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Home bullet_blue_image Bond Information bullet_blue_image Transportation bullet_blue_image Proposition 1B

Public Transportation Modernization, Improvement, and Service Enhancement Account

Intent or Criteria : Funds shall be available for rehabilitation, safety or modernization improvements, capital service enhancements or expansions, new capital projects, bus rapid transit improvements, or for rolling stock procurement, rehabilitation or replacement. Funds in this account were appropriated by the Legislature to the State Controllers Office (SCO) for allocation in accordance with Public Utilities Code formula distributions: 50% allocated to Local Operators using formula in Section 99314 and 50% to Regional Entities using formula in Section 99313.

List of Approved Projects

Closeout Reports

Guidelines : Click to view Guidelines and Request Form (pdf)

Program Status : To date, Caltrans has authorized statewide distribution of PTMISEA funds in the amount of $3.394 billion for over 1,000 projects.

Administrative Agency : Division of Mass Transportation, Department of Transportation

Recipient Agency :  Commuter or urban rail operators, bus operators, waterborne transit operators, other transit operators, and Regional Entities in California

Accountability Plan : The three-part accountability structure for this program, required by Executive Order S-02-07, will be identified in conjunction with program development activities.

1.    Front-End Accountability:

For the Public Transportation Modernization, Improvement, and Service Enhancement (PTMISEA) Program, front-end accountability begins with the development of program guidelines, followed by the project nomination and project selection process, and the adoption of an initial program to be funded from bond proceeds. The PTMISEA program guidelines include the conditions and criteria that identify project eligibility. The guidelines established the criteria for fiscal year (FY) 2007/08 only and are expected to continue for FY 2008/09. The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is identified as the administering agency by the PTMISEA law. Guidelines were developed in a collaborative process.

The PTMISEA funds are appropriated by the Legislature to the State Controller's Office (SCO) for allocation to project sponsors pursuant to the formulas in the Public Utilities Code: 50 percent allocated to local operators using the formula in Section 99314, and 50 percent to regional entities using the formula in Section 99313. The PTMISEA law established two cycles annually for project fund disbursement.

Project sponsors submit allocation requests to Caltrans. Caltrans ensures the requests meet the required criteria of being a transit capital project for rehabilitation, safety, or modernization improvement; capital service enhancement or expansion; new capital projects; bus rapid transit improvement; or rolling stock procurement, rehabilitation, expansion, or replacement. The request must detail the project?s scope of work, completion schedule by work phase, a fully funded budget, and outcomes and benefits. A project must be consistent with the sponsor?s most recently adopted short-range transit plan or other publicly adopted plan for transit capital improvements. The useful life of the project must be stated.

The approved allocation request also serves as the agreement verifying the project sponsor's commitment to the project's scope of work, schedule and budget. Projects ready to proceed within six months are placed on a list submitted to the SCO. The SCO releases the full PTMISEA authorized project fund to the sponsor. The approved allocation request list is posted on the Governor's accountability website.

2.     In-Progress Accountability:

The project sponsor is required to submit semi-annual financial and outcome progress reports on all projects, including the benefits, outcomes, and financial status of the project; the percent of project work completed; actual expenditures; and the unspent balance of PTMISEA funds. The financial report also identifies interest earned from the allocation, which may be expended on the authorized project with an approved expanded scope of work, or applied to another authorized PTMISEA project.

Any change in scope of work, schedule, or budget requires the submittal of an amendment plan that identifies the original commitment and the revised information, including an explanation of the change. This is submitted to Caltrans.

The sponsor is also required to submit an annual Transportation Development Act (TDA) audit that has been expanded to include PTMISEA activities. These reports provide program and project status based on the financial activities of each sponsor.

Caltrans prepares an annual report which includes the following points:

  • Current status of the projects.
  • A description and location of each project.
  • The amount of funds allocated to each project.
  • The public benefit expected from the projects.

The annual report is submitted to the California Transportation Commission.

3.     Follow-Up Accountability:

The annual TDA audit of the claimants is expanded to include the PTMISEA funds and shall include verification of receipt and appropriate expenditure of bond funds. This report is due 180 days after the end of the fiscal year and is submitted to the State Controller's Office with a copy sent to Caltrans.

The project sponsors are also required to submit a final project audit within six months of their projects becoming operable. This report is submitted to Caltrans and reports the final costs of the project as compared to the approved project budget, the project duration as compared to the original project schedules as of the date of allocation, and performance outcomes derived from the project compared to those described in the original application for funding. This report will be forwarded to the Department of Finance.