TEA-21
UPDATE
Late
last week, Congress approved another extension of the federal surface
transportation law (“TEA-21”), averting a shutdown of key federal
transportation agencies and any potential disruption to state and local
transportation project sponsors that would have occurred beginning March
1. This is the second time Congress has extended the six-year
TEA-21 law, which expired September 30. This extension effort was
fraught with more controversy. Senate and House transportation leaders
disagreed over the length of the extension period, with the House
shrinking their original proposal from four months to two months.
Another
disagreement between the House and Senate arose over funding flexibility
provisions contained in the 5-month extension law that allowed states to
use available highway funds for any program purpose. The House version
of the extension sought to protect funding for the Congestion Mitigation
and Air Quality (CMAQ), Transportation Enhancements, Safety and STP
urbanized area funds (MPOs of 200,000 or more) programs, provisions that
were strongly supported by STPP and its many partner organizations.
While Senate transportation leaders originally did not want these
protections, Members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee prevailed and they were included in the final legislation.
Leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee are
continuing discussions with House leaders and White House officials to
secure an agreement that provides adequate funding for a six-year
renewal package.
UPDATE
ON STPP STATEWIDE LEGISLATION
SB 1087 (Soto), which would
dedicate $20-25 million a year for Safe Routes to School projects will
be heard in the Legislature on March 16th.
Read the action alert.
Please fax a support letter signed by
you to (916) 447-8881.
AB 775 (Parra)
is companion legislation to SB 1087, and would also continue the Safe
Routes to School program. AB 775 will be heard in Senate
Transportation Committee in April.
Please fax a support letter signed by
you to (916) 447-8881.
AB 392 (Montanez) will
mandate that the Environmental Justice and Community-based
Transportation Planning grants become permanent programs of Caltrans.
The bill is heading to Senate Transportation Committee in April.
Please fax a support letter signed by
you to (916) 447-8881.
Assembly Constitutional Amendment 14
(Steinberg) and Senate Constitutional Amendment 11 (Alarcón) would
allow voters to decide whether they want to lower the voter approval
threshold from two-thirds to 55 percent for local special tax and bond
proposals for infrastructure investments, but only if those proposals
contain a balanced mix of investments for affordable housing,
transportation improvements, neighborhood parks, and other
infrastructure. SCA11 will be heard on the Senate Floor on April 14.
Please fax support letters for SCA
11 and ACA
14 signed by you to (916) 447-8881.
In
addition, following are a list of bills to monitor which are part of an
infill incentives package…
SB
1592 and SB 1827 (Torlakson) – SB 1592 designates infill
opportunity zones; requires cities and counties to have an infill
ordinance; requires certain incentives in zones; addresses housing
requirements. SB 1592 has now been scheduled for the Senate
Local Government Committee Wed April 21. It has also been
double-referred to Senate Housing. SB 1827 would require the Department
of Housing and Community Development, in consultation with the Division
of the State Architect, to prepare and provide to the Legislature a
report on whether to require the adoption of building standards for car
elevators, parking lifts, or both.
AB
672 and 389 (Montanez) – AB 672 provides additional homebuyer
assistance within Transit Oriented Developments. AB 389 implements
CAL EPA recommendations, including: creating a uniform definition
of brownfields, developing a voluntary Codify Prospective Purchaser
Agreements.
SB
806 (Sher) – Revises procedures for capital facilities plan and
the general plan.
Read
about the recent press release from the Infill Coalition working to
promote these bills.
STATEWIDE
BALLOT MEASURES
Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger won a resounding vote of confidence Tuesday, March
2nd, as Californians overwhelmingly passed two ballot measures that were
cornerstones of his plan for recovery from the state fiscal crisis.
Proposition 57 authorizes the state to borrow up to $15 billion to
balance the budget. Proposition 58, often described by Schwarzenegger as
a device to shred the credit card of politicians unable to control
spending, restricts future borrowing to cover deficits. It also requires
balanced budgets and a rainy-day reserve. However, despite the passage
of Proposition 57 & 58, the Governor's proposed 2004-2005 budget
still aims to suspend the Proposition 42 transfer from the General Fund
to the Traffic Congestion Relief Program (TCRP), for a total savings of
$1.1 billion. Proposition 42 provides for annual transfers of sales and
use taxes on gasoline from the General Fund to the TCRP in order to fund
state and local transportation projects. Propositions 57 and 58 do
nothing to reinstate SB 1856 (which Gov. Schwarzenegger repealed), a
$9.95 billion general obligation bond for high-speed rail on the
November 2004 ballot. Finally, the proposed budget repeals the statutory
designation of TCRP projects, arguing that these projects should compete
for funds under the State Transportation Improvement Plan (STIP).
Voters
rejected Proposition 56, the Budget Accountability Act on Tuesday, which
would have allowed the Legislature
to pass a budget with a 55 percent vote rather than the two-thirds vote
currently required. In
addition, Proposition 56 would have required 25 percent of “excess”
state revenue (up to 5 percent of General Fund spending) to be set
aside.
LOCAL
BALLOT MEASURES
California's March 2 primary elections
featured some victories for smart growth at the local level.
On the other hand, environmentalists were on the losing end of a
ballot measure in
Contra
Costa
County
and in
San Diego
County.
Bay Area
Regional Measure 2
Voters in
Northern California
approved an increase in bridge tolls.
Voters in six Bay Area counties approved Regional Measure 2,
which will raise the cost of bridge tolls to fund mass transit
improvement projects including the downtown extension of Caltrain to a
new downtown Transbay Terminal, all night bus service along BART lines,
Safe Routes to Transit, new Dumbarton Rail, TransLink Universal transit
card, Bus Rapid Transit in Oakland, and a massive expansion of the
regional express bus system. The measure won, 57% to 43%.
Beginning July 1, tolls will increase from $2 to $3 on every Bay
Area Caltrans bridge except the
Golden Gate
Bridge
.
El Dorado
County
Measure G
Smart
growth did prevail in
El Dorado
County
, where a developer-backed
general plan initiative flopped. A
proposal to adopt a general plan for
El Dorado
County
without environmental review and mitigation experienced a sound defeat.
At
9:30 p.m.
Tuesday, with 21 of 117 precincts reporting, 68.5 percent of voters
denied the measure.
Two
separate measures intended to limit sprawl were defeated in California
yesterday.
San Diego
County
Measure A
In
San Diego
County, voters bucked statewide trends by rejecting the Rural Lands
Initiative, which would have put a 20-year ban on development in 1,000
acres of the county's "backcountry."
It would have established
a growth boundary at the County Water Authority Line as well as minimum
lot sizes to ward off sprawl in the back country.
Contra
Costa
County
Measure L
Contra
Costa
County
voters narrowly defeated a referendum that would have banned stores
larger than 90,000 square feet (Read:
Walmart) that sold groceries from entering unincorporated areas. About
53% of voters rejected Measure L, allowing the Wal-Mart Corp. to proceed
with plans to build a "Supercenter" in the county.
The hotly contested election saw Wal-Mart -- widely criticized for,
among many other things, encouraging sprawl -- pour $1 million into the
campaign, grossly outspending opponents. The vote was considered
a victory for Wal-Mart, which is facing opposition in some cities to
"Supercenters." Critics fear that the Wal-Mart centers will
hurt smaller businesses.
And finally, a slow growth
initiative went down in defeat…
San Benito
County
Measure G
San Benito
County
voters rejected a measure Tuesday that would force the fast-growing area
to develop at a slower pace. Measure
G would have slowed development in
San Benito
County. It would have banned development on ridgelines on all unincorporated
county land, limited the number of residential building permits to 2
percent growth a year and prohibited rural landowners from parceling out
their land in very small chunks.
STPP
Staffing Changes
STPP
wishes Kristi Kimball the best of luck in her new role as an Associate
Education Program Officer at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
Her work as Deputy Director at STPP on statewide legislation and local
policy reforms went a long way toward promoting smart growth in
California.
She can be reached at the numbers and
addresses below:
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
2121
Sand Hill Road,
Menlo Park, 94025
Phone: (650) 234-4500 x5687
Fax: (650) 234-1961
Very
Affordable Office Space Available in Downtown San Francisco
Rails-to-Trails
Conservancy (RTC), a nonprofit organization, has space available
immediately for sublease in our downtown San Francisco office. Located
just 2 blocks from the Powell BART/Muni station, served by several
Market Street bus lines, the space is located near Union Square in a
historic building. It is ideal for either a small operation or an
organization looking to set up a satellite office in the city.
The
space consists of 3 private window offices plus 3 workstations in
addition to shared common areas within a larger suite shared with RTC.
Common areas include a conference room (12 ft x 15ft 8in x 8ft), storage
room and shared office equipment and amenities such as a copier, water
cooler, microwave, and mini refrigerator which allow us to economize
further on space and expenses.
Other
amenities include T1 internet connection, indoor bike parking, and
proximity to restaurants and business services. We will consider renting
all or a portion of the available space. If you or anyone you know is
interested, please have them contact Liz Garcia at (415) 956-2046 or at
lgarcia@transact.org for more information or to make an appointment to
view the offices.
