Staff
- Helen Kerstein
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(916) 319-8364
Air Quality, Energy, Climate Change, and High-Speed Rail - Luke Koushmaro
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(916) 319-8355
Mass Transportation, Traffic Enforcement, Statewide Planning and Infrastructure - Frank Jimenez
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(916) 319-8324
Highways and Roads, Recycling, and Toxics - Rachel Ehlers
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(916) 319-8330
Deputy Legislative Analyst: Environment and Transportation
Publications
Transportation
To browse all LAO publications, visit our Publications page.
Motor Vehicle Account Overview
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January 25, 2011 - Presented to: Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 3 on Resources and Transportation. January 26, 2011.
The 2011-12 Budget: Achieving General Fund Relief From Transportation Funds
January 25, 2011 - Recently, the Legislature enacted a package of changes known as the “fuel tax swap” to achieve General Fund relief. However, the passage of ballot measures in November 2010 potentially undoes portions of the tax swap package. In response to these ballot measures, the Governor’s January 2011-12 budget proposes statutory changes to recapture the use of transportation funds to help balance the state’s budget. In this brief we describe and evaluate these recent changes and the Governor’s proposal. We also provide additional options that the Legislature may wish to consider that offer more solutions to achieve General Fund relief.
Public-Private Partnerships
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December 22, 2010 - Presented to: Hon. Alan Lowenthal Senator, 27th District
High-Speed Rail Language Issues [Revised]
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June 7, 2010 - Presented to Budget Conference Committee
Webcast: The 2010-11 Budget--Transportation
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- Video
March 5, 2010 - In this short webcast, analysts Eric Thronson and Jessica Digiambattista discuss the recently published LAO report "The 2010-11 Budget: Transportation."
2010-11 Budget Analysis: High-Speed Rail Authority
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- HTML
March 3, 2010 - We review the 2010-11 budget request of the High-Speed Rail Authority.
The 2010-11 Budget: Transportation
March 2, 2010 -
The Governor’s budget proposes $18 billion in expenditures (mostly from special funds) for transportation programs in 2010‑11. We recommend the Legislature (1) reduce Caltrans' capital outlay support (COS) staffing by about 1,500 (and $200 million a year) to align with actual workload if Caltrans does not provide workload justification for its COS budget; (2) reject the Governor's request to appropriate $3.45 billion in future federal transportation funds for public-private partnerships because this program does not appear to be permissible under current law and because details are not available regarding how the majority of the funds (about $2.5 billion) would be used; and (3) adopt new reporting requirements for the High-Speed Rail Authority to increase accountability.
(Short video introducing this report)
Governor’s Transportation Funding Proposal
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January 21, 2010 - Presented to: Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee Hon. Denise Moreno Ducheny, Chair
Federal Economic Stimulus Funds for Transportation
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January 20, 2010 - Presented to: Senate Transportation and Housing Committee Hon. Alan Lowenthal, Chair
The 2009 High-Speed Rail Business Plan
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January 12, 2010 - Presented to: Assembly Transportation Committee, Hon. Mike Eng, Chair
Using Federal Economic Stimulus Funds for Transportation: An Update
November 23, 2009 - We reviewed the progress of the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), local road agencies, and transit operators in their use of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds in the months since the enactment of the federal stimulus programs and found that (1) Caltrans has made good progress in the use of almost $1 billion made available to the department, already putting out to bid contracts for 92 percent of the funds; (2) local road agencies have been slower to use their obligated ARRA transportation funds, with contracts for only one–third of their funds out to bid; and (3) the progress of transit system operators is unclear due to a lack of complete information. From the data we were able to compile, however, the operators appear to be making good progress. We recommend that the Legislature hold oversight hearings on the use of ARRA transportation funds to determine if any actions are necessary to ensure that California meets various ARRA deadlines.
Use of Local Share of Gas Tax Revenues
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June 10, 2009 - Presented to Budget Conference Committee
May Revision Overview: Transportation
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May 28, 2009 - Presented to Budget Conference Committee Budget Conference Committee
The High-Speed Rail Authority
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March 17, 2009 - Presented to: Senate Transportation and Housing Committee
State Funding for Transportation
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February 5, 2009 - Presented to Assembly Transportation Committee