RECEIVE update on State and federal legislative issues and ADOPT positions on proposed legislation.

Staff and consultants will present updates on State and federal legislative activities and present positions on draft legislation recommended by the Executive Committee at their March 2 meeting.

Agency legislative analyst Gus Khouri will present an update on State legislative activities, while Agency legislative analyst Paul Schlesinger will present an update on federal legislative activities.

February 18 was the deadline for bill introduction.  Bills of interest to TAMC were reviewed by the Executive Committee, the Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities Advisory Committee, and the Technical Advisory Committee. Input from those committees is reflected in Attachment 1, the draft State bill list, with positions recommended by the Committees, 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. The Executive Committee 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. The Executive Committee recommends an "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. The Executive Committee recommends a "support" position.
• AB 2120 (Ward): "Transportation finance: federal funding: bridges" would direct federal bridge formula funding to local projects. The Executive Committee recommends a "support" position.
• AB 2438 (Friedman): "Transportation projects: alignment with State plans" would require all transportation funding align with the Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure (CAPTI), which would put Measure X projects in jeopardy. The Executive Committee recommends an "oppose unless amended" position, with a recommendation to the author to make it a district bill, as not all regions have the same flexibility to shift to alternative modes.
• AB 2622 (Mullin): "Sales and use taxes: exemptions: California hybrid and zero-emission truck and bus voucher incentive project: transit buses" would extend the tax exemption for zero-emission bus purchases to January 2034. The Executive Committee recommends a "support" position.
• AB 2805 (Bauer-Kahan): "Department of Fish and Game: advance mitigation and regional conservation investment strategies" would streamline the process of approving regional conservation investment strategy (RCIS) plans. TAMC adopted a RCIS in 2021 and 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.
• SB 942 (Newman): "Low Carbon Transit Operations Program (LCTOP): free or reduced fare transit program" would allow transit agencies to use LCTOP funds to subsidize free or reduced fares. The Executive Committee recommends a "support" position.

Attachment 2 is a State legislative report. Staff and consultants will present updates at the meeting.