02/18/2007: "Legislative Update"

State and federal legislative information, updated 4/28/08 by So.CA.TA's Public and Legislative Affairs Committee.

Activists have praised Jim Shultz's book Democracy Owners' Manual as a useful guide for people who want to learn how to change public policy at the local, state, national or international level. Stephanie Vance aka the AdVocacy Guru provides tips on effective lobbying of Congress. You can find out who your state and federal legislative representatives are (along with contact information) via the database at this link. The Southern California Association of Goverments has prepared a Legislative Reference Guide on effective advocacy: http://www.scag.ca.gov/publications/pdf/2006/scag06LegRefGuide.pdf

LEGISLATIVE PROCESS

In-depth discussion and presentation of the overall federal legislative process can be found in "How Our Laws are Made" and "Enactment of a Law".

An overview of many aspects of the federal legislative process can be found in The Legislative Process and Tying it All Together.

Also of value are in-depth Congressional Research Service reports on aspects of the House legislative process.

UC Berkeley Library's Congressional Research Tutorials provide instruction on how to find Congressional materials in the Library and on the Internet via a series of Flash videos.

An authoritative and detailed description of California's legislative process is found in California's Legislature (in Acrobat format).

Overviews of the state legislative process are on the websites of the Chief Clerk of the Assembly and the Legislative Counsel.

STATE LEGISLATION

AB 61 (Nava) would increase the number of members on the board of the Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District by 2 members to a total of 7 members. The bill would require the City Council of the City of Carpinteria and the City Council of the City of Goleta to each appoint one of the additional members to the board. Passed Senate and Assembly, approved by the Governor. Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 103, Statutes of 2007.

AB 922 (Levine) would would create a statistical district within the City of Los Angeles that would allow data reporting from the Wilshire Corridor Traffic Relief Planning DistrictPassed Senate, passed Assembly and Senate, vetoed by Governor: Veto message.

AB 1815 (Feuer) would create the California Transportation Infrastructure Funding Task Force. To be heard by the Assembly Committee on Transportation; hearing canceled at the request of author. SO.CA.TA Supports

AB 1836 (Feuer) would eliminate the voter approval requirement for establishing Infrastructure Financing Districts. Passed Assembly Committee on on Local Government (5-0), to second reading. SO.CA.TA Supports

AB 2009 (Hernandez) would exempt from any utility user tax imposed by any local agency, as defined, the consumption of natural gas by a local agency or public transit operator, as defined, for transportation purposes if that natural gas is dispensed by a gas compressor that is separately metered and is dedicated to serve the local agency or public transit operator. Sponsored by Foothill Transit. Passed Assembly Local Government Committee (9-0); to be heard by to Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee April 30. Details in the April 28 ASI Board Agenda packet (pp.22-23).

AB 2195 (Brownley) would authorize the Public Utilities Commission to approve a public transit guideway, or to otherwise carry out its regulatory and oversight duties over public transit guideways, without a hearing. Passed Assembly Committee on Utilities and Commerce (9-0), referred to Assembly Committee on Appropriations.

AB 2321 (Feuer) would amend SB 314 to to allow MTA to seek voter approval for a Countywide sales tax increase of 1/2% for a period not to exceed 30 years to fund specific transportation projects and programs. Passed Assembly Committee on Transportation (9-4), referred to Assembly Committee on Appropriations. SO.CA.TA Supports

AB 2388 (Feuer) would in addition to the current registration fee impose for the registration of a
passenger vehicle (1) a weight fee for a vehicle operated with an unladen vehicle weight of 10,000 pounds or less according to a specified schedule and (2) a carbon dioxide (CO2) fee based on the
pounds of CO2 emitted by the vehicle. The bill would apply these provisions to all original registrations on or after July 1, 2010, and to renewal of registrations to vehicles with expiration dates on or after October 1, 2010. Re-referred to the Assembly Committee on Transportation; hearing canceled at the request of author. SO.CA.TA Supports

AB 2558 (Feuer) would authorize MTA to impose a climate change mitigation and adaptation fee in the County of Los Angeles, subject to approval of an ordinance by a majority of the board of the
authority and majority voter approval of a ballot measure containing the fee and an expenditure plan.
Passed Assembly Committee on Transportation (8-5), to be heard by the Assembly Committee on Local Government April 30. SO.CA.TA Supports

AB 2705 (Jones) would add public transit services to the types of services that may be financed under the Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act. Passed Assembly Committee on Local Government (5-2), to second reading.

AB 3034 (Galgiani) would make various revisions to the bullet train bond act to be submitted to the voters for approval at the November 4, 2008, general election. Passed Assembly Committee on Transportation (10-0), referred to Assembly Committee on Appropriations.

ACA 10 (Feuer) would lower the vote threshold for the approval of bonds (and any tax increase associated with these bonds) for local transportation projects. From printer. May be heard in committee February 8. SO.CA.TA Supports

FEDERAL LEGISLATION

H.R. 238 (Waxman) repeals the restriction of federal funding for subway tunneling in the Wilshire Corridor. Feb. 7, 2007 passed/agreed to in House; Dec. 3, 2007 passed/agreed to in Senate. Status: Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent.

S. 497 (Boxer) – A bill that would repeal a prohibition on the use of federal funds on the Los Angeles to San Fernando Valley Metro Rail Project (companion to H.R. 238). Feb. 6, 2007 referred to Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

S. 294 (Lautenberg) seeks to authorize $19.2 billion in federal funds for Amtrak by authorizing $3.2 billion per year for six years. The funds would be used to implement a comprehensive plan to revitalize and reform Amtrak that will enhance security, put new quality standards in place and make fundamental operational reforms in order to provide the best quality service to its passengers. February 27, 2007 hearing held by Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security. To view transcripts and webcast click here
Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders.

MEDIA COVERAGE

A useful tool to keep up on the state and local issues is the website Rough and Tumble which provides links to policy oriented articles published by newspapers throughout California. The blog L.A. Observed covers politics and culture in Los Angeles. Often the weekly Sacramento News and Review has articles on state government of interest. Destination: Freedom; The newsletter of the National Corridors Initiative is a weekly update on North American rail and transit news:
http://www.nationalcorridors.org/#NEWSLETTER (a tip of the hat to SO.CA.TA member Ken Ruben for bringing this to our attention).

The Dorothy Peyton Grey Transportation Library at MTA compiles "Transportation Headlines" each weekday, a compilation of links to articles (local and national) of interest on transportation issues. Kymberleigh Richards, on her website Transit Insider, archives the past week and a half of the messages.
Transportation Headlines is also distributed via e-mail; to be added to the distribution list send the message SUBSCRIBE HEADLINES to: library@metro.net

The MTC Library posts the links of the past week of its e-mail based transportation headlines, compiled from Bay Area newspapers plus a few national ones (Washington Post, L.A. Times): http://www.mtc.ca.gov/news/headlines.htm

Studies in the News is a weekly listing compiled by State Library's Research Bureau and State Information & Reference Center of current policy studies garnering attention in the press that often shape policy debate: http://www.library.ca.gov/CRB/SITN.cfm

LEGISLATIVE RESOURCES

Transportation Law in California: A Guide to Federal, State, and Regional Requirements by Jeremy G. March (Solano Press, 2000) is the first complete collection of the most important laws and regulations affecting transportation planning in California. The table of contents is downloadable in Acrobat format; Mr. March can be reached at this e-mail address. Retail price of the book is $50; information on how to order via mail, phone or e-mail is here.

You can research pending federal legislation on the Thomas website and state legislation on the California Legislative Information website.

Resources for federal transportation legislation information include the American Public Transit Association (a trade group) and the California Institute for Federal Policy Research (a public policy analysis non-profit organization).

California Infrastructure Coalition on the resources page of its website has a list of legislative bills involving infrastructure investment plus links to various reports, etc.: http://www.calrac.org/resources/index.html

The websites of MTA and OCTA include pages for their Government Relations Departments which provide information on current state and federal legislative issues for their respective agencies.

The Congressional Research Service is the arm of the Library of Congress that provides impartial research on policy issues to aid Congressional lawmaking. They are held in high esteem for the quality of their analysis. CRS reports have generally not been easily obtainable by the public but now are starting to be posted on the internet. A summary of the CRS report on Transportation Issues in the 108th Congress is posted on the website of the National Council for Science and the Environment with the full report available for download (in Acrobat format).

The Brookings Institution has inituated a series of reports on federal transportration reform:
http://www.brookings.edu/es/urban/issues/transportation/transportation.htm

STPP has launched a new series of research and education briefs, called "Decoding Transportation Policy and Practice." These short papers will educate readers on complex transportation issues, and will often be the first place to learn of STPP's latest research findings. It can be found at http://www.transact.org/library/decoding.asp