BILL NUMBER: SB 165INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Senator Lowenthal FEBRUARY 14, 2009 An act relating to transportation, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 165, as introduced, Lowenthal. Federal transportation funds. Existing law provides for apportionment of federal transportation funds to the state and provides for allocation of these funds to various purposes. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations relative to additional federal funds to be made available to the state pursuant to federal economic stimulus legislation. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) Legislation has been introduced in the United States Congress that, when enacted, will make appropriations of federal funds for various purposes, including job preservation and creation, infrastructure investment, energy efficiency and science, assistance to the unemployed, and state and local government fiscal stabilization. This act, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, is expected to provide between $40 billion and $85 billion nationally in transportation funding for a variety of mass transit and highway projects. (b) It is the intent of the Legislature to implement the expenditure of federal transportation funds apportioned to the state under the act as expeditiously as possible and in accordance with federal law. (c) It is in the interest of the state to ensure that the funds apportioned to the state under the act are fully obligated within the constraints of the act. (d) The investment of these federal transportation funds should be guided by both of the following principles: (1) Investment in transportation projects should stimulate job creation in the near term and support economic activity in the long term. (2) Transportation projects funded by the act should contribute to a transportation system that is environmentally sustainable, allowing for mobility of goods and people in the cleanest and most efficient manner possible. Funding should support the development and deployment of new technology that has the potential to address the interrelated problems of transportation, air quality, and climate change. SEC. 2. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are: In order to implement expenditure of federal transportation funds made available by Congress as part of the economic stimulus legislation as quickly as possible, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.