Bill Text: CA SB480 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Amended

California Senate Bill 480 (Prior Session Legislation)

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

Bill Title: San Diego-Coronado Bridge: safety study.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2017-09-08 - From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on TRANS. [SB480 Detail]

Download: California-2017-SB480-Amended.html

Amended IN Assembly July 03, 2017

Amended IN Senate March 29, 2017

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 480

Introduced by Senator Hueso

February 16, 2017

An act to ~~amend Section 183.1 of the Streets and Highways~~ add Section 14527.5 to the Government Code, relating to transportation.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 480, as amended, Hueso. Bridge safety ~~projects: State Highway Account: funding.~~ study.

Existing law requires a project study report or project study report equivalent that is prepared for any new project involving the construction of a new bridge, or the replacement of a bridge with a history of documented suicides, which project is included in the regional transportation improvement program, the interregional transportation improvement program, or the state highway operation and protection program, to include a document demonstrating that a suicide barrier was a feature considered during the project’s planning process. Existing law defines “bridge” for these purposes.
This bill would require the Department of Transportation, in consultation with the California Transportation Commission, to conduct a bridge safety study and make a specified report to the Legislature, no later than July 1, 2018, with regard to the safe operation of a bridge. The bill would require the study to focus on overall safety, including, but not limited to, speeding, debris, guardrails, wrong-way accidents, and suicides.
Existing law provides funding for the development, construction, and maintenance of the state’s bridges and highways, and imposes various duties on the Department of Transportation with regard to safe operation of the state’s bridges and highways. Existing law authorizes the expenditure of certain money deposited in the State Highway Account that is not restricted as to expenditure by Article XIX of the California Constitution, including, but not limited to, money that is derived from the sale of documents, charges for miscellaneous services to the public, condemnation deposits, fund investments, rental of state property, or any other miscellaneous uses of property, for any transportation purpose authorized by statute, upon appropriation by the Legislature or, after transfer to another fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature from that fund.
This bill would require the Controller, for the 2018–19 fiscal year, based on the prior year financial statement, to segregate 1% of that money from the State Highway Account to be expended by the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for feasibility, environmental, and engineering studies pertaining to bridge safety, with priority given to bridges that provide transportation links over state and local parks, and for other bridge safety projects in the state.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

The Legislature finds and declares that “historic parks” are important to communities.

SEC. 2.

Section 14527.5 is added to the Government Code, to read:

14527.5.
(a) The department, in consultation with the commission, shall conduct a bridge safety study and make a report with regard to the safe operation of a bridge as defined in subdivision (b) of Section 14527.1. The study shall focus on overall safety, including, but not limited to, speeding, debris, guardrails, wrong-way accidents, and suicides.
(b) The study shall do all of the following:
(1) Examine the agencies or departments that exercise authority over, or are responsible for safety improvements to, bridges in the state.
(2) Identify additional treatments and technologies with the potential to reduce the number of incidents where injury occurs on or around the bridge.
(3) Review the methods studied or implemented by other jurisdictions, including state or local agencies inside or outside California, as well as methods studied by nongovernmental entities to improve the safety of bridges and reduce the number of deaths on bridges in the state.
(4) Give priority to treatments and technologies applied to bridges in California that provide transportation links over state and local parks, and for other bridge safety projects in the state.
(c) The report shall include a plan that sets forth the treatments and technologies that the department has determined will improve bridge safety. The report shall also include the department’s recommendations for actions and measures that are needed to prevent accidents on bridges erected or existing above historic parks and the report shall examine prior reports that have evaluated technological advancements that have occurred since the department last studied the issue of bridge safety.
(d) (1) The department shall report to the Legislature no later than July 1, 2018, and shall provide the report to the Senate Committee on Housing and Transportation and the Assembly Committee on Transportation.
(2) This section is repealed on January 1, 2023, pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.

SECTION 1.Section 183.1 of the Streets and Highways Code is amended to read:
183.1.
(a)Notwithstanding subdivision (a) of Section 182 or any other provision of law, money deposited into the account that is not subject to Article XIX of the California Constitution, including, but not limited to, money that is derived from the sale of documents, charges for miscellaneous services to the public, condemnation deposits, fund investments, rental of state property, or any other miscellaneous uses of property or money, may be used for any transportation purpose authorized by statute, upon appropriation by the Legislature or, after transfer to another fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature from that fund.
(b)Commencing with the 2013–14 fiscal year, and not later than November 1 of each fiscal year thereafter, based on prior year financial statements, the Controller shall transfer the funds identified in subdivision (a) for the prior fiscal year from the State Highway Account to the Transportation Debt Service Fund in the State Transportation Fund, except for those funds required to be transferred pursuant to subdivision (c), and those funds are continuously appropriated for the purposes specified for the Transportation Debt Service Fund.
(c)For the 2018–19 fiscal year, based on the prior year financial statement, the Controller shall segregate 1 percent of the funds identified in subdivision (a) for the prior fiscal year from the State Highway Account to be expended by the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for feasibility, environmental, and engineering studies pertaining to bridge safety, with priority given to bridges that provide transportation links over state and local parks, and for other bridge safety projects in the state.