BILL NUMBER: SB 314	ENROLLED
	BILL TEXT

	PASSED THE SENATE  SEPTEMBER 11, 2003
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  SEPTEMBER 8, 2003
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  SEPTEMBER 5, 2003
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  SEPTEMBER 2, 2003
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 2, 2003
	AMENDED IN SENATE  MAY 13, 2003
	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 30, 2003
	AMENDED IN SENATE  MARCH 27, 2003

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Murray

                        FEBRUARY 19, 2003

   An act to add Section 130350.5 to the Public Utilities Code,
relating to transportation.

	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

   SB 314, Murray.  Transportation funding:  County of Los Angeles.
   Existing law provides for the establishment of various local
transportation authorities, and empowers those authorities, under
certain conditions, to impose local transactions and use taxes for
the funding of local transportation purposes.
   This bill would authorize the Los Angeles County Metropolitan
Transportation Authority (MTA) to impose, in addition to any other
tax that it is authorized to impose, a transactions and use tax at
the rate of 0.5% for 61/2 years or less, for the funding of specified
transportation-related purposes designated as capital projects or
capital programs.  The bill would condition the imposition of a tax
under this authority upon voter approval as otherwise required by law
and would prohibit the MTA from incurring bonded indebtedness
payable from the tax proceeds to fund those projects or programs or
from substituting revenue from the tax proceeds for current funding
commitments to the projects or programs.  The bill would require the
MTA to prepare an expenditure plan prior to submitting the ordinance
to voters, describing the projects and programs, their cost, and
funding sources.  The bill would create the Capital Project
Development Fund, into which the tax revenue would be deposited, and
would make those moneys available for expenditure by the MTA to fund
projects and programs.  The bill would enact other related
provisions.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 130350.5 is added to the Public Utilities Code,
to read:
   130350.5.  (a) In addition to any other tax that it is authorized
by law to impose, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation
Authority (MTA) may impose, in compliance with subdivision (b), a
transactions and use tax at a rate of 0.5 percent that is applicable
in the incorporated and unincorporated areas of the county.
   (b) For purposes of the taxing authority set forth in subdivision
(a), all of the following apply:
   (1) The tax shall be proposed in a transactions and use tax
ordinance, that conforms with Chapter 2 (commencing with Section
7261) to Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 7275), inclusive, of the
Transactions and Use Tax Law (Part 1.6 (commencing with Section 7251)
of Division 2 of the Revenue and Taxation Code), and that is
approved by a majority of the entire membership of the authority.
   (2) The tax may be imposed only if the proposing ordinance is
approved by the voters in the manner as otherwise required by law
and, if so approved, shall become operative as provided in Section
130352.
   (3) The proposing ordinance shall specify, in addition to the rate
of tax and other matters as required by the Transactions and Use Tax
Law, that the tax is to be imposed for a period of six and one-half
years or less and that the revenues derived from the tax, net of
refunds and costs of administration, are to be administered by the
MTA exclusively for the purposes of the "Capital Projects," as
described and in the amounts set forth in subparagraph (A), and for
the purposes of the "Capital Programs," as described and in the
amounts set forth in subparagraph (B).
   (A) Capital Projects.
   (i) Exposition Boulevard Light Rail Transit Project from downtown
Los Angeles to Santa Monica.  The sum of nine hundred twenty-five
million dollars  ($925,000,000).  This project shall be completed by
2011, and shall be the first priority for federal funding received
for the capital projects in this subparagraph.
   (ii) Crenshaw Metro Rapidway from Wilshire Boulevard to Los
Angeles International Airport along Crenshaw Boulevard.  The sum of
two hundred thirty-five million five hundred thousand dollars
($235,500,000).  This project shall be completed by 2008.
   (iii) San Fernando Valley North-South Rapidways.  The sum of one
hundred million five hundred thousand dollars ($100,500,000).  This
project shall be completed by 2009.
   (iv) Metro Gold Line (Pasadena to  Irwindale) Light Rail Transit
Extension.  The sum of three hundred twenty-eight million dollars
($328,000,000).  This project shall be completed by 2012, and shall
be the second priority for federal funding received for the capital
projects in this subparagraph.
   (v) Metro Center Connector.  The sum of one hundred sixty million
dollars ($160,000,000).  This project shall be completed by 2012.
   (vi) Metro Red Line Extension to Fairfax Avenue.  The sum of nine
hundred million dollars ($900,000,000).  This project shall be
completed by 2012.
   (vii) State Highway Route 5 Carmenita Road Interchange
Improvement.  The sum of one hundred thirty-eight million dollars
($138,000,000).
   (viii) State Highway Route 5 Capacity Enhancement (State Highway
Route 134 to State Highway Route 170, including access improvement
for Empire Avenue).  The sum of two hundred seventy-one million five
hundred thousand dollars ($271,500,000).
   (ix) State Highway Route 5 Capacity Enhancement (State Highway
Route 605 to the Orange County line, including improvements to the
Valley View Interchange).  The sum of two hundred sixty-four million
eight hundred thousand dollars ($264,800,000).
   (x) State Highway Route 5/State Highway Route 14 Capacity
