Bill > SB117

This bill authorizes the Transportation Agency to loan up to $590 million from the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), a regional planning agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area, by July 1, 2026. The MTC will then use these funds to offer loans for "public transit operating purposes," which means covering costs to avoid or mitigate service reductions and maintain or restore existing transit service levels, but not capital construction. These loans will be made to specific transit agencies in the Bay Area, including BART, SFMTA, Caltrain, and AC Transit. The bill outlines a 12-year repayment plan for the MTC's loan to the Transportation Agency, with interest-only payments for the first two years, and requires the MTC to secure these loans by pledging transit agencies' State Transit Assistance Program funds, which can be redirected if loan payments are missed. The California Transportation Commission will monitor project allocations and may adjust or defer future allocations to Bay Area projects during the loan repayment period if necessary. These provisions will become inoperative once the MTC fully repays the loan.

Budget and Finance

Budget and Fiscal Review (Senate)

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billStatusClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB117