Executive Director's Report

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR STEVE HEMINGER’S REPORT TO THE
COMMISSION MEETING OF JULY 22, 2009

SUMMARY OF EVENTS:

MTI Board of Trustees
San Jose, June 27

I attended the regular bi-annual meeting of the board of trustees for the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI). Representative Jim Oberstar, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, also attended the session and recounted his efforts to pass a multi-year federal surface transportation authorization bill in Congress this year.

CTA Wins Appellate Ruling
Sacramento, June 30

The California Transit Association (CTA) won a major legal victory in its ongoing challenge to the state’s diversion of public transit funding to cover General Fund deficits. The 3rd District Court of Appeal has ruled that the state’s diversion of $1.2 billion of such transit funds in the FY 2007-08 budget was illegal. The decision largely overturned a contrary Superior Court decision handed down last year. It is unlikely that the ruling will have any immediate fiscal impact, however, because the Department of Finance has indicated that the state plans to file an appeal with the California Supreme Court.

Secretary LaHood Visit
Oakland, July 2

I joined Senator Barbara Boxer, Congressperson Barbara Lee, Mayor Ron Dellums, and other state and local officials in welcoming U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood in his first visit as a cabinet officer to the Bay Area. Secretary LaHood toured the Bay Bridge construction site as well as the Port of Oakland’s maritime operations, and held a roundtable discussion and press conference covering several subjects related to the federal economic recovery program.

Senate Transportation Committee Testimony
Sacramento, July 7

I testified before the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee in Sacramento in support of two MTC-sponsored bills: AB 744 (Torrico) to authorize implementation of a Bay Area Express Lane Network, and AB 1175 (Torlakson) to add the Dumbarton and Antioch Bridges into the Toll Bridge Seismic Retrofit Program. The two bills stirred quite a bit of interest among committee members, and it wasn’t until the following week after a series of amendments that both measures were approved and forwarded to the Senate Appropriations Committee for further consideration.

TBPOC Meeting
Oakland, July 15

At the latest monthly meeting of the Toll Bridge Program Oversight Committee, we were informed by the contractor that delivery of the first steel deck sections for the self-anchored suspension (SAS) bridge has been delayed from July to September of this year. In response, the committee members expressed our intention to visit the steel fabricator ZPMC in Shanghai in late August, to impress upon the company the importance of meeting the schedule and quality requirements for the new span. These SAS shipping delays will not affect the planned Labor Day closure of the existing Bay Bridge so that the Yerba Buena Island detour structure can be shifted into place.

High Speed Rail Applications
Washington, July 16

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) announced that it had received 278 “pre-applications” for high speed rail grant funding totaling $102 billion in requested funds. This is the first formal indication of the intense national interest sparked by the $8 billion set aside for high speed rail projects in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) earlier this year. The final ARRA application deadline is August 24 for funding on individual projects and planning activities, and October 2 for corridor programs. California was responsible for nearly one-quarter of all the funds requested, and the state’s preliminary list included all the projects that the Commission had recommended in the San Francisco/Silicon Valley Corridor Investment Strategy you adopted last month.

State Budget Deal
Sacramento, July 20

Press reports indicate that Governor Schwarzenegger and the bi-partisan leadership of the State Legislature have reached agreement on a package composed largely of spending cuts and funding diversions to close a projected $26 billion shortfall in the FY 2009-10 state budget. In the transportation arena, it appears that the agreement includes the expected $1 billion diversion of local gas tax subversion funds (Bay Area impact: $184 million loss to local road repairs) as well as the latest diversion from the State Transit Assistance program (Bay Area impact: $211 million loss to local transit operating budgets).

Federal Authorization Update

In Washington, the Senate and House continue to pursue their own separate legislative strategies for authorization of a new surface transportation program. Last week, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee chaired by Senator Barbara Boxer approved an 18-month extension of current law past the 2010 mid-term elections. The Senate Finance Committee is expected to take up soon the companion extension of the federal fuel tax, as well as a $27 billion revenue transfer from the General Fund to the Highway Trust Fund to sustain current spending levels through the extension period.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has indicated that she supports the strategy of her Transportation Committee chair, Representative Jim Oberstar, to enact a multi-year authorization bill this year. The current SAFETEA law expires on September 30, 2009. The Democratic members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee recently dispatched a letter to President Obama indicating their strong disagreement with his support for the 18-month extension proposal.

ARRA Status Report

This month’s status report for projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) shows that we have made considerable progress in obligating the various highway and transit funds that the commission has programmed to specific projects, but we have awarded less than 10% of those funds to contractors so that construction work can begin.

• Bay Area ARRA Project Status | July 19, 2009 (PDF)
  
  

Map of the Month

The map of the month demonstrates that the statewide distribution of funding by county for state services in California is largely dependent on the revenue collected through income taxes. Counties whose residents pay higher income tax rates enable the state to fund services and programs in counties that generate less revenue for the state through income tax. This map shows this distribution based on funding data from FY 2007-2008. For the purposes of this analysis, state services include prison, parole, mental health, medical aid, K-12 education, in-home supportive services and separate state programs.

• Distribution of State Services in California (PDF)
  
  

MTC Operational Statistics

The monthly report on the performance of MTC’s operating programs:

• MTC Operational Statistics (PDF)
  
  

Upcoming Events

August 5 — RTAC Meeting, Sacramento