Agency legislative analyst Gus Khouri presented an update on state legislative activities and received input on priorities for the Agency for 2018 at the October 4, 2017 Executive Committee meeting.
Of particular interest, the two bills TAMC sponsored this year:
- AB 696 (Caballero): Department of Transportation: Prunedale Bypass: County of Monterey: disposition of excess properties: passed through both houses but vetoed by the Governor on October 4, 2017 (Web Attachment 1). Many support letters were sent to the Governor (attached under correspondence of the appropriate Board packet).
- SB 477 (Cannella): Intercity rail corridors: extensions: Currently still on the suspense file for the Assembly Appropriations committee, nominally "dead" pending discussions among the bill's supporters.
Web Attachment 2 is a state legislative report. Web Attachment 3 is the updated bill list as of October 5, 2017.
An initiative to repeal the recently-approved SB 1 gas tax increase and fees was submitted to the Secretary of State for title and summary and is awaiting approval for circulation for the required 376,000 signatures to place it on the November 2018 ballot. From September 28 to October 1, 2017, Probolsky Research conducted a survey among California residents. The poll results show that when asked to vote yes or no on a proposal that: “Repeals recently enacted gas and diesel taxes and vehicle registration fees. Eliminates road repair and transportation programs funded by these taxes and fees”, 53.9% of the voters would vote no, 34.1% would vote yes, and 11.3% are undecided. Intensity of feeling is stronger among those opposed to repeal than those supportive. In the coming year, TAMC and member agencies plan to leverage several million dollars in SB 1 funding to deliver critical transportation repair, safety and mobility improvements.
The 2017 TAMC Legislative Program focused on maintaining and augmenting transportation funding. The 2018 legislative program continues this focus on transportation funding. Attached are the draft 2018 legislative program (Attachment 1) and one showing changes as compared to the adopted 2017 program (Web Attachment 4). Upon approval by the Board, staff will present the draft program to Committees in November or January for comment. Staff will meet with partner agencies locally and statewide to discuss items for the program. Following the Committees’ review of the draft program, the final program will come back to the Executive Committee and Board in January for adoption.