Blue Ribbon Task Force on Public Transportation for the 21st Century.

Existing law establishes various boards and commissions within state government. Existing law establishes various transit districts and other local entities for development of public transit on a regional basis and makes various state revenues available to those entities for those purposes. Existing law declares that the fostering, continuance, and development of public transportation systems are a matter of statewide concern. The Public Transportation Account is designated as a trust fund and funds in the account shall be available only for specified transportation planning and mass transportation purposes. This bill would establish, until March 30, 2013, the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Public Transportation for the 21st Century. The bill would require the task force to be comprised of 12 members and would require the Senate Committee on Rules and the Speaker of the Assembly to each appoint 6 specified members, by January 31, 2012. The bill would require the task force to elect one of its nonlegislative members as chair. The bill would require the task force to issue a written report that contains specified findings and recommendations relating to, among other things, the current state of California's transit system, the estimated cost of creating the needed system over various terms, and potential sources of funding to sustain the transit system's needs, and to submit the report by September 30, 2012, to the Governor, the Legislature, the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, the Senate Committee on Rules, the Speaker of the Assembly, and the transportation committees of the Legislature. The bill would require the task force, for purposes of collecting information for the written report, to consult with appropriate state agencies and departments and would require the task force to contract with consultants for preparation of the report. The bill would require the Department of Transportation to provide administrative staffing to the task force. The bill would appropriate $750,000 from the Public Transportation Account to the department, as specified, to accomplish the purposes of these provisions.