In developing transportation related legislative issues and proposals to bring forward for consideration by TWIC, staff receives input from the Board of Supervisors, references the County's adopted Legislative Platforms, coordinates with our legislative advocates, partner agencies and organizations, and consults with the Committee itself.
Recommendations are summarized in the Recommendation(s)/Next Step(s) section at the end of this report and specific recommendations are underlined in the report below. This report includes three sections, 1) LOCAL, 2) STATE, and 3) FEDERAL.
1) LOCAL
A) The Contra Costa Transportation Authority's (CCTA) 2014 Countywide Transportation Plan (CTP) and Proposed Transportation Expenditure Plan (TEP) (This is a standing item for the foreseeable future).
The CCTA is in the process of developing both the 2014 Countywide Transportation Plan (CTP) and a Transportation Expenditure Plan (TEP). A TEP is a statutorily required component of a transportation sales tax. As the TWIC has discussed at past meetings, the development of the CTP resulted in a dialog regarding the need for additional revenue. The outcome of those discussions was to initiate the process to go to the ballot in November 2016 with a new transportation sales tax. The CCTA Board approved this activity at their March, 2015 meeting.
CCTA has recently released an updated schedule for the development of both the CTP and the TEP (Attached and included below for convenience). Also released was supporting information relative to the TEP process including:
-
Final "Principles for a New Transportation Expenditure Plan" document discussed at TWIC in May
-
Structure and membership of an oversight body, the Expenditure Plan Advisory Committee (EPAC), and
-
A request for projects and programs for consideration in the development of a TEP.
All materials are attached for the consideration and discussion by TWIC.
Staff is developing an approach for internal, countywide coordination on this effort and will discuss the approach at the June TWIC meeting.
The CTP/TEP schedule is as follows:
DATE |
TEP |
CTP |
June - November 2015 |
Work with EPAC, RTPCs and other stakeholders to develop a Discussion Draft TEP
|
Evaluate the performance of large projects and programs using MTC’s Performance Targets
|
November 2015 |
Authority releases Discussion
Draft TEP for public review
|
Revise CTP and SEIR to
incorporate Discussion Draft
TEP
|
November - January 2016 |
Ongoing Outreach / TEP Adjustments
|
Authority releases Discussion Draft TEP for public review
|
January 2016 |
CCTA approves Final Draft TEP
for review and approval by cities
and the County
|
CCTA releases Draft SEIR and Draft CTP for public review
|
February - April 2016 |
Ongoing outreach / cities and County approval of Final Draft TEP
|
45 Day Public Review Period |
April 2016 |
|
Prepare responses to
comments and prepare final
|
May 2016 |
CCTA Certifies Final CTP SEIR, Adopts Final CTP, Adopts Final TEP, and forwards final Expenditure Plan and Ordinance to cities/County for review and approval.
|
|
May - June 2016 |
Cities and County approve final
Expenditure Plan and Ordinance
|
|
July 2016 |
CCTA forwards Final TEP to BOS
for consideration on the Nov
2016 ballot
|
Publish Final CTP |
July - November 2016 |
Educational Outreach |
|
November 2016 |
Election Day |
|
RECOMMENDATION: Discuss CCTA's CTP and TEP processes, internal coordination and DIRECT staff as appropriate.
2) STATE
The June state report will be largely be verbal, legislative activities are currently too fluid to make a written report practical.
As is our practice, a complete table of tracked legislation is attached to this report to facilitate any dialog necessary. A high-priority subset of the complete list is also attached to this report.
Mark Watts, the County's legislative advocate, and County staff will be present at the meeting to provide the verbal report.
RECOMMENDATION:The Committee should DISCUSS state legislative activities of interest to the County and take ACTION as appropriate.
3) FEDERAL
On Tuesday May 19th, the House of Representatives voted to extend MAP-21 (Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century) by two months. MAP-21 is the primary funding and authorization mechanism for surface transportation spending at the federal level. Without an extension, MAP-21 will expire on May 31, 2015. If the Senate approves the extension, the President has indicated that he will sign the bill in to law.
RECOMMENDATION:DISCUSS that status of federal transportation funding legislation and take ACTION as appropriate.  |