SECTIONS 14550 - California Statutes

GOVERNMENT CODE

SECTION 14550

14550. The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Between 1970 and 1990, California's population grew by 50
percent, while the total number of miles driven in the state
increased by 100 percent.
(b) Conservative estimates have the state adding an additional 6
million new residents by the end of the next decade.
(c) Revenues available for investment in California's
transportation system have not kept pace with that increasing state
population, or with the increased demand on the state's
transportation infrastructure.
(d) California is now home to five of the nation's 10 most
congested urban areas.
(e) Between 1987 and 1995, the number of California drivers who
sit idle in traffic congestion has grown by 70 percent, and
California drivers now sit idle in traffic congestion more than
300,000 hours per day.
(f) It is estimated that traffic congestion in California now
costs the state's businesses more than two million eight hundred
thousand dollars ($2,800,000) per day in lost time and resources.
(g) The United States Congress recently authorized states under
the federal National Highway System Designation Act of 1995 and the
federal Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century to issue
"GARVEE bonds," which are tax-exempt anticipation notes backed by
annual federal appropriations for federal aid transportation
projects.
(h) Utilizing grant anticipation notes to finance federal
transportation projects can greatly accelerate projects and can
result in significant cost savings to the state, since those
transportation projects can be completed at present-day costs.
(i) Funding transportation projects with grant anticipation notes
can also deliver projects to the public significantly sooner than
traditional funding mechanisms.
(j) Therefore, it is in the best interest of the State of
California to develop these new and innovative methods for funding
and accelerating critical transportation infrastructure projects.