Enhancement.  The sum of ninety million eight hundred thousand
dollars ($90,800,000).
   (xi) Capital Project Contingency Fund.  The sum of one hundred
seventy-three million dollars ($173,000,000).
   (B) Capital Programs.
   (i) Alameda Corridor East Grade Separations.  The sum of two
hundred million dollars ($200,000,000).
   (ii) MTA and Municipal Regional Clean Fuel Bus Capital (Facilities
and Rolling Stock).  The sum of one hundred fifty million dollars
($150,000,000).  The first priority for the expenditure of these
funds shall be satisfaction by the MTA of the requirements of the
Consent Decree between the MTA and the Labor Community and Strategy
Center, et al., including the purchase of the entire number of buses
required to comply with the decree.
   (iii) Countywide Soundwall Construction (MTA Regional List and
Monterey Park/State Highway Route 60).  The sum of two hundred fifty
million dollars ($250,000,000).
   (iv) Local return for major street resurfacing, rehabilitation,
and reconstruction.  The sum of two hundred fifty million dollars
($250,000,000).
   (v) Metrolink Capital Improvements.  The sum of seventy million
dollars ($70,000,000).
   (vi) Eastside Light Rail Access.  The sum of thirty million
dollars ($30,000,000).
   (vii) Capital Program administration.  The sum of ten million
dollars (10,000,000).  The MTA shall use these funds for the
administration of the Capital Program.
   (c) The MTA may not incur bonded indebtedness payable from the
proceeds of the tax provided by this section for the funding of the
projects and programs specified in this section, or loan money from
the proceeds to other projects or programs in advance of completing
the projects and programs in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph
(3) of subdivision (b).  The MTA shall complete all projects and
programs in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (3) of subdivision
(b) as a condition of the use and expenditure of the proceeds of the
tax.  The MTA shall maintain the current amount of any funding for
the projects and programs specified in this section received from its
sources other than the proceeds of the tax, and may not reallocate
money that is already allocated for those projects and programs to
other projects or uses.
   (d) Notwithstanding Section 7251.1 of the Revenue and Taxation
Code, the tax rate authorized by this section may not be considered
for purposes of the combined rate limit established by that section.
   (e) A jurisdiction or recipient is eligible to receive funds from
the local return program, described in clause (iv) of subparagraph
(B) of paragraph (3) of subdivision (b), only if it continues to
contribute to that program an amount that is equal to its existing
commitment of local funds or other available funds.  The MTA may
develop guidelines which, at a minimum, specify maintenance of effort
requirements for the local return program, matching funds, and
administrative requirements for the recipients of revenue derived
from the tax.
   (f) Prior to submitting the ordinance to the voters, the MTA shall
adopt an expenditure plan for the revenues derived from the tax.
The expenditure plan shall describe the specified projects and
programs listed in paragraph (3) of subdivision (b), the estimated
total cost for each project and program, funds other than the tax
revenues that the MTA anticipates will be expended on the projects
and programs, and the schedule during which the MTA anticipates funds
will be available for each project and program.  To be eligible for
proceeds from the tax, an agency sponsoring a capital project or
capital program shall submit to the MTA an expenditure plan for its
project or program containing the same elements as the expenditure
plan that MTA is required by this subdivision to prepare.
   (g) The MTA shall establish and administer the Capital Project
Development Fund.  The revenue derived from the tax shall be
deposited into this fund.  The moneys in the fund shall be available
to the MTA only to meet expenditure and cash flow needs of the
capital projects and capital programs described in subparagraphs (A)
and (B) of paragraph (3) of subdivision (b), including the
replacement of federal or state funds if the amount of federal or
state funds received by the MTA is less than anticipated in the
expenditure plan.  If the sales tax revenue from this section is less
than that needed to meet these expenditure and cash flow needs, the
MTA shall supplement the sales tax revenue with money from other
sources available to the MTA.  Any funds remaining in the fund shall
be allocated in equal amounts of 25 percent each to the MTA and to
the Municipal Clean Fuel Bus Capital, local return, and Countywide
Soundwall programs as described in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (3)
of subdivision (b).
   (h) If the total amount of revenue received from the tax exceeds
the amount in the MTA's expenditures plan or if other funds,
including, but not limited to, funds under the Traffic Congestion
Relief Act of 2000 (Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 14556) of
Part 5.3 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code), become
available and are allocated to complete capital projects or capital
programs, as described in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (3)
of subdivision (b), the MTA may expend the surplus tax revenue on its
next highest priority projects.
  SEC. 2.  The Legislature finds and declares that the tax ordinance
authorized in Section 130350.5 of the Public Utilities Code is
intended to provide funds necessary to complete the capital projects
and capital programs described in that section and that the
expenditure plan required by that section shall be structured to
provide appropriate funding guarantees for the completion of each
project and program.
                              
http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/bill/sen/sb_0301-0350/sb_314_bill_20030911_enrolled.html Back to News