Bill Text: CA ACA21 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: State infrastructure: funding: California Infrastructure Investment Fund.
Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Republican 15-1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-05-01 - Re-referred to Com. on BUDGET. [ACA21 Detail]
Download: California-2017-ACA21-Amended.html
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Amended
IN
Assembly
April 30, 2018 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION
| Assembly Constitutional Amendment | No. 21 |
| Introduced by Assembly Members Mayes and Obernolte (Coauthors: Assembly Members Acosta, Baker, Bigelow, Brough, Chávez, Chen, Cunningham, Flora, Fong, Gallagher, Harper, Lackey, Mathis, and Steinorth) |
January 03, 2018 |
A resolution to propose to the people of the State of California an amendment to the Constitution of the State, by adding Section 25 to Article XVI thereof, relating to state infrastructure.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
ACA 21, as amended, Mayes.
State infrastructure: funding: California Infrastructure Investment Fund.
Existing provisions of the California Constitution establish the Budget Stabilization Account in the General Fund and require the Controller, on or before October 1 of the 2015–16 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, to transfer from the General Fund to the Budget Stabilization Account amounts that include a sum equal to 1.5% of the estimated amount of General Fund revenues for that fiscal year.
This measure would amend the California Constitution to create the California Infrastructure Investment Fund in the State Treasury. The measure would require the Controller, beginning in the 2019–20 fiscal year, to transfer from the General Fund to the California Infrastructure Investment Fund in each fiscal year an amount equal to up to 2.5% of the estimated General Fund revenues for that fiscal year, as provided. The measure would require,
for the 2019–20 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, the amounts in the fund to be allocated, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for specified infrastructure investments, including the funding of deferred maintenance projects.
Digest Key
Vote: 2/3 Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
WHEREAS, California has a rich history of planning and building visionary infrastructure projects to benefit its residents. Between 1945 and 1975, California’s leaders dreamed big, planned for the future, and embarked on huge infrastructure projects that shaped California’s prospects for the future of transportation, education, and water; and
WHEREAS, Much of this new and visionary building was championed by Governor Edmund G. “Pat” Brown. After the 1958 election, newly elected Governor Edmund G. “Pat” Brown said, “I would pray that my works as Governor would reach the most forgotten person in the state of California;” and
WHEREAS, Building this visionary future for California included completing all of the major components of the State Water Project, adding nearly 13,000 new lane miles to the state’s highway system, and greatly expanding the state’s capacity to provide higher education at 26 new community colleges, five new California State Universities, and two new University of California campuses; and
WHEREAS, California has lost its vision of the future. A bold and bright future for California requires investments in new, visionary, and innovative infrastructure projects to support the future of water, education, energy, and transportation. Over the past 25 years California’s infrastructure spending has radically changed, from a perspective of “new and visionary” to one of “fix and maintain;” and
WHEREAS, California’s priorities for building new infrastructure have changed significantly. In 1965, nearly 21 percent of state spending went to infrastructure projects. Over the past 25 years, however, spending on infrastructure projects has ranged from less than 1 percent to less than 3 percent each year, even as California added 10 million residents, saw personal incomes increase by 350 percent, more than tripled its State Gross Domestic Product, and collects more than three times as much General Fund revenues over that same time period; and
WHEREAS, According to the Public Policy Institute of California, nearly 60 percent of Californians view traffic congestion as a “big problem.” California must build new lane capacity into its streets, roads, and highways to directly reduce traffic congestion and commute times for its residents. Yet the recently enacted state gas tax increase provides virtually no funding for new lanes or to reduce traffic congestion; and
WHEREAS, California must prepare for autonomous vehicles, high-speed underground transportation systems, and other types of advanced transportation technologies that will reduce costs, speed up travel time, improve safety, and reduce traffic congestion; and
WHEREAS, California can no longer continue to ignore the increased signs of stress on the state’s aging water infrastructure system. It is estimated that more than one million Californians do not have access to clean drinking water in their homes. California must invest in significant technological and efficiency improvements for drinking water systems, groundwater recharge, surface storage, storm water and recycled water infrastructure, desalination, improved conveyance, and funding for local drought resilience and flood control; and
WHEREAS, Extreme weather events and cyberattacks threaten the reliability of electricity for California’s residents statewide. The state must invest in micro grids and other advanced storage technologies to ensure safe, resilient, and reliable energy solutions for Californians, while at the same time lower energy costs and facilitating greenhouse gas reductions and other environmental benefits; and
WHEREAS, California must invest in new high-tech educational facilities that expedite and improve the education experience for students, and prepare them for good paying, middle class jobs; and
WHEREAS, California’s state revenues have grown from $82.8 billion to $127.7 billion over the past decade and the Legislative Analyst’s Office projects it will grow by another $29.2 billion over the next four years. It is clear that there is enough tax revenue to address California’s infrastructure needs and fund other vital programs; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly, the Senate concurring, That the Legislature of the State of California at its 2017–18 Regular Session commencing on the fifth day of December 2016, two-thirds of the membership of each house concurring, hereby proposes to the people of the State of California, that the Constitution of the State be amended as follows:
That Section 25 is added to Article XVI thereof, to read:
SEC. 25.
(a)(b) The California Infrastructure Investment Fund is hereby created in the State Treasury.
(b)
(c) (1) For the 2019–20 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, based on estimates made in the Budget Act for the fiscal year, the Controller shall transfer from the General Fund to the California Infrastructure Investment Fund, no later than October 1, a sum equal to 2 percent of the estimated amount of General Fund revenues for that fiscal year, except as provided in paragraph (4).
(2) For any given fiscal year for which there is a projected fiscal year-to-fiscal year growth of more than five billion dollars ($5,000,000,000) of General Fund revenues, an additional 1/2 percent of
the estimated amount of General Fund revenues for that fiscal year shall be transferred from the General Fund to the California Infrastructure Investment Fund in addition to the transfer made in paragraph (1).
(3) No additional amounts shall be transferred from the General Fund to the California Infrastructure Investment Fund in the event that actual General Fund revenues exceed the estimated General Fund revenues, and nor shall any amounts be transferred from the California Infrastructure Investment Fund to the General Fund in the event that actual General Fund revenues are less than the estimated General Fund revenues. That difference between estimated and actual revenues shall not be taken into account when determining the estimated General Fund revenues to be transferred for any fiscal year.
(4) Upon the Governor’s proclamation declaring a budget emergency and identifying the conditions constituting the emergency, the Legislature may pass a bill that suspends or reduces by a specified dollar amount for that fiscal year the transfer of revenues from the General Fund to the California Infrastructure Investment Fund.
(c)
(d) For the 2019–20 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, amounts in the California Infrastructure Investment Fund shall be allocated, upon appropriation by the Legislature, as follows:
(1) Fifty percent to fund investments in research and development, project planning, construction, and equipment purchases for new and visionary infrastructure projects, which may include including, but not limited to, the following:
(A) Road improvements that prioritize the technical requirements necessary for autonomous vehicles to operate on streets, roads, and highways in our state.
(B) Right-of-way planning Planning and development, including, but
not limited to, acquisition of interests in real property and right-of-way and improvement thereof, preliminary engineering activities, environmental studies, and technological improvements to the existing transportation network that pave the way for integrating new technologies that speed up transportation or make travel more efficient.
(C) Funding for school districts and community college districts that identify and place into operation innovative, new educational facilities that reduce education costs, improve the education experience for students, and are designed to close the job skills gap.
(D) Investments in planning, technical research and development, equipment, and improving the distribution planning framework to advance
strengthen the integrity of the state’s physical electrical infrastructure, protect against outages caused by natural disasters or terrorist attacks, and decrease the cost of electricity to consumers. These types of investments may include advancing the integration of micro grids and incorporating advanced energy storage technologies into California’s smart grid to strengthen
the integrity of the electrical system, protect against outages caused by natural disasters or terrorist attacks, and decrease the cost of electricity to consumers. grid.
(E) Improvements or upgrades of Investments in new technologies that improve or upgrade existing water infrastructure or development of develop new water infrastructure, such as storage, delivery, levees,
and drinking water systems, to ensure California has enough safe, clean drinking water for now and the future.
(2) Twenty-five percent to fund projects to increase the number of street, road, and highway lane miles to reduce traffic congestion and commute times. There shall be priority for funding projects that prioritize the use of new, cutting-edge transportation technologies.
(3) Twenty-five percent to fund deferred maintenance projects.
(d)
(e) (1) Any amounts appropriated from the California Infrastructure Investment Fund shall supplement and not supplant any amounts expended for infrastructure or deferred maintenance of infrastructure as required by subdivision (e) of Section 20.
(2) No amounts in the California Infrastructure Investment Fund may be appropriated for the high-speed rail project described in Chapter 20 (commencing with Section 2704) of Division 3 of the Streets and Highways Code or any project carried out by the High-Speed Rail Authority, as described in Section 185020 of the Public Utilities Code, or a successor agency.
(e)
(f) Nothing in this section shall be construed to reduce the amount of the moneys required to be applied by the State for the support of school districts and community college districts pursuant to Section 8, the amount of moneys required to be transferred to the Budget Stabilization Account pursuant to Section 20, the amount of moneys to be appropriated for the payment of the obligations and purposes pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 20, or the amount of moneys required to be transferred to the Public School System Stabilization Account pursuant to Section 21.
(f)
(g) For purposes of
this section, all of the following shall apply:
(1) “Budget emergency” means any of the following:
(A) An emergency declared by the Governor, within the meaning of paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) of Section 3 of Article XIII B.
(B) A determination by the Governor that estimated resources are inadequate to fund General Fund expenditures for the current or ensuing fiscal year, after setting aside funds for the reserve for liquidation of encumbrances, at a level equal to the highest amount of total General Fund expenditures estimated at the time of enactment of any of the three most recent Budget Acts, adjusted for both of the following:
(i) The annual percentage
change in the cost of living for the State, as measured by the California Consumer Price Index.
(ii) The annual percentage growth in the civilian population of the State pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 7901 of the Government Code.
(2) “Deferred maintenance” means maintenance activities activities, including repair, replacement, and rehabilitation, that have not been completed to keep state-owned facilities facilities, including facilities of the State Plan of Flood Control,
in an acceptable and operable condition, and that are intended to maintain or extend their useful life, including, but not limited to, repainting, reroofing, repairing wiring and plumbing, dredging river or stream beds beds, or strengthening or raising levees and related facilities to restore original authorized flow capacity, replacing old equipment, and repairing roads.
(3) “General Fund revenues” means revenues and transfers before any transfer to the Budget Stabilization Account as
required by Section 20.
