Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District.

Existing law creates, within the Counties of Sonoma and Marin, the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District with specified duties and powers relative to the provision of a passenger and freight rail system within the territory of the district. Under existing law, the district is governed by a 12-member board of directors appointed by various local governmental entities. Existing law authorizes the board to submit to the voters of the district a measure proposing a retail transactions and use tax ordinance. This bill would also authorize those special taxes to be imposed by a qualified voter initiative if that initiative complies with certain requirements. The bill would require the board of supervisors of the Counties of Sonoma and Marin to call a special election on a tax measure proposed by the district's board of directors or a qualified voter initiative in their respective counties and would require the district to reimburse the counties upon request for the incremental cost of submitting the measure to the voters, as specified. To the extent that the bill would impose additional duties on a county elections official, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would delete a provision that limits the district, in the County of Sonoma north of the City of Healdsburg, to locating commuter stations only within incorporated areas. The bill would require the district to obtain coverage for the district and its employees under the appropriate federal and state workers' compensation, unemployment compensation, and disability and unemployment insurance laws, instead of only under laws of this state. Existing law renamed the North Coast Railroad Authority the Great Redwood Trail Agency on March 1, 2022. Existing law requires the agency to convey and transfer all of its rights, interests, privileges, and title relating to its rail right-of-way south of the county line separating the Counties of Mendocino and Sonoma to the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District. This bill would delete various obsolete references to the North Coast Railroad Authority located within provisions governing the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District. Existing law requires the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District's contracts for the purchase of supplies, equipment, and materials to be let to the lowest responsible bidder when the expenditure required exceeds $40,000. This bill would increase that threshold to $75,000 and would authorize the contract to be let to the lowest responsible bidder, or, in the district's discretion, to the responsible bidder who submitted a proposal that provides the best value to the district on the basis of the factors identified in the solicitation. The bill would require the district, to the extent practicable, to obtain a minimum of 3 quotations, either written or oral, that permit prices and terms to be compared whenever the expected expenditure required for the purchase of supplies, equipment, or materials exceeds $10,000 but does not exceed $75,000. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.