Toll facilities.

(1) Existing law provides for the Controller to offset, among other things, amounts due to various public agencies from a person or entity, against any amount owing that person or entity from state income, franchise, and sales and use tax refunds and winnings in the California State Lottery. This bill would require the Controller, to the extent feasible, to offset amounts overdue and unpaid for nonpayment of a bridge toll or high-occupancy toll lane fee by a person or entity against state income, franchise, and sales and use tax refunds and winnings in the California State Lottery due to that person or entity, as specified. To the extent insufficient funds are available to satisfy offset requests from all agencies, the bill would provide that the toll agency shall rank with cities and counties in priority for payment. (2) Existing law specifies the powers and duties of the Department of Transportation, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, and the Bay Area Toll Authority with respect to the collection and expenditure of toll revenue from the 7 state-owned toll bridges within the geographic jurisdiction of the commission. Existing law provides a funding plan from various sources, including bridge tolls and state funds, for seismic safety improvement projects for certain of the state-owned toll bridges pursuant to a statutory schedule of cost estimates for each toll bridge. Existing law identifies specified cost overruns beyond those cost estimates for bridges in the geographic jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, provides a funding plan in that regard, and appropriates various revenues for this purpose. Existing law requires the Bay Area Toll Authority to provide the funding for any additional cost overruns beyond the amounts identified in the funding plan, including revenues from increasing the $1 seismic toll surcharge. Existing law provides for revenues identified in the funding plan to be shared between the state and the authority pursuant to a specified formula to the extent the cost overruns are less than estimated. This bill would add seismic safety improvement projects on the Antioch and Dumbarton Bridges to the toll bridge seismic safety program. The bill would provide that surplus cost overrun revenues to be shared between the state and the Bay Area Toll Authority be redirected to the authority for the Antioch and Dumbarton seismic safety projects, and would appropriate those funds for that purpose. The bill would require the authority to provide all other funds necessary to complete those seismic safety projects. The bill would provide for the authority to increase tolls on all Bay Area state-owned toll bridges in that regard. The bill would continuously appropriate to the department all amounts paid to the department by the authority for various purposes relative to the toll bridges. The bill would also authorize the authority to make contributions to the commission in furtherance of the exercise of the authority's powers, as specified. (3) Existing law provides for a cooperative agreement between the Department of Transportation and the Bay Area Toll Authority and imposes other related requirements relative to project oversight and control responsibilities for the Bay Area toll bridge seismic safety projects. This bill would provide that those provisions would also apply to the Antioch and Dumbarton bridge seismic safety projects. (4) Existing law provides for maintenance expenditures on Bay Area state-owned toll bridges to be funded from the State Highway Account or from toll revenues, as specified. This bill would provide that maintenance expenditures that are to be funded from toll revenues shall be funded from toll revenues remaining after payment of all obligations of the Bay Area Toll Authority that are secured by toll revenues. (5) Existing law specifies the basic uniform toll rate for various classes of vehicles for all of the Bay Area state-owned toll bridges, but authorizes the authority to increase tolls as may be necessary to meet bond obligations. This bill, notwithstanding these provisions, would authorize the authority to vary the toll structure on each bridge and to provide discounts for vehicles classified by the authority as high-occupancy vehicles. (6) Existing law provides for the Department of Transportation, in cooperation with various agencies, to develop and adopt functional specifications and standards for an automatic vehicle identification system for toll collection purposes on toll facilities. This bill would require the Bay Area Toll Authority, in its role as the administrator of the automatic vehicle identification system, among other things, to provide a cash-based opportunity for customers to obtain an account for paying tolls that does not require the customer to provide a name or address. (7) Existing law authorizes the Bay Area Toll Authority to reduce the amount of the seismic toll surcharge to encourage electronic toll payment. This bill would delete this provision. (8) This bill would also require the Bay Area Toll Authority to contract with a nationally recognized independent entity with expertise in privacy issues associated with the electronic transmission and storage of data to conduct a review and an analysis of the privacy issues associated with the authority's electronic toll payment collection system, and to report to the Legislature in that regard by January 31, 2011. The bill would thereby impose a state-mandated local program. (9) The bill would enact other related provisions. (10) 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 these statutory provisions.