In developing transportation related legislative issues and proposals to bring forward for consideration by TWIC, staff receives input from the Board of Supervisors (BOS), 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. Specific recommendations, if provided, are underlined in the report below. This report includes three sections, 1) LOCAL, 2) STATE, and 3) FEDERAL.
1) LOCAL
Transportation Expenditure Plan (TEP)
Background: The Contra Costa Transportation Authority (Authority) is in the process of putting a half-cent transportation sales tax on the ballot in November 2016. A TEP is a statutorily required component of a transportation sales tax. This is a standing TWIC item for the foreseeable future.
TEP Update
The Authority approved the TEP in May and circulated the document to all Cities/Towns and the County for approval. As of July 12 all Cities/Towns and the County had approved the TEP. The Board of Supervisors introduced the ordinance to place the TEP on the November 8, 2016 ballot and will take final action at the second reading of the ordinance on August 9, 2016.
At the July TWIC meeting the Committee requested that the most recent polling information on the TEP be provided to the Committee. That information is attached to this report.
Accessible Transit Service Strategic Plan/Transportation Expenditure Plan: In response to advocates and the County CCTA included in the TEP that required 1) an "Accessible Transit Service (ATS) Strategic Plan" be conducted and, 2) transit providers must participate in the planning effort in order to be eligible for any transit funding in the TEP. In later TEP versions that requirement removed for eligibility for conventional, fixed route funding but the requirement remains for the Transportation for Seniors and Disabled funding category.
During one TEP discussion at the CCTA Board there was a comment (paraphrased) "...there was no need to wait for the TEP to conduct the ATS Plan, we all know it needs to be done..." In response to that comment, CCTA and County staff have initiated a dialog on the ATS Plan with a coalition of transit operators and accessible transit advocates. Funding is being sought and a small working group of staff has been meeting to discuss. A draft of potential scope of work concepts has been distributed at that working group. A draft list of study components has been developed and is provided below for the Committees review:
Framework for an ATS Strategic Plan Scope of Work
A detailed scope of work will be finalized after a consultant has been selected. The following are issues the coalition expects to be addressed in the final scope of work.
- The study should review recent breakdowns in accessible transit institutions (San Bernardino, Santa Clara County, and ???) and make recommendations to avoid the conditions which led to these setbacks.
- Identification of senior and disabled demographics and unmet needs based on existing trip making characteristics, and any potential latent demand.
- Documentation of inter and intra county transfer trips (number of trips, providers).
- Analysis of the need for, and implications of seamless travel between service areas, and different service types (demand response, fixed route, and rail service).
- Interviews with randomly selected individuals or organizations that use (or could potentially use) or interface with AT in the county including existing patrons, program managers (dialysis, regional center, adult day health care, etc), healthcare & other care providers, homeless shelters, Veterans Affairs/Veterans Health Administration, etc. to document service needs.
- Address ADA and non-ADA services and consider/recommend funding allocations based on service type need.
- Consideration of any coordination requirements anticipated from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), Caltrans, or the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC).
- To the extent possible, recommendations regarding software/hardware needs and costs will be provided. The study will document data compatibility needs within the county/adjoining counties/region, current and emerging data interoperability standards, support for robust reporting (including NTD) and analysis functions, advanced/automated scheduling functionality including web/mobile based and interactive voice response.
- Institutional arrangements: The study should address any service model and best practice, regardless of the existing arrangements in the county. Applicable models should increase efficiencies, improve service, attract additional funding, and be appropriate for county trip making characteristics.
- The service model should facilitate the comingling of different funding sources and riders of different trip and funding eligibility.
- All functions should be addressed including, dispatch, maintenance, eligibility, contracting methods, service quality surveying/reporting, etc. to the extent possible.
- The recommendations will be detailed, documenting any phasing or transitional steps necessary and any specific institutional arrangements or intergovernmental agreements necessary.
- Document any potential issues with study recommendations relative to FTA and ADA service obligations and initiate any necessary consultation/resolution.
- The study should identify benefits to service provision through a model that accommodates or encourages:
• Competition between transportation service providers to help control costs and improve service
• donations from private individuals or foundations
• Efficient implementation of emerging technologies/service taking in to account the sensitive population, complex funding arrangements, driver training requirements/vetting, etc.
• A reasonable balance between the beneficial consistency of governance and operations with the ability to take advantage of the benefits of competitive, private sector bidding.
RECOMMENDATION: DISCUSS any local issues of note and take ACTION as appropriate.
2) STATE
Legislative Report
The August legislative report from the County's legislative advocate, Mark Watts, is attached (June TWIC Report).
Mr. Watts will be present at the August meeting to discuss state legislation, the status of the state budget/transportation revenues, Iron Horse corridor status and other items of interest to the Committee.
School Siting and Safety
The County has been engaged in advocating for improved school siting and safety for a number of years. That advocacy resulted in some specific activities. A brief update on each activity is below.
Department of Education Revisions to School Siting Policies: After a two reports (in 2011 and 2012) from the State Superintendent of Public Instruction on broad school policy reform including school siting issues, the state held a "Policy Symposium" in December 20121 to discuss, among other things, bringing school siting policies in to line with other state policies such as active transportation, safe routes to school, and greenhouse gas reduction initiatives.
It would appear that any momentum that was present with these initiatives has been lost. The Department of Education recently released a white paper, "Sustainable Communities and School Planning" (attached) the title of which self-describes the contents of the document. The document lists existing guidelines and statutes and describes how these policies could be used to develop sustainable communities.
Senate Bill 313 (Monning): Zoning Ordinances: School Districts/Farmland: The bill proposed modest requirements placed on school districts that sought to construct faculties on agricultural land. The California Farm Bureau Federal (CFBF) was working on the bill and consulting with County staff on the various revisions. CFBF staff determined that they would not be able to secure approval of a bill that had any meaningful reform and abandoned the effort for this year.
Senate Bill 632 (Cannella): School Zone Expansion/"When Children Are Present" Reforms: The Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing referred the bill to the California Traffic Control Device Committee (CTCDC) due to the technical nature of the bill. The CTCDC formed a school zone subcommittee to address the issues. The subcommittee and the CTCDC met several times to discuss the changes to the code found in the bill.
In summary, neither Caltrans staff or Committee leadership appeared receptive to meaningful changes to current policies. Final input to the Senate T&H Committee from the CTCDC is not yet available but staff anticipates little to progress on this particular initiative.
Staff will discuss options for the Committee to consider at the August TWIC meeting.
RECOMMENDATION: DISCUSS any state issues of note and take ACTION as appropriate.
3) FEDERAL
No written report in August.
RECOMMENDATION: DISCUSS any federal issues of note and take ACTION as appropriate.
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