Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Program: Local Partnership Program.

Under existing law, the California Transportation Commission allocates various state and federal transportation funds through specified state programs to local and regional transportation agencies to implement projects consistent with the requirements of those programs. Existing law continuously appropriates $200,000,000 annually from the Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account for allocation by the commission for a program commonly known as the Local Partnership Program to local or regional transportation agencies that have sought and received voter approval of taxes or that have imposed certain fees, which taxes or fees are dedicated solely for road maintenance and rehabilitation and other transportation improvement projects. Existing law requires the commission, in cooperation with the Department of Transportation, transportation planning agencies, county transportation commissions, and other local agencies, to develop guidelines for the allocation of those moneys. This bill would require the commission to annually deposit 85% of these funds into the Local Partnership Formula Subaccount, which the bill would create, and 15% of these funds into the Small Counties and Uniform Developer Fees Competitive Subaccount, which the bill would create. The bill would require the commission to distribute the funds in the Local Partnership Formula Subaccount pursuant to a specified formula to local or regional transportation agencies that meet certain eligibility requirements. The bill would require the commission to allocate funds in the Small Counties and Uniform Developer Fees Competitive Subaccount through a competitive grant program to local or regional transportation agencies that meet other eligibility requirements. The bill would require the commission, in consultation with transportation planning agencies, county transportation commissions, and other local agencies, to develop separate guidelines for the distribution or allocation of the funds in each subaccount that, among other things, establish the types of eligible projects consistent with specified requirements. In order to receive a distribution of funds from the Local Partnership Formula Subaccount from the commission in a funding cycle, the bill would require an eligible entity to submit to the commission a description of a project nominated to be funded with the funds, including the project's status and the amount of eligible local matching funds the eligible entity is committing to the project. The bill would require the commission to review the accompanying documentation for nominated projects to ensure that each nominated project meets certain requirements, and would require that projects determined to meet those requirements be deemed eligible for funding.