Transportation: transactions and use taxes.

(1) Existing law authorizes various specified governmental entities, subject to certain limitations and approval requirements, to levy a transactions and use tax for general or specific purposes, in accordance with the procedures and requirements set forth in the Transactions and Use Tax Law. Existing law creates the Placer County Transportation Planning Agency as a local area planning agency to provide regional transportation planning for the area of the County of Placer, exclusive of the Tahoe Basin. This bill would authorize the agency to impose a transactions and use tax applicable to the entirety of, or a portion of, the County of Placer, excluding the Tahoe Basin, in conformity with the Transactions and Use Tax Law at a rate of no more than 1% if certain requirements are met, including a requirement that the ordinance proposing the transactions and use tax be submitted to, and approved by, the voters. The bill would require that any revenues derived from the tax be spent within, or for the benefit of, the portion of the county to which the tax would apply and be spent only on transportation and transit infrastructure and services. This bill would enact a similar provision for the Solano Transportation Improvement Agency that would authorize the agency to impose a transactions and use tax applicable to specified cities within, and the unincorporated area of, the County of Solano, as specified. (2) Existing law provides for the consolidation of certain regional transportation planning, programming, and related functions in the county of San Diego from various existing agencies including the San Diego County Regional Transportation Commission, the San Diego Association of Governments, the San Diego Metropolitan Transit Development Board, also known as the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System, and the North County Transit District. Existing law authorizes those agencies to impose transactions and use taxes for transportation purposes within their respective jurisdictions, subject to voter approval and various other requirements. This bill would authorize the San Diego County Regional Transportation Commission, the San Diego Association of Governments, the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System, and the North County Transit District to impose a tax applicable to only a portion of a county if 23 of the voters voting on the measure within the portion of the county to which the tax would apply vote to approve the tax, as specified, and other requirements are met, including that the revenues derived from the tax be spent within, or for the benefit of, the portion of the county to which the tax would apply and be spent only on transportation and transit infrastructure and services. The bill would prohibit those agencies from entering into a construction contract over $1,000,000 that would be in part or wholly financed through a tax applicable to only a portion of the county with any entity unless the entity provides to the agency an enforceable commitment that the entity and its subcontractors at every tier will use a skilled and trained workforce to perform all work on the project or a contract that falls within an apprenticeship occupation in the building and construction trades, except as specified. The bill would also make conforming changes.