The most powerful person in the Legislature made a bold call last week to "fix the future" by tackling California's woefully under-funded transportation infrastructure, including repairing roads and reducing congestion that threatens to strangle the state's economy and quality of life.

Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, was joined by the chairs of the Assembly and Senate transportation committees in a call to immediate action that could pump $2 billion per year in revenue back into transportation coffers and, significantly, boost funding for roadway maintenance.

"California cannot have a strong middle class or a thriving economy

Image from the Twitter feed of Assembly Speaker Atkins of her transportation funding announcement, and what she described as a "great show of support."

if our roadways are congested and people and goods cannot move efficiently," Atkins said at the California Transportation Foundation policy forum Feb. 4 in Sacramento attended by numerous CalAPA members. "We now need to look ahead to fix the future."

Her proposals, long sought by transportation advocates, included stopping the diversion of nearly $1 billion per year truck weight fees away from transportation, accelerating the repayment of transportation loans and creating a new "Road User Charge" to help prop up sagging fuel tax funds that have been diminished by the growing popularity of higher-mileage vehicles and electric cars in California.

Chris Gerber, president of CalAPA associate member firm G3 Quality and also a foundation board member, was present during the speech and said he was pleased with what he heard.

"Hearing Assembly Speaker Atkins announce her transportation funding proposal provides an optimistic boost to California's much needed infrastructure funding levels for fiscal year 2015-2016 and beyond," he said. "The repayment of truck weight fees and deferred transportation loans could provide immediate impact to our industry. The proposed user fee is a sustainable plan to provide a continuous revenue stream to accelerate the maintenance and improvement of our roads and bridges."

 

Additional information and analysis is contained in a "Member Alert" sent to CalAPA members last week. To read the official announcement by Speaker Atkins, click HERE. 

 

The first CalAPA Southern California Contractors' Dinner of the year will feature timely financial information on what contractors can do to make sure year-end financial and tax matters are handled properly to avoid run-ins with the tax man. Click HERE for details.

The guest speakers for the Feb. 10 dinner will be tax and finance experts Matt Gilbert and

Chris Gewain

Chris Gewain with new CalAPA associate member Moss Adams LLP. The title of their talk is "Best Practices to prepare for getting your company's financial statements and income taxes completed in a timely manner, as well as 2014 hot-button issues."

The dinner program will also feature regular updates on specifications, public works funding, regulations, a "technical tidbit" and "insurance tidbit." The event is open to CalAPA members and invited guests only.

The dinner will take place Feb. 10 from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Dal Rae Restaurant, 923 E. Washington Blvd. in Pico Rivera. Seating is limited and advance registration is required. Sign-up HERE.

For more information, contact Sophie You of CalAPA at (916) 791-5044.

As part of the Caltrans transition to a new method of measuring pavement smoothness, the department announced its 2015 schedule for inertial profiler operator and equipment certification. Click HERE to learn more about the program.

A new standard special provision (SSP) for smoothness was posted on the Caltrans website last year. The specifications require that all paving projects use the inertial profiler for measuring pavement smoothness in lieu of the "California Profilograph." These new specifications are now appearing in individual project Special Provisions.

 

The new smoothness specifications require certification of both    equipment and operators. Prior to this year, certifications have been performed by the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) because Caltrans did not their own site for this purpose. Caltrans has recently announced the opening of their own certification site and scheduled certification