Bill Text: CA AB2703 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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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

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BILL NUMBER: AB 2703	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	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  Section 8879.79 to the Government 
 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.  Federal
transportation economic stimulus funds: 2nd round.  
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 under the Safe,
Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century.
The bill would authorize the commission to develop guidelines to
implement these provisions.  
   Existing law establishes special procedures and formulas for
allocation and expenditure of federal transportation economic
stimulus funds awarded to the state in 2009. Under these provisions,
the Department of Transportation, with the approval of the Department
of Finance, may make a loan or loans from a specified portion of
those federal funds for the purpose of advancing projects meeting
certain criteria that otherwise would be funded from the Highway
Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality, and Port Security Bond Act of
2006, a general obligation bond measure approved by the voters in
November 2006 as Proposition 1B.  
   This bill would provide similar authority to advance those
projects with loans of federal funds awarded to the state in 2010
under the 2nd round of federal transportation economic stimulus
funds. In order to be eligible for an advance, a project would need
to have been programmed for Proposition 1B bond funds by May 1, 2010,
and be ready to be awarded within 90 days of federal apportionment.
Upon repayment of the loans, these funds would be available for
appropriation by the Legislature for the State Highway Operation and
Protection Program. 
   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 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.
   (2) The expenditures made by the regional or local agency 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 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 may enter into an agreement or agreements governing
reimbursement as described in this section.
   (d) The California Transportation Commission, in consultation with
regional and local agencies, may develop guidelines to implement
this section. If the commission develops guidelines, it 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 and the
California Transportation Commission that makes eligible for future
reimbursement from bond proceeds the expenditure of funds under the
control of the regional or local agency, subject to the availability
of bond funds, as provided in this section. The timing and final
amount of reimbursement is 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.
 
  SECTION 1.    Section 8879.79 is added to the
Government Code, to read:
   8879.79.  (a) The department, with the approval of the Director of
Finance, may make a loan or loans from the State Highway Account of
federal funds made available to it pursuant to the second round of
federal transportation economic stimulus funds awarded to the state
in 2010, for purposes of advancing a project, or a portion of a
project, that has been programmed, on or before May 1, 2010, to be
funded by Chapter 12.49 (commencing with Section 8879.20) and that is
ready to be awarded within 90 days of federal apportionment. The
board, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 8879.22, may request
the department to make a loan or loans. The aggregate amount of the
request shall not exceed the amount of the unsold bonds that the
committee, as defined in subdivision (b) of Section 8879.22, has, by
resolution, authorized to be sold, less any amount loaned pursuant to
Section 8879.31 or 8879.77 or withdrawn pursuant to Section 8879.32.
Any amount loaned shall be deposited in the fund, as defined by
subdivision (c) of Section 8879.22, and shall be transferred to the
appropriate account for the project, or portion of a project, being
advanced. The loan or loans shall be repaid without interest to the
State Highway Account from the proceeds of bonds sold pursuant to
Chapter 12.49 (commencing with Section 8879.20). The board shall
execute any documents as required by the department to obtain and
repay the loan or loans.
   (b) Upon repayment of a loan made pursuant to subdivision (a),
those funds shall be available for appropriation by the Legislature
for the State Highway Operation and Protection Program. 
  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  ensure that federal funds received in 2010
are expeditiously awarded to transportation projects  
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.