Agency legislative analyst Gus Khouri will present an update on state legislative activities, Agency legislative analyst Paul Schlesinger will present an update on federal legislative activities.
Attachment 1 is a draft state bill list with positions for the Executive Committee to consider recommending to the Board of Directors, as follows:
- Assembly Bill (AB) 1638 (Kiley): "Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax Law: suspension of tax" would suspend the gas tax for six months, which would dramatically decrease state transportation funds. Staff recommends an "oppose" position.
- AB 1778 (Cristina Garcia): "State transportation funding: freeway widening" would prohibit state funds or personnel time to be used on freeway widening projects in areas with high rates of pollution and poverty. Staff recommends and "oppose unless amended" position, with a recommendation to the author to make it a pilot program or consider offsets.
- AB 1944 (Lee): "Local government: open and public meetings" would amend the Brown Act to enable remote participation in meetings without requiring publicly posting the location of the remote participants. Staff recommends a "support" position.
- Senate Bill (SB) 922 (Wiener): "CEQA exemptions; transportation-related projects" would extend California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) exemptions for bicycle and transit projects. MST asks that TAMC support this bill.
February 18 was the deadline for bill introduction, after this report was drafted. Any new bills of interest to TAMC will be presented verbally at the Executive Committee meeting and added to the list for the TAMC Board report. Staff will seek feedback from the Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities Advisory Committee and the Technical Advisory Committee on a few of the bills on the list. As those meetings occur after the Executive Committee meeting, staff will reflect input from those committees in the TAMC report.
Attachment 2 is a state legislative report. Staff and consultants will present updates at the meeting.