Local Transportation Authority and Improvement Act: Contra Costa Transportation Authority.

The Local Transportation Authority and Improvement Act authorizes a county board of supervisors to create or otherwise designate a local transportation authority in the county that may impose a transactions and use tax subject to voter approval and other specified requirements. The act authorizes revenues from the transactions and use tax to be allocated for, among other things, the construction, improvement, and operation of public transit systems. This bill would expressly state that the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA) has all powers granted by the act to a local transportation authority, thereby authorizing the CCTA to impose a transactions and use tax pursuant to the act. The bill would authorize the CCTA to use revenues from a transactions and use tax imposed pursuant to the act to be allocated for the acquisition, construction, maintenance, and operation of vehicles and facilities related to public transportation systems and for the development, construction, and installation of components of public transportation systems, as specified. The bill would authorize the CCTA to acquire, develop, own, and operate facilities, systems, and devices, as specified. The bill would require the CCTA to be responsible for the coordination of public transit systems within the County of Contra Costa, and would require, upon request by the CCTA, transit operators within the County of Contra Costa to work with the CCTA to promote the purposes of this paragraph. The bill would require the CCTA to serve as a clearinghouse to facilitate the exchange of information related to signal coordination and signal prioritization within the County of Contra Costa, as specified. The bill would authorize the CCTA to acquire and dispose of real and personal property by certain means, including, but not limited to, acquisition by eminent domain, as specified. By creating new duties for the CCTA and other public transit operators within the County of Contra Costa, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law authorizes various local governmental entities, subject to certain limitations and approval requirements, to levy a transactions and use tax for general purposes, in accordance with the procedures and requirements set forth in the Transactions and Use Tax Law, including a requirement that the combined rate of all taxes that may be imposed in accordance with that law in the county not exceed 2%. This bill would authorize, until January 1, 2045, the Contra Costa Transportation Authority to impose a transactions and use tax for the support of countywide transportation programs at a rate of no more than 1% that would, in combination with other transactions and use taxes, exceed the above-described combined rate limit of 2%, if the ordinance proposing the tax is approved by the voters, subject to applicable voter approval requirements, as specified. The bill would provide that a transactions and use tax rate imposed pursuant to the bill will not be considered for purposes of that combined rate limit described above. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Contra Costa. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.