ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Phoenix, Arizona
regional planning agencies
Designates the metropolitan
planning organization as the regional planning agency and establishes the
regional transportation planning agency within the metropolitan planning
organization. Allows a county with a
population of 1.2 million or more persons to levy a ½ cent excise tax for no
more than ten years upon approval of the voters for public transportation.
The voters of Maricopa
County established the Regional Public Transportation Authority and the
Regional Area Road Fund (RARF) in 1985 to be funded by a ½ cent sales tax
through FY 2004-2005. The Regional
Public Transportation Authority has a governing board of 11 local elected
officials with the responsibility of developing regional transit plans and
operating regional transit services.
Metropolitan planning organizations (MPO) are federally recognized entities that are charged with developing the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), which identifies all transportation projects within a region and performs other regional planning duties as well. As the designated MPO, Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) essentially sets the transportation priorities for the region (which must be developed and actually constructed by the Arizona Department of Transportation) and incorporates regional projects within the TIP. Because Maricopa County is a nonattainment area (i.e., an area that does not meet federal air quality requirements), the TIP must be approved by the MAG Regional Council, made up of mayors of member cities, and by the Governor. In addition, the TIP must be approved for air quality conformity, by the Federal Highway Association and the Federal Transit Authority.
S.B. 1336 designates the MPO
as the regional planning agency (RPA) and establishes the regional public
transportation agency (RPTA) within the RPA.
This legislation also requires the Maricopa County board of supervisors,
upon approval of the voters, to impose a ½ cent excise tax for no more than ten
years. According to MAG, the ½ cent
excise tax will raise an estimated $350 million in FY 2005-2006.
1. Designates a MPO of a county with a population of 1.2 million or more persons and a county with a population of 400,000 or more persons but less than 1.2 million persons as the RPA.
2. Allows the RPA to be redesignated by an agreement between the Governor and units of general purpose local government that together represent at least 75 percent of the affected population.
3. Prescribes duties of the RPA to include:
§
Review
reports of all municipal general plans of the RPA and the county planning and
zoning comprehensive plan.
§
Perform
transportation excise tax distribution in highly populated counties.
§
Develop
plan revisions containing transportation related air quality control measures
designed to attain and maintain primary and secondary ambient air quality
standards of the clean air act.
§
Provide
assistance to the travel reduction program regional task force.
4. Establishes a policy board of the RPA of local elected officials, officials of public agencies that administer or operate major modes of transportation in the county and appropriate state officials.
5. Prescribes duties of the RPA board to include:
§
Adopt
an annual budget and fix the compensation of its employees.
§
Impose
the powers and duties of the RPA employees.
§
Establish
the method of appointing RPA employees.
§
Set
methods, procedures and systems of operating and managing the policy board.
§
Cause
a postaudit of the financial transactions and records of the RPA to be made at
least annually by a certified public accountant.
§
Adopt
rules for regulation of property and facilities and adoption of powers granted
to the board.
§
Appoint
advisory commissions as necessary.
§
Appoint
an executive director and organize employees into units as necessary.
6. Establishes the regional public transportation agency within the RPA of a county with a population of more than 1.2 million persons.
7. Requires the RPTA to develop a regional public transportation system plan that defines problems, goals and needs and determines solutions relating to corridors, land use, a mix of alternative public transportation modes, technology and cost.
8. Requires the RPTA regional public transportation system plan to include capital and operating costs of the plan and the revenue needed to fund the plan.
9. Requires the RPTA to determine the exclusive public transportation system to be acquired and constructed and the means to finance and operate the systems.
10. Allows the RPTA to modify the plan to reflect change in population or technological advances.
11. Requires the RPTA to establish and operate a regional bus system.
12. Requires the monies distributed from the regional area road fund to be used for incremental increases in a regional bus system and for community funded and special needs transportation services. Prohibits the use of these monies to supplant existing sources of monies used in operating an existing bus system.
13. Allows the RPTA to contract with a public agency or person to operate a regional bus system.
14. Allows the voters in a county with a population of more than 1.2 million persons to vote to impose a county public transportation excise tax.
15. Requires the county board of supervisors to prepare and distribute a publicity pamphlet to each household with a registered voter explaining the provisions of the transportation excise tax.
16. Requires the county board of supervisors, upon approval of the voters, to impose a transaction privilege excise tax on businesses within the county of a rate no higher than ten percent of the state transaction privilege tax rate as of January 1, 1990.
17. Limits the imposition of the excise tax to ten years.
18. Requires the revenues generated from the tax to be deposited in the public transportation fund, established in title 28.
19. Allows the regional planning agency, by resolution, to request the county board of supervisors to place the transportation excise tax on a special election or general election ballot.
20. Establishes a public transportation fund consisting of monies from transportation excise tax distributions, grants, gifts, donations, federal grants, appropriations, fares, revenues, local transportation assistance and public transportation excise tax revenues.
21. Requires the public transportation excise tax revenues to be divided into separate accounts within the public transportation fund. Specifies that 20 percent of revenues be deposited in an operations account and 80 percent of revenues be deposited in a capital account.
22. Prohibits the use of the public transportation fund for activities relating to an election regarding taxes.
23. Requires the citizens transportation oversight committee to review and advise the governing body of the regional planning agency on matters relating to public transit.
24. Transfers pending or completed contracts, orders and judicial or quasi-judicial actions, personnel, property and records from the regional public transportation authority to the RPA.
25. Transfers monies in the public transportation fund repealed by this act to the public transportation fund established by this act.
26. Stipulates that rules adopted by regional public transportation authority remains effective until superseded by rules adopted by the RPA.
27. Repeals the transportation excise tax for counties with a population of 1.2 million or more persons from and after December 31, 2005.
28. Repeals the regional public transportation authority and public transportation fund. Removes powers and duties of the regional public transportation authority and the board of directors.
29. Contains a delayed effective date for the public transportation excise tax.
30. Makes technical and conforming changes.
31. Provides for a general effective date except as otherwise.
Prepared by Senate Staff
February 1, 2000