As reported in the CSAC
Budget Action Bulletin on January 9, the Department of
Finance is projecting a significant decrease in gasoline excise
tax revenues in FY 2015-16 and beyond. To cut to the chase, this
has caused a flurry of early attention to find sustainable new
revenue sources for transportation infrastructure in 2015.
CSAC is a proud sponsor of the annual UCLA
Extension Land Use Law and Planning Conference to take place
on January 30th in Los Angeles, CA at the Biltmore
Hotel.
On Wednesday, the California Transportation Commission (CTC)
appointed most of the members of the 15-member technical advisory
committee (TAC) charged with studying road usage charge
alternatives to the state gas tax. Attendees of CSAC’s Annual
Meeting last month in Anaheim may have attended our
workshop on the topic, where representatives from Caltrans
and the California Association of Councils of Government
entertained questions about the pilot project, which was mandated
by SB 1077 (DeSaulnier, 2014).
$100 Million for Local Streets and Roads as State Repays HUTA
Loan
Counties’ and cities’ monthly allocations from the Highway Users
Tax Account (HUTA) were supplemented this week though the early
repayment of a $100 million state loan. HUTA is funded through
the state gas excise tax, which is currently set at 36 cents per
gallon. These dollars are an essential part of county
transportation budgets and are used for road maintenance and
rehabilitation projects, as well as local matching funds to draw
down additional transportation funding.
Local Street and Roads Needs Assessment Webinar Announced
The results are in for the biennial Local Streets and Roads
Assessment conducted by CSAC, the League of California Cities and
our regional transportation planning partners from the MPOs and
RTPAs. Once again, the report has concluded that California’s
local system remains on the brink of a rapid, downward condition
spiral if maintenance funding shortfalls are not addressed.
Fate of Transportation Loan Repayment is Still Undecided
Last night, the Budget Conference Committee took up the early
repayment of transportation loans, and specifically the $337
million in Highway User tax Account (HUTA) funds. The conferees
did not take final action leaving the item open to further debate
and negotiation.
AB 52 (Gatto) – Neutral
To Engrossing and Enrolling on August 28, 2014
AB 52, by Assembly Member Mike Gatto would create a new resource
area under CEQA for tribal cultural resources and create a
process for consultation between local governments and tribes on
individual projects. CSAC initially opposed the bill and worked
with a coalition of stakeholders over the past two years to
successfully amend the measure to reduce our most significant
concerns.
AB 52 (Gatto) – Neutral To Engrossing and Enrolling on August 28,
2014
AB 52, by Assembly Member Mike Gatto would create a new resource
area under CEQA for tribal cultural resources and create a
process for consultation between local governments and tribes on
individual projects. CSAC initially opposed the bill and worked
with a coalition of stakeholders over the past two years to
successfully amend the measure to reduce our most significant
concerns.
SB 785 (Wolk) – Request for Signature To Engrossing and
Enrolling on August 27, 2014
SB 785, by Senator Lois Wolk, would recast existing design-build
statutes for purposes of eliminating inconsistencies and
consolidating present statutory authority as well as extend the
sunset date on existing design-build authority and reduce the
project cost threshold to projects that exceed $1 million.
AB 1537 (Levine) – Request for Signature To Engrossing
and Enrolling on August 22, 2014
AB 1537, by Assembly Member Marc Levine, would create a pilot
project allowing Marin County and certain cities within the
County, to move to a suburban default density to demonstrate that
they have zoned an adequate amount of land to accommodate their
respective shares of lower-income housing under the Regional
Housing Needs Allocation Process.
OPR Recommends Vehicle Miles Travelled as Replacement Metric for
Level of Service for CEQA Analysis
On August 6, the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR)
issued a preliminary discussion draft of updates to the CEQA
Guidelines to implement SB 743 (Steinberg, 2013), which required
OPR to develop an alternative metric to Level of Service (LOS)
for analyzing the transportation impacts of projects under CEQA.
Congress Votes to Avert Highway Trust Fund Shortfall
Last night, the Senate voted 81-13 to approve the House’s $10.9
billion measure to fund the Highway Trust Fund and extend current
MAP-21 federal transportation programs through May 2015. The
measure is now headed to the President’s desk. If signed, the
bill will avert the approximately 30% reduction in payments to
states for federally-funded transportation projects, including
local projects with federal participation, that was expected to
begin today absent Congressional action.
Department of Interior Grants Extension to Comment on Tribal
Acknowledgement Rulemaking
CSAC is pleased to announce that the Department of Interior is
extending the public comment period on the proposed regulations
to reform the federal tribal acknowledgment process. The DOI also
intends to hold two additional public outreach meetings and
tribal consultations. We would like to thank Senator Feinstein
for her assistance in securing the extension and additional
public outreach meetings as well as counties that engaged with
the California congressional delegation.
