Transportation: Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund: state and local transportation funds.

The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The act authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the state board as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and to be available, upon appropriation, for purposes relating to greenhouse gas emissions reduction. Existing law provides for deposit of revenues from sales and use taxes in the Retail Sales Tax Fund, including revenues from sales and use taxes imposed by local agencies under the Bradley-Burns Uniform Local Sales and Use Tax Law. Existing law provides for revenues from 14 of 1% of the sales and use tax rate imposed by counties under the Bradley-Burns Uniform Local Sales and Use Tax Law to be transferred from the Retail Sales Tax Fund to local transportation funds created in each county for allocation by transportation planning agencies to various transportation purposes under the Transportation Development Act. The California Constitution imposes certain restrictions on the Legislature relative to the provisions governing the Bradley-Burns Uniform Local Sales and Use Tax Law and local transportation funds. This bill, beginning in the 2016–17 fiscal year, would transfer $1 billion annually from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to the Retail Sales Tax Fund, subject to specified conditions, and would state that the transferred revenues shall be considered part of the revenues allocated to local transportation funds from the Retail Sales Tax Fund. The bill, in each fiscal year in which that transfer occurs, would also continuously appropriate $1 billion from the Retail Sales Tax Fund for allocation to state highway and local street and road purposes. The bill would make legislative findings and declarations in that regard.