Intercity rail agreements.

Existing law authorizes the Department of Transportation to contract with Amtrak for intercity rail passenger services and provides funding for these services from the Public Transportation Account. Existing law, until December 31, 1996, authorized the department, subject to approval of the Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing, to enter into an interagency transfer agreement under which a joint powers board assumes responsibility for administering the state-funded intercity rail service in a particular corridor. Existing law, with respect to a transferred corridor, requires the board to demonstrate the ability to meet performance standards established by the secretary. This bill would authorize the department, with approval of the secretary, to enter into interagency transfer agreements for additional intercity rail corridors, to be entered into between June 30, 2014, and June 30, 2015. The bill would require the agreements to cover the initial 3-year period after the transfer, and would authorize subsequent extensions by mutual agreement. If agreements are not entered into by that the expiration of that period, the bill would require the secretary to report to the Governor and the Legislature by June 30, 2016, as specified. This bill would specifically authorize an additional interagency transfer agreement to be entered into with respect to the San Joaquin Corridor, as defined, if a joint powers authority and governing board are created and organized. In that regard, the bill would provide for the creation of the San Joaquin Corridor Joint Powers Authority, to be governed by a board of not more than 11 members. The bill would provide that the board shall be organized when at least 6 of the 11 agencies elect to appoint members. The bill would provide for the authority to be created when the member agencies enter into a joint powers agreement, as specified. The bill would provide for future appointments of additional members if the service boundaries of the San Joaquin Corridor are expanded. Existing law requires the level of service to be funded by the state pursuant to a transfer agreement to not be less than the current number of intercity round trips operated in a corridor and serving the same endpoints. This bill would require the level of service funded by the state to remain the same during the first 3 years following the effective date of the transfer agreement, and would require the entity assuming responsibility for a corridor to provide that level of service. The bill would prohibit termination of feeder bus services except for specified reasons. Existing law provides for the allocation of state funds by the secretary to a joint powers board under an interagency transfer agreement based on the annual business plan for the intercity rail corridor and subsequent appropriation of state funds. Existing law states that the interagency transfer agreement may provide that any additional funds required to operate the intercity rail service during a fiscal year shall be provided by a joint powers board from jurisdictions that receive service. This bill, if local resources are made available for operating the intercity rail service, would require a vote of the local agency providing the resources, and would require the concurrence of the joint powers board in that regard. This bill would authorize the secretary to adopt new performance standards for intercity rail services. The bill would require the San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority to protect existing services and facilities and seek to expand service, as specified. Existing law authorizes the department and any entity that assumes administrative responsibility for passenger rail services through an interagency transfer agreement to contract with specified entities for the use of tracks and other facilities and for the provision of passenger rail services. This bill would require a contractor under an agreement described above to agree that its labor relations shall be governed by a specified federal act relating to labor relations on railroads.