Trade Corridors Improvement Fund: grant program: short-line railroads.

The Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality, and Port Security Bond Act of 2006, approved by the voters as Proposition 1B at the November 7, 2006, statewide general election, authorizes the issuance of $19.925 billion of general obligation bonds for specified purposes, including $2 billion to be transferred to the Trade Corridors Improvement Fund (TCIF) , created by the bond act. The bond act makes the moneys in the TCIF available, upon appropriation in the annual Budget Act by the Legislature and subject to such conditions and criteria as the Legislature may provide by statute, for allocation by the California Transportation Commission for infrastructure improvements along federally designated Trade Corridors of National Significance or along other corridors that have a high volume of freight movement, as determined by the commission. Existing law designates the commission as the administrative agency responsible for programming funds in the TCIF and authorizes the commission to adopt guidelines for the TCIF program. This bill would require the commission, upon appropriation by the Legislature of funds resulting from TCIF program savings, to establish a competitive grant program to provide grants from those funds in the 2020–21 and 2021–22 fiscal years to the Department of Transportation or regional transportation planning agencies, or both, for short-line railroad projects such as railroad reconstruction, maintenance, upgrade, or replacement. The bill would require the commission to adopt guidelines, in consultation with representatives from specified government and industry entities, by July 1, 2020, to be used by the commission to select grant recipients.