Transportation: Golden State Patriot Passes Program.

Existing law creates various state transportation agencies, including the Department of Transportation, with specified powers and duties, including, but not limited to, coordinating and assisting, upon request of, the various public and private transportation entities to strengthen their development and operation of balanced integrated mass transportation, highway, aviation, maritime, railroad, and other transportation facilities and services in support of statewide and regional goals. This bill would create the Golden State Patriot Passes Program to be administered by the Department of Transportation to provide veterans with free access to transit services. The bill would require the department to develop guidelines that describe the methodologies that a participating transit operator would use to demonstrate that proposed expenditures would increase veteran mobility and fulfill specified requirements. The bill would require the department to select 3 transit operators to participate, and would require a transit operator selected to participate in the program to match any state moneys that it receives through the program with local moneys. The bill would require the participating transit operators and the department to report on the program. The bill would repeal the program on January 1, 2022.