Bill Text: CA AB2703 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Transportation: bond-funded projects: letter of no
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2010-08-03 - From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on RLS. [AB2703 Detail]
Download: California-2009-AB2703-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 2703 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 3, 2010
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 15, 2010
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 17, 2010
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 27, 2010
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 8, 2010
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member John A. Perez
FEBRUARY 19, 2010
An act to add Chapter 20.1 (commencing with Section 2704.30) to
Division 3 of the Streets and Highways Code, relating to
transportation, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect
immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2703, as amended, John A. Perez. Transportation: bond-funded
projects: letter of no prejudice.
Existing law, the Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond
Act for the 21st Century, provides for the issuance of $9.95 billion
in general obligation bonds for high-speed rail and related purposes,
including $950 million to be allocated by the California
Transportation Commission to eligible recipients for capital
improvements to intercity and commuter rail lines and urban rail
transit systems in connection with or otherwise related to the
high-speed train system.
Existing law, with respect to the Highway Safety, Traffic
Reduction, Air Quality, and Port Security Bond Act of 2006, a $19.925
billion general obligation bond act for transportation and related
purposes, authorizes a regional or local agency to apply for a letter
of no prejudice that makes that agency eligible to expend funds
under its control for a project or project component that has been
designated to receive bond funding and to be subsequently reimbursed
from bond funds for that expenditure when bond funds become
available.
This bill would allow an eligible regional or local
agency to also apply to the California Transportation Commission for
a letter of no prejudice relating to projects to be funded under the
$950 million allocated to eligible regional or local agencies
recipie nt for funding for capital
improvements to intercity and commuter rail lines and urban rail
transit systems in connection with or otherwise related to the
high-speed train system under the Safe, Reliable High-Speed
Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century to apply to the
California Transportation Commission and the Department of
Transportation for a letter of no prejudice relating to those
projects . The bill would authorize the commission and the
department to develop guidelines to implement these
provisions.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 20.1 (commencing with Section 2704.30) is added
to Division 3 of the Streets and Highways Code, to read:
CHAPTER 20.1. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SAFE, RELIABLE HIGH-SPEED
PASSENGER TRAIN BOND ACT FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
2704.30. (a) An eligible recipient for funds pursuant to Section
2704.095 that is a regional or local agency may
apply to the California Transportation Commission and the
Department of Transportation for a letter of no prejudice for a
project or a component of a project to be undertaken with those
funds. The commission may approve the letter of no prejudice for one
or more projects or project components that the commission has
programmed or otherwise approved for funding. The letter of no
prejudice shall reference the project or component thereof and the
amount of bond funding that is programmed or otherwise approved for
that project or project component. The commission may approve a
letter of no prejudice regardless of whether bond funding has been
previously appropriated for purposes of the project or project
component.
(b) Expenditures for the costs, up to the amount set forth in the
letter of no prejudice, of a project or project component for which a
letter of no prejudice has been issued shall be eligible for
reimbursement from the High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Fund if all of
the following apply:
(1) The project or project component for which the letter of no
prejudice was requested has commenced and the regional or
local expenditures have been incurred by the eligible
recipient .
(2) The expenditures made by the regional or local agency
eligible recipient are eligible for
reimbursement in accordance with state and federal laws and
procedures, and are permitted expenditures under Section 2704.095. If
expenditures made are determined to be ineligible, then the state
has no obligation to reimburse for those expenditures.
(3) The regional or local agency eligible
recipient complies with all legal requirements for the project,
including the requirements of the California Environmental Quality
Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public
Resources Code).
(4) The expenditures were incurred after the project or project
component was programmed or otherwise approved for funding by the
commission.
(5) There is in the High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Fund an
appropriated amount sufficient to make the reimbursement payment.
Nothing in this section requires the fund to be funded at any
particular time or in any particular amount.
(c) The California Transportation Commission and the
regional or local agency or the Department of
Transportation and the eligible recipient may enter into an
agreement or agreements governing reimbursement as described in this
section.
(d) The Both the California
Transportation Commission and the Department of Transportation
, in consultation with regional and local agencies
eligible recipients , may develop guidelines to
implement this section. If the commission develops
guidelines, it or the department develop guidelines,
they shall, to the extent practicable, use the guidelines
developed for letters of no prejudice under Section 8879.501 of the
Government Code.
(e) Nothing in this section modifies any requirement under Chapter
20 (commencing with Section 2704).
(f) For the purposes of this section, "letter of no prejudice"
means an agreement between a regional or local agency
an eligible recipient and the California
Transportation Commission or the Department of Transportation
that makes eligible for future reimbursement from bond proceeds
the expenditure of funds under the control of the regional
or local agency eligible recipient , subject to
the availability of bond funds, as provided in this section. The
timing and final amount of reimbursement is
are dependent on the terms of the agreement and the
availability of bond funds. The final amount of reimbursement may be
less than the amount stated in the letter of no prejudice.
SEC. 2. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to allow bond-funded transportation projects to proceed
as expeditiously as possible, and to benefit job retention in
California, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.
