State and Federal Legislative Update:

1. RECEIVE update on legislative activities;
2. ADOPT positions on proposed legislation; and
3. AUTHORIZE staff to publish a Request for Qualifications to hire a federal advocate in Washington, DC, to assist in securing federal funding for Agency priority projects.  

This report presents state and federal legislative updates and proposed legislation for the Board to consider adopting positions of support or opposition. On March 3, 2021, the Executive Committee recommended positions on the proposed legislation and recommended the Board direct staff to hire a federal legislative analyst.

The Governor's draft budget reflects a reduction in transportation funding due to a $1.5 billion decrease in gas tax receipts, that may be somewhat ameliorated by $912 million federal stimulus funds for highway and related projects, of which the Agency expects to receive approximately $4 million. President Biden's American Rescue Plan includes $350 billion in COVID-19 relief for state and local governments. Some of the proposed legislation may have a financial impact on TAMC. 

On March 3, 2021, the Executive Committee recommended positions on draft legislation as reflected in the draft state bill list (Attachment 1) in alignment with the Agency's adopted legislative program (Web Attachment 1).

The following bills are recommended for support:

• Assembly Bill (AB) 43 (Friedman): Traffic Safety, which would require the California Traffic Safety Program to include a traffic safety monitoring program that identifies and addresses locations with pedestrian- and bicyclist-related crashes. The bill would allow for the recalibration of speed limits in order to eliminate fatalities for motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians.   
• AB 117 (Beorner Horvath): Electric Bicycles, which would require the State Air Resources Board to establish and and administer the Electric Bicycle Rebate Pilot Project to provide rebates for purchases of electric bicycles.
• AB 361 (Rivas, Robert): Open meetings: local agencies: teleconferences, which would provide exemptions from the Ralph M. Brown Act’s meeting requirements to allow local jurisdictions to meet virtually during emergencies, provided the legislative body makes certain determinations by majority vote, publishes proper notice, and provides opportunity for public comment.
• AB 703 (Rubio, Blanca): Open meetings: local agencies: teleconferences, which is similar to AB 361, except that it would allow local jurisdictions to continue using teleconference capabilities, provided that access is granted to the public, without an emergency being called.
• AB 745 (Gipson): Air pollution: Clean Cars 4 All program, would require the California State Air Resources Board to provide vouchers for zero-emission vehicles to persons of low or moderate income living in disadvantaged communities to replace vehicles that have failed a smog check inspection.
• Senate Bill (SB) 28 (Caballero): Rural Broadband and Digital Infrastructure Video Competition Reform Act of 2021, which would require the Department of Technology to compile an inventory of state-owned resources available for use in the deployment of broadband networks in rural, unserved, and underserved communities. 
• SB 551 (Stern): California Electric Vehicle Authority, which would coordinate and streamline EV infrastructure deployment. 
• SB 792 (Glazer): Sales and use tax: retailers: reporting, which would require retailers to track the home of the purchaser, which could help Measure X revenues.

The following bills are recommended for opposition:

• AB 786 (Cervantes): California Transportation Commission (CTC): Executive Director, which would give the Governor the power to appoint the CTC Executive Director, who is currently hired by the eleven CTC Commissioners (nine of whom are appointed by the Governor). 
• SB 542 (Limon): Zero-emission vehicles (ZEV): fees, which would repeal the ZEV fee that currently funds Senate Bill 1 (SB 1) grant programs. 
• SB 771 (Becker): Sales and Use Tax Law: zero-emission vehicle exemption, which would exempt some ZEVs from sales taxes. This could impact Measure X revenues if the state did not reimburse local entities. Staff recommends an "oppose unless amended", requesting the author amend the bill to reimburse local entities for lost sales tax income. 

Attachment 2, the state legislative report, notes that the state is now considering how to distribute the federal funding from the federal Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021. California received $912 million from that legislation, which may be used for a wide variety of transportation purposes. The California Transportation Commission (CTC) is suggesting using the funding to backfill the shortfall in the State Highway Operations and Protection Program, primarily used for highway maintenance, and the State Transportation Improvement Program, which primarily funds major state highway and rail projects. Regional agencies, including TAMC and its sister agencies in the Central Coast Coalition, have proposed that this funding be allocated as much as possible through the State Transportation Improvement Program process or split with half the funds allocated through a discretionary grant program that funds multimodal local road and street projects, known as the Regional Surface Transportation Program. This discussion on the use of the federal funding is still underway.

At the federal level, President Biden is moving forward with his American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion recovery package that includes $350 billion in aid to state and local governments, among many features directly targeting the health and economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. He has indicated his interest in moving forward on an infrastructure package in 2021. Web Attachment 2 is an article that discusses some of the features of that package, which must be introduced by Congress, not the President. The current federal transportation authorization bill expires on September 30, 2021.

Congressmember Jimmy Panetta has introduced the "Electric Bicycle Incentive Kickstart for the Environment Act" or "E-BIKE Act", which will provide a 30% tax credit, up to $1,500, for the purchase of E-Bikes (Attachment 3). The Executive Committee recommends the Agency support this legislation as consistent with the Agency's policy to support healthy, active transportation and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

On February 24, 2020, Senator Edward J. Markey (MA) and Congressman Steve Cohen (TN) re-introduced the Complete Streets Act of 2019, a bill that promotes safer and more accessible street design across the United States (Web Attachment 3). This Act would set aside federal funds to support Complete Streets projects (five percent of annual federal highway funds), require states to create a program to provide technical assistance and award funding for communities to build Complete Streets projects, and direct localities to adopt a Complete Streets policy that meets a minimum set of standards to access that dedicated funding. The Executive Committee recommends the Agency support this legislation as consistent with the Agency's policy to support safe streets and active transportation corridors.

Democrats have indicated that they will propose the return of federally directed funding, a.k.a. earmarks, this year (Web Attachment 4). Staff met with Congressmember Panetta's staff and heard that the current deadline for the Congressmembers to nominate no more than 10 projects (across all funding programs) is April 16. Before earmarks were banned in 2010, Monterey County did well in obtaining millions of dollars for the US 101 Prunedale Improvement Project, the State Route 156 improvements project, the Airport Boulevard/US 101 interchange project, and the Sanctuary Scenic Trail project. The Executive Committee recommends that the Agency go out to bid to hire a federal legislative analyst to assist in obtaining earmarks for its priority projects. Staff recommends the Board consider which projects that are already federalized (have had federal environmental review) might be the best candidates for an earmark. The federalized Measure X projects are: US 101 South of Salinas, State Route 68 Monterey to Salinas, SR 156 Castroville Boulevard, the Fort Ord Regional Trail and Greenway (FORTAG), and the Highway 1 SURF! Busway. Staff requests the Board delegate the approval of a resolution, if needed, to the Executive Committee, due to the time constraints.

1. TAMC 2021 Legislative Program
2. February 6, 2021 article in Government Technology, "What may be ahead for Biden's infrastructure plan?"
3. February 24, 2021 blog post on Smart Growth America, "The Complete Streets Act is back"
4. February 16, 2021 article in CNN.com, "Congress is about to bring back its secret weapon"