BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2333
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 2333 (Nakano)
As Amended May 16, 2002
Majority vote
TRANSPORTATION 11-7 APPROPRIATIONS 16-8
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|Ayes:|Dutra, Chu, Kehoe, Liu, |Ayes:|Steinberg, Alquist, |
| |Longville, Nakano, | |Aroner, Cohn, Corbett, |
| |Oropeza, Salinas, | |Correa, Diaz, Firebaugh, |
| |Simitian, Strom-Martin, | |Goldberg, Papan, Pavley, |
| |Vargas | |Simitian, Keeley, |
| | | |Wiggins, Wright, Chan |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Rod Pacheco, Bates, |Nays:|Bates, Ashburn, Daucher, |
| |Hollingsworth, La Suer, | |Maldonado, Negrete |
| |Leach, Leslie, Mountjoy | |McLeod, Robert Pacheco, |
| | | |Runner, Zettel |
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SUMMARY : Requires the Southern California Association of
Governments (SCAG) to assure that the aviation component of its
regional transportation plan (RTP) provides a fair-share
distribution of both the burdens and benefits of commercial
aviation among the four urbanized SCAG counties of the SCAG
region. Specifically, this bill :
1)Sets forth findings regarding the projections for growth in
passenger and air cargo transportation at commercial airports
in the four urbanized counties of the SCAG region (Los
Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino) over the next
23 years (2025), and the importance of those projected trends
to the region's economy. The bill also makes findings
regarding the environmental impact of drastic growth in air
traffic to adjacent communities. Lastly, the bill declares
that it is in the interest of those urban counties to
distribute the burdens and benefits of commercial aviation in
a fair and even manner throughout the region.
2)Requires that the aviation program within the SCAG regional
transportation plan be developed in a manner that assures a
fair-share distribution of both the burdens and benefits of
commercial aviation among the four urbanized counties.
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Directs SCAG, in determining a county's fair share
distribution, to assess the future passenger cargo demand that
is reasonably attributable to each county.
3)Requires that SCAG, in developing the aviation program of the
RTP, adhere to the principles of environmental justice to the
extent that those principles conform to federal law, and
assure that no community of ethnic or racial minorities bear a
disproportionate share of the environmental burden of regional
aviation activity.
4)Requires SCAG to annually review the master plans and airport
layout plans of each commercial airport for consistency with
the aviation component of the RTP. The bill specifies that
the SCAG review shall include a determination of whether
airports in each of the identified counties are making timely
and reasonable progress in meeting the RTP goals relative to
projected air cargo and passenger demand.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires designated regional transportation planning agencies
and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to prepare and
adopt an RTP that includes a policy element, an action
element, and a financial element. The plan must be directed
at achieving a coordinated and balanced regional
transportation system, including all transportation modes,
goods movement and aviation facilities and services.
2)Specifies that the RTP must consider alternate planning
scenarios and be action-oriented and pragmatic, considering
both the short-term and long-term future, and shall present
clear, concise policy guidance to local and state officials.
Each transportation-planning agency is required to consider
and incorporate, as appropriate, the transportation plans of
state, federal, local, and private entities.
3)Provides that transportation capital improvement projects
relating to highway and rail transit shall be funded, in part,
from the Inter Regional Transportation Improvement Program
(ITIP).
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee analysis, this measure would result in negligible
costs to the SCAG to modify its current RTP process.
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COMMENTS : SCAG is the federally-designated MPO for the six
counties that make up the Southern California region: Imperial,
Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura.
The region encompasses a population exceeding 15 million persons
in an area of more than 38,000 square miles. In addition to the
responsibilities that are established in state law, SCAG is
required by federal law to perform research and develop plans
for transportation, growth management, hazardous waste
management, and air quality.
In 2001, SCAG issued its updated RTP, which includes a separate
component for aviation. The aviation component of the RTP
provides projections for growth in regional aviation traffic,
and recommendations for the expansion and improvement of airport
facilities over the next two decades (2025). SCAG projects that
demand for air passenger travel will nearly double, to 167
million annual passengers, and air cargo demand will triple, to
9.5 million tons during that same period.
The RTP identifies the established commercial service airports
as the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Ontario Airport
in San Bernardino County, Palm Springs Airport in Riverside
County, John Wayne Airport in Orange County and Long Beach
Airport in Los Angeles County. SCAG reports that collectively,
these facilities represent 7,900 acres of commercial airport
facilities that are in service in the region. By comparison,
Chicago's O'Hare airport sits on 7,700 acres and Denver
International Airport on 34,000 acres. The RTP projects that,
without the proposed expansion of additional regional airport
facilities, air passenger capacity will fall short by 28% of
projected demand.
The RTP recommends that agencies in the region develop a
decentralized airport system, utilizing former military bases
and joint use facilities, rather than expanding existing
urbanized airports. SCAG argues that this type of expansion
would generate an additional 34,000 acres of capacity. The RTP
identifies several former military bases and joint use
facilities for potential expansion: George and Norton Air Force
Bases (San Bernardino County), March Air Reserve Base (Riverside
County), Palmdale Air Force Plant (Los Angeles), and El Toro
Marine Corps Air Station (Orange County).
The author argues that the communities in the South Bay area of
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Los Angeles County have coped with the crushing burden of
hosting one of the country's busiest airports, and that AB 2333
would address significant equity issues regarding regional
aviation benefits and burdens. This measure is intended to
bring about a more balanced distribution of aviation traffic
among the urban counties in the SCAG region (Los Angeles,
Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino). Citing the need for a
"fair-share distribution" of air passenger and cargo demand
among the four urbanized counties, the City of El Segundo argues
that AB 2333 is intended to provide incentives for counties
within and adjacent to the Los Angeles basin to develop and
implement projects that help spread airport capacity across
several under utilized facilities in the region.
Opponents of this measure, including the City of Los Angeles,
and several cities in Orange County, have expressed their
concern with AB 2333, arguing that the bill would take away
local control by establishing conformity requirements for a
document that is only intended to be used for planning purposes.
The Mayor of Los Angeles argues that "AB 2333 will shift local
control over airport planning and development to an agency that
is neither designed or equipped to determine whether airports
and counties are meeting their 'fair share' requirement."
In many cases, there are market-based (Palmdale) or political
and environmental (LAX, El Toro) barriers to developing or
expanding several of the airport facilities that are identified
in the RTP. Airlines have expressed a reluctance to locate
terminals in many of the less urbanized sites for airport
facilities. In Los Angeles, LAX continues to be the dominant
facility for regional air passenger and cargo traffic, but
neighboring communities (including the sponsor of this measure,
the City of El Segundo), have spearheaded efforts to place legal
and political obstacles in the way of any further LAX expansion.
It is not clear whether all of the recommendations for airport
expansion in the RTP are politically or economically feasible.
In March of this year, the voters in Orange County approved
Measure W, which rezoned the land at the El Toro site for parks
and educational purposes. Immediately after the election, the
United State Navy announced their intent to offer the land for
sale to development interests. El Toro was identified as the
most viable alternative of the potential new airport facilities
that were identified in the RTP, with the potential to absorb
nearly 30 million annual passengers by 2025.
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AB 2333 would require SCAG to annually review local airport
planning documents for conformance with the "fair share
distribution" review standards established by the bill. It is
not clear that there is a consensus-based way to quantify a
county's "fair share" distribution of aviation activity.
It appears that the recommendations for airport facility and
ground-access improvements that are contained in the RTP are
driven by projections for growth in air travel over the next 23
years. Many of the projections for growth in aviation traffic
were developed before the state experienced the recent, drastic
declines in air traffic and prolonged security screening process
at airports around the country. It is not clear whether the
current dip in aviation activity was factored into SCAG's
projections for growth or if this reduction is temporary in
nature. Should the RTP be updated before requirements are
placed on counties and local airports? What impact would this
new trend have on the RTP projections and their recommendations
for airport improvements?
Analysis Prepared by : Andrew Antwih / TRANS. / (916)
319-2093FN: 0005155