BILL NUMBER: AJR 4CHAPTERED BILL TEXT RESOLUTION CHAPTER 35 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE JUNE 21, 2011 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR JUNE 21, 2011 ADOPTED IN SENATE JUNE 11, 2011 ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 16, 2011 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 9, 2011 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 5, 2011 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Miller (Coauthors: Assembly Members Jeffries and Bonnie Lowenthal) FEBRUARY 3, 2011 Relative to the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AJR 4, Miller. Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act. This measure would memorialize the President of the United States and the Secretary of the United States Department of Transportation to award a federal Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan to enable the timely construction of the State Route 91 Corridor Improvement Project in the interest of economic competitiveness of California and the United States. WHEREAS, The Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) program was created by the United States Congress to provide credit assistance to nationally or regionally significant surface transportation projects; and WHEREAS, The State Route 91 Corridor Improvement Project requires a federal loan from the TIFIA program to enable cost-effective construction of the $1.3 billion infrastructure project; and WHEREAS, The State Route 91 Corridor Improvement Project will be built primarily with local revenues; and WHEREAS, The voters of Riverside County, California have twice approved a one-half cent "self-help" sales tax for transportation that includes improvements to State Highway Route 91; and WHEREAS, The State Route 91 Corridor Improvement Project will be among the largest highway construction projects to commence in the State of California in nearly a decade; and WHEREAS, The State Route 91 Corridor Improvement Project is anticipated to provide significant economic benefits to the State of California, including, but not limited to, $2 billion in economic output throughout the state, labor income totaling over $778 million, $85 million in increased state and local tax revenues, a permanent increase of 830 jobs per year after construction, and time saved by commuters with a net present value of $1.5 billion to the California economy; and WHEREAS, Unemployment in areas of California served by State Highway Route 91 has exceeded 15 percent and remains above 14 percent; and WHEREAS, The State Route 91 Corridor Improvement Project can begin construction in early 2012 if federal TIFIA financing is received; and WHEREAS, The State Route 91 Corridor Improvement Project employs congestion pricing as an innovative tool to manage severe congestion and enable the growth of public transit by bus, rail, and bicycle in a highly constrained, narrow canyon that is the primary route between the inland and coastal regions of southern California, which are inextricably connected to the economic well-being of California; and WHEREAS, The State Route 91 Corridor Improvement Project is a product of regional planning and environmental stewardship, including the largest multispecies habitat conservation plan in the United States, comprehensive integrated planning by the County of Riverside in response to rapid urbanization, and a decade of cooperation between Riverside and Orange Counties in regional transportation management and planning; and WHEREAS, It is in the economic interest of the State of California and the United States to encourage local investment in nationally and regionally significant infrastructure, create jobs in near and long term, and improve the quality of life for hard-working families and businesses who rely on major highways such as State Highway Route 91 to access employment, customers, and their families; and WHEREAS, The Legislature of the State of California has, on two separate occasions, approved legislation on a bipartisan basis to authorize and accelerate the construction of the State Route 91 Corridor Improvement Project; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature of the State of California memorializes the President of the United States and the Secretary of the United States Department of Transportation to award a federal TIFIA loan to enable the timely construction of the State Route 91 Corridor Improvement Project in the interest of economic competitiveness of California and the United States; and be it further Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, to the Majority Leader in the Senate, to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States, to the Secretary of United States Department of Transportation, and to the author for appropriate distribution.