Vehicles: road usage charge pilot program.

Existing law establishes the Transportation Agency, which consists of the Department of the California Highway Patrol, the California Transportation Commission, the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Department of Transportation, the High-Speed Rail Authority, and the Board of Pilot Commissioners for the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun. This bill would require the Chair of the California Transportation Commission to create a Road Usage Charge (RUC) Technical Advisory Committee in consultation with the Secretary of the Transportation Agency. The bill would require the technical advisory committee to study RUC alternatives to the gas tax and to make recommendations to the Secretary of the Transportation Agency on the design of a pilot program, as specified. The bill would also authorize the technical advisory committee to make recommendations on the criteria to be used to evaluate the pilot program. The bill would require the technical advisory committee to consult with specified entities and to consider certain factors in carrying out its duties. The bill would require the Transportation Agency, based on the recommendations of the technical advisory committee, to implement a pilot program to identify and evaluate issues related to the potential implementation of an RUC program in California by January 1, 2017. The bill would require the agency to prepare and submit a report of its findings to the technical advisory committee, the commission, and the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature by no later than June 30, 2018, as specified. The bill would also require the commission to include its recommendations regarding the pilot program in its annual report to the Legislature, as specified. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2019.