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AB-2360 Freeway service patrols.(2001-2002)

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AB2360:v94#DOCUMENT

Assembly Bill No. 2360
CHAPTER 578

An act to amend Sections 2560.5, 2561.3, and 2561.5 of, to amend and renumber Section 2562 of, and to add Section 2562.2 to, the Streets and Highways Code, relating to transportation, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.

[ Filed with Secretary of State  September 16, 2002. Approved by Governor  September 14, 2002. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2360, Dutra. Freeway service patrols.
Existing law, the Freeway Service Patrol Act, authorizes a freeway service patrol system managed by the Department of the California Highway Patrol, the Department of Transportation, and a regional or local entity to provide emergency roadside assistance on a freeway located in an urban area. Under that act, funding is provided upon annual appropriation from the State Highway Account in the State Transportation Fund.
This bill would specify that the funding for this purpose be made using a formula-based allocation. The bill would create the Competitive Freeway Service Patrol Grant Program to provide funding for a freeway service patrol system to reduce traffic congestion. The bill would require the Department of Transportation to develop specified guidelines for this program and would specify that the funding be provided by appropriation in the annual Budget Act from the State Highway Account. The bill would specify that its provisions establishing the program would be operative only if this funding is appropriated in the annual Budget Act.
The bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 2560.5 of the Streets and Highways Code is amended to read:

2560.5.
 (a) The purpose of this chapter is to provide for permanent implementation of a freeway service patrol system using a formula-based allocation on traffic-congested urban freeways throughout the state, involving a cooperative effort between state and local agencies.
(b) In addition to the formula-based allocation program established, subject to funds being appropriated in the annual Budget Act, in subdivision (a), there is hereby established a Competitive Freeway Service Patrol Grant Program to provide funding of a freeway service patrol system to reduce traffic congestion.

SEC. 2.

 Section 2561.3 of the Streets and Highways Code is amended to read:

2561.3.
 The freeway service patrol in any particular area shall be operated pursuant to an agreement between the Department of the California Highway Patrol, the department, and the appropriate regional or local entity.

SEC. 3.

 Section 2561.5 of the Streets and Highways Code is amended to read:

2561.5.
 (a) Funding for the freeway service patrols established pursuant to this chapter shall be provided, upon appropriation in the annual Budget Act, from the State Highway Account in the State Transportation Fund. In addition, the appropriate regional or local entity shall ensure that local resources are expended on freeway service patrols in an amount not less than 25 percent of the amount provided from the State Highway Account.
(b) In locations where there already is a freeway service patrol, the department shall coordinate and integrate the funds appropriated pursuant to this section into the existing program. In the allocation of these funds, no local entity may be penalized for having an existing freeway service patrol program.
(c) No state funding may be released prior to the execution of the agreement developed under Section 2561.3.
(d) No program funded under this chapter may supplant emergency response towing services provided by the department as of January 1, 1992.
(e) It is the intent of the Legislature that funding provided under subdivision (a) of Section 2560.5 be consistent from year to year in order to facilitate the awarding of multiyear contracts between participating regional and local entities and providers of freeway patrol services.

SEC. 4.

 Section 2562 of the Streets and Highways Code is amended and renumbered to read:

2562.1.
 Funding for the program established in subdivision (a) of Section 2560.5 in a participating area shall be based 25 percent on the number of urban freeway lane miles in the participating area to the total number of freeway lane miles in all the participating areas, 50 percent on the basis of the ratio of the population of the participating area to the total population of all the participating areas, and 25 percent on the basis of traffic congestion as ascertained by the department pursuant to the most recent Statewide Highway Traffic Congestion Monitoring Program.

SEC. 5.

 Section 2562.2 is added to the Streets and Highways Code, to read:

2562.2.
 (a) Not later than 90 days after the effective date of this section, the department shall prepare guidelines for the implementation of a Competitive Freeway Service Patrol Grant Program and shall submit those guidelines to each regional or local agency operating a freeway service patrol. Not later than 30 days after receipt of the guidelines, the regional or local agency shall submit its written comments to the department.
(b) Not later than 150 days after the effective date of this section, the department shall publish the final guidelines for the Competitive Freeway Service Patrol Grant Program and commence implementation of the program. The guidelines shall not constitute a regulation for the purposes of Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
(c) The guidelines prepared pursuant to this section shall comply with the following requirements:
(1) Grants to be awarded to a regional or local agency applicant on a competitive basis for contracting with an employer for the provision of a new or expanded freeway service patrol service and for contracting with the Department of the California Highway Patrol for the provision of only direct supervisory services warranted by workload standards to reduce traffic congestion.
(2) The grant to require a matching share by the regional or local agency equaling not less than 25 percent of the amount provided from the State Highway Account.
(3) The grant to be awarded on the basis of project need and effectiveness calculated on a cost benefit analysis.
(4) The amount of a grant to be made to a regional or local agency shall not exceed 35 percent of the total amount of the available grant funds.
(5) The regional or local agency demonstrates that the services it proposes to fund with the grant are new freeway service patrol services that were not previously provided in its jurisdiction.
(6) The regional or local agency demonstrates its ability to support and supervise the new or expanded services provided by the Department of the California Highway Patrol.
(d) This section shall be operative only if funds are appropriated for its purposes in the annual Budget Act.

SEC. 6.

 This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to implement the Competitive Freeway Service Patrol Grant Program created by this act at the earliest possible time, it is necessary for the act to take effect immediately.