Section 31070 Of Chapter 4.6. State-owned Toll Bridge Seismic Retrofit Financing Act Of 2001 From California Streets And Highways Code >> Division 17. >> Chapter 4.6.
31070
. The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, legislation was
enacted to make seismic safety a top transportation priority in this
state. In the wake of the Northridge earthquake of 1994, when nine
major freeway bridges were destroyed and 11 major highways wee
closed, seismic retrofit of the state's bridges and highways again
became the number one priority on the state's transportation agenda.
(b) In 1996, voters approved Proposition 192, a two billion dollar
($2,000,000,000) bond measure for state highway seismic retrofit.
This funding measure includes the costs of retrofitting seven
state-owned toll bridges, five in the San Francisco-Oakland Bay area
and two in southern California. Replacement costs for the eastern
span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge were factored in as
well.
(c) Subsequent to the adoption of Proposition 192, new cost
estimates by the department increase the toll bridge retrofit program
from six hundred fifty million dollars ($650,000,000) to two billion
six hundred million dollars ($2,600,000,000). To address this
increase, the Legislature enacted legislation in 1997, establishing
the compromise of a 50/50 funding agreement between the state and
local toll payers to finance all state-owned bridges in the San
Francisco-Oakland Bay area, Los Angeles, and San Diego.
(d) It is the further intent of the Legislature that the
department address the funding deficiency through a combination of
financing options. These options may or may not include obtaining a
loan under the federal Transportation Infrastructure Finance and
Innovation Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-178), a program authorized by the
Congress of the United States in 1998 to provided credit assistance
for large transportation projects.
(e) Other financing options include revenue bonds and commercial
paper should be issued under the authority of the California
Infrastructure and Economic Development Financing Bank, the
California Transportation Commission, or other, appropriate entity.