway Routes 10 and
15, as toll facilities 15 in the County of San
Bernardino and, with the agreement of affected transportation
agencies, in specified extensions and
connections into the Counties of Los Angeles and Riverside. The
bill would require the toll revenues to be spent for specified
transportation purposes and would authorize the commission to issue
revenue bonds payable from toll revenues. The bill would require the
commission to report to the Legislative Analyst on specified matters
within 3 years of commencement of toll
revenue collection on a facility constructed under the
bill from the value-pricing program . The bill
would enact other related provisions.
Existing law authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue
decals to not more than 70,000 vehicles meeting certain air quality
standards, and provides that vehicles with these air quality decals
may use high-occupancy vehicle lanes without meeting the applicable
vehicle occupancy requirements. Existing law generally provides that
the vehicles with air quality decals are not exempt from tolls on
state-owned toll bridges or certain other toll facilities.
This bill would provide that vehicles with air quality decals
would not be exempt from tolls on toll facilities implemented in the
County of San Bernardino or adjoining counties under this bill.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 149.11 is added to the Streets and Highways
Code, to read:
149.11. (a) For the purposes of this section, the following terms
shall have the following meanings:
(1) "Transportation corridors" means Interstate Highway Routes 10
and 15 in the County of San Bernardino, including approaches and
departures to and from, and direct connectors between, the two
highways.
(2) "Transportation corridor connectors" means the approaching and
departing connectors on Interstate Highway Route 10 extending into
the County of Los Angeles, as designated by agreement with the Los
Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and the
connection to the Interstate Highway Route 15 express lanes project
in the County of Riverside, as designated by agreement with the
Riverside County Transportation Commission.
(3) "Transportation facilities" means toll lanes, high-occupancy
toll lanes, high-occupancy vehicle lanes, lanes or improvements where
tolls may be levied and may vary according to levels of congestion
or according to the type or occupancy of the vehicle, improvements or
lanes utilizing a combination of those options, and approaches to
those lanes and facilities incidental to or related to the lanes or
the operation of the lanes.
(b)
149.11. (a) (1) Notwithstanding Sections
149 and 30800 of this code, and Section 21655.5 of the Vehicle Code,
the San Bernardino County Transportation Commission
Commission, created pursuant to Section 130054 of the
Public Utilities Code, may finance, plan, develop,
design, construct, reconstruct, rehabilitate, improve, acquire,
administer, maintain, lease, and operate transportation facilities in
the transportation corridors and the transportation corridor
connectors. The commission may acquire property for the
transportation facilities and transportation corridor connectors
pursuant to Section 130220.5 of the Public Utilities Code
conduct, administer, and operate a value-pricing program in the
Interstate 10 and Interstate 15 corridors in the County of San
Bernardino. The value-pricing program may include high-occupancy toll
lanes or other toll facilities. The San Bernardino County
Transportation Commission may also extend the program to include the
approaching and departing connectors on Interstate 10 extending into
the County of Los Angeles, as designated by an agreement with the Los
Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and the
connection to the Interstate 15 express lanes project in the County
of Riverside, as designated by an agreement with the Riverside County
Transportation Commission. The San Bernardino County Transportation
Commission may exercise its existing powers of eminent doma
in pursuant to Section 130220.5 of the Public Utilities Code to
acquire property necessary to carry out the purposes of the
value-pricing program .
(2) The San Bernardino County Transportation Commission shall have
the authority to set, levy, and collect tolls, user fees, or other
similar charges payable for the use of the transportation
toll facilities in the County of San Bernardino,
and any other incidental or related fees or charges, and to collect
those revenues, in a manner determined by the commission, in amounts
as required for the following expenditures relative to the
transportation facilities in the transportation corridors and
transportation corridor connectors program and
for the purposes of paragraph (3):
(A) Capital outlay, including the costs of design, construction,
right-of-way acquisition, and utilities adjustment.
(B) Operations and maintenance, including, but not limited to,
insurance, collection, and enforcement of tolls, fees, and charges.
(C) Repair and rehabilitation.
(D) Indebtedness incurred and internal loans and advances,
including related financial costs.
(E) Reserves.
(F) Administration, which shall not exceed 3 percent of the
revenues of toll facilities and associated transportation facilities.
(3) All revenue generated pursuant to paragraph (2) in excess of
the expenditure needs of that paragraph shall be used exclusively for
the benefit of the transportation corridors. These excess revenue
expenditures shall be described in an excess revenue expenditure plan
adopted and periodically updated by the board of directors of the
San Bernardino County Transportation Commission and may include, but
need not be limited to, the following eligible expenditures:
(A) Expenditures to enhance transit service designed to reduce
traffic congestion within the transportation corridors in the County
of San Bernardino. Eligible expenditures include, but are not limited
to, transit operating assistance, the acquisition of transit
vehicles, and transit capital improvements otherwise eligible to be
funded under the state transportation improvement program pursuant to
Section 164.
(B) Expenditures to make operational or capacity improvements
designed to reduce traffic congestion or improve the flow of traffic
in the transportation corridors in the County of San Bernardino.
Eligible expenditures include, but are not limited to, any phase of
project delivery to make capital improvements to on ramps, off ramps,
connector roads, roadways, bridges, or other structures that are
necessary for or related to the tolled or nontolled transportation
facilities in the transportation corridors in the County of San
Bernardino.
(4) To the extent the San Bernardino County Transportation
Commission plans to construct or operate transportation
facilities or transportation corridor connectors in
extend the value-pricing program into the Counties of Los
Angeles or Riverside, it shall enter into an agreement with the Los
Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority or the Riverside
County Transportation Commission, as applicable, subject to approval
of the board of directors of the San Bernardino County
Transportation Commission and the board of directors of the affected
entity.
(5) If the
transportation facilities constructed entity.
If the value-pricing program developed and operated by the
San Bernardino County Transportation Commission connect
connects to, or are is
near, similar toll facilities constructed and operated by the
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority or the
Riverside County Transportation Commission, the respective entities
shall enter into an agreement providing for the coordination of the
toll facilities operated by each entity.
(c)
(b) The San Bernardino County Transportation Commission
shall carry out the program in cooperation with the department
pursuant to a cooperative agreement that addresses all matters
related to the design, construction, maintenance, and operation of
state highway system facilities in connection with the
transportation facilities value-pricing program
.
(d)
(c) Single-occupant vehicles that are certified or
authorized by the San Bernardino County Transportation Commission for
entry into, and use of, the transportation facilities
high-occupancy toll lanes implemented pursuant
to this section are exempt from Section 21655.5 of the Vehicle Code,
and the driver shall not be in violation of the Vehicle Code because
of that entry and use.
(e)
(d) Agreements between the San Bernardino County
Transportation Commission, the department, and the Department of the
California Highway Patrol shall identify the respective obligations,
liabilities, and responsibilities of each entity. The agreements
shall provide for reimbursement of state agencies, from revenues
generated by the transportation facility
program or other funding sources that are not otherwise
available to state agencies for transportation-related projects, or
for costs incurred in connection with the implementation or operation
of the transportation facilities program
.
(f)
(e) (1) The San Bernardino County Transportation
Commission may issue bonds at any time to finance any costs necessary
to implement the transportation facilities
program established pursuant to this section and any
expenditures provided for in paragraphs (2) and (3) of subdivision
(b) (a) , payable from the revenues
generated from the transportation facilities
program and any other sources of revenues available to the
commission that may be used for these purposes, including, but not
limited to, sales tax revenue, development impact fees, or state and
federal grants.
(2) The maximum bonded indebtedness that may be outstanding at any
one time shall not exceed an amount that may be serviced from the
projected revenues available as described in paragraph (1).
(3) The bonds shall bear interest at a rate or rates not exceeding
the maximum allowable by law, payable at intervals determined by the
commission.
(4) Any bond issued pursuant to this subdivision shall contain on
its face a statement to the following effect:
"Neither the full faith and credit nor the taxing power of the
State of California is pledged to the payment of principal of, or
interest on, this bond."
(5) Bonds shall be issued pursuant to a resolution of the
governing board of the commission adopted by a majority vote of its
governing board. The resolution or bond authorizing instrument shall
state all of the following:
(A) The purposes for which the proposed debt is to be incurred.
(B) The estimated cost of accomplishing those purposes.
(C) The amount of the principal of the indebtedness.
(D) The maximum term of the bonds and the maximum interest rate.
(E) The denomination or denominations of the bonds, which shall
not be less than five thousand dollars ($5,000).
(F) The form of the bonds.
(g)
(f) Not later than three years after the San Bernardino
County Transportation Commission first collects revenues from
any of the transportation facilities the
program authorized by this section, the commission shall submit
a report to the Legislative Analyst on its findings, conclusions,
and recommendations concerning the transportation facilities
program . The report shall include an analysis
of the effect of the transportation facilities on the adjacent
mixed-flow lanes and any comments submitted by the department and the
Department of the California Highway Patrol regarding operation of
the transportation facilities.
(h)
(g) This section shall not prevent the department or
any local agency from constructing improvements in the transportation
corridors that compete with the transportation facilities
program , and the San Bernardino County
Transportation Commission shall not be entitled to compensation for
the adverse effects on toll revenue due to those competing
improvements.
(i)
(h) If any provision of this section or the application
thereof is held invalid, that invalidity shall not affect other
provisions or applications of this section that can be given effect
without the invalid provision or application, and to this extent the
provisions are severable.
(j)
(i) Nothing in this section shall authorize the
conversion of any existing nontoll or nonuser-fee lanes into tolled
or user-fee lanes, except that a high-occupancy vehicle lane may be
converted into a transportation facility, as defined in
paragraph (3) of subdivision (a). high-occupancy toll
lane.
SEC. 2. Section 5205.5 of the Vehicle Code is
amended to read:
5205.5. (a) For purposes of implementing Section 21655.9, the
department shall make available for issuance, for a fee determined by
the department to be sufficient to reimburse the department for the
actual costs incurred pursuant to this section, distinctive decals,
labels, and other identifiers that clearly distinguish the following
vehicles from other vehicles:
(1) A vehicle that meets California's super ultra-low emission
vehicle (SULEV) standard for exhaust emissions and the federal
inherently low-emission vehicle (ILEV) evaporative emission standard,
as defined in Part 88 (commencing with Section 88.101-94) of Title
40 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(2) A vehicle that was produced during the 2004 model-year or
earlier and meets California's ultra-low emission vehicle (ULEV)
standard for exhaust emissions and the federal ILEV standard.
(3) A vehicle that meets California's enhanced advanced technology
partial zero-emission vehicle (enhanced AT PZEV) standard or
transitional zero-emission vehicle (TZEV) standard.
(b) The department shall include a summary of the provisions of
this section on each motor vehicle registration renewal notice, or on
a separate insert, if space is available and the summary can be
included without incurring additional printing or postage costs.
(c) The Department of Transportation shall remove individual HOV
lanes, or portions of those lanes, during periods of peak congestion
from the access provisions provided in subdivision (a), following a
finding by the Department of Transportation as follows:
(1) The lane, or portion thereof, exceeds a level of service C, as
discussed in subdivision (b) of Section 65089 of the Government
Code.
(2) The operation or projected operation of the vehicles described
in subdivision (a) in these lanes, or portions thereof, will
significantly increase congestion.
(3) The finding shall also demonstrate the infeasibility of
alleviating the congestion by other means, including, but not limited
to, reducing the use of the lane by noneligible vehicles or further
increasing vehicle occupancy.
(d) The State Air Resources Board shall publish and maintain a
listing of all vehicles eligible for participation in the programs
described in this section. The board shall provide that listing to
the department.
(e) (1) For purposes of subdivision (a), the Department of the
California Highway Patrol and the department, in consultation with
the Department of Transportation, shall design and specify the
placement of the decal, label, or other identifier on the vehicle.
Each decal, label, or other identifier issued for a vehicle shall
display a unique number, which number shall be printed on, or affixed
to, the vehicle registration.
(2) Decals, labels, or other identifiers designed pursuant to this
subdivision for a vehicle described in paragraph (3) of subdivision
(a) shall be distinguishable from the decals, labels, or other
identifiers that are designed for vehicles described in paragraphs
(1) and (2) of subdivision (a).
(f) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), for purposes of
paragraph (3) of subdivision (a), the department shall issue no more
than 70,000 distinctive decals, labels, or other identifiers that
clearly distinguish a vehicle specified in paragraph (3) of
subdivision (a).
(2) The department may issue a decal, label, or other identifier
for a vehicle that satisfies all of the following conditions:
(A) The vehicle is of a type identified in paragraph (3) of
subdivision (a).
(B) The owner of the vehicle is the owner of a vehicle for which a
decal, label, or other identifier described in paragraph (1) was
previously issued and that vehicle for which the decal, label, or
other identifier was previously issued is determined by the
department, on the basis of satisfactory proof submitted by the owner
to the department, to be a nonrepairable vehicle or a total loss
salvage vehicle.
(C) The owner of the vehicle applied for a decal, label, or other
identifier pursuant to this paragraph within six months of the date
on which the vehicle for which a decal, label, or other identifier
was previously issued is declared to be a nonrepairable vehicle or a
total loss salvage vehicle.
(g) If the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, serving as the
Bay Area Toll Authority, grants toll-free and reduced-rate passage on
toll bridges under its jurisdiction to a vehicle pursuant to Section
30102.5 of the Streets and Highways Code, it shall also grant the
same toll-free and reduced-rate passage to a vehicle displaying an
identifier issued by the department pursuant to paragraph (1) or (2)
of subdivision (a).
(h) (1) Notwithstanding Section 21655.9, and except as provided in
paragraph (2), a vehicle described in subdivision (a) that displays
a decal, label, or identifier issued pursuant to this section shall
be granted a toll-free or reduced-rate passage in high-occupancy toll
lanes as described in Section 149.7 of the Streets and Highways Code
unless prohibited by federal law.
(2) (A) Paragraph (1) does not apply to the imposition of a toll
imposed for passage on a toll road or toll highway, that is not a
high-occupancy toll lane as described in Section 149.7 of the Streets
and Highways Code.
(B) On or before March 1, 2014, paragraph (1) does not apply to
the imposition of a toll imposed for passage in lanes designated for
tolls pursuant to the federally supported value pricing and transit
development demonstration program operated pursuant to Section 149.9
of the Streets and Highways Code for State Highway Route 10 or 110.
(C) Paragraph (1) does not apply to the imposition of a toll
imposed for passage on a transportation facility for which tolls are
imposed pursuant to Section 149.11 of the Streets and Highways Code.
(D) Paragraph (1) does not apply to the imposition of a toll
charged for crossing a state-owned bridge.
(i) If the Director of Transportation determines that federal law
does not authorize the state to allow vehicles that are identified by
distinctive decals, labels, or other identifiers on vehicles
described in subdivision (a) to use highway lanes or highway access
ramps for high-occupancy vehicles regardless of vehicle occupancy,
the Director of Transportation shall submit a notice of that
determination to the Secretary of State.
(j) This section shall become inoperative on January 1, 2019, or
the date the federal authorization pursuant to Section 166 of Title
23 of the United States Code expires, or the date the Secretary of
State receives the notice described in subdivision (i), whichever
occurs first, and, as of January 1, 2019, is repealed, unless a later
enacted statute, that becomes operative on or before January 1,
2019, deletes or extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative
and is repealed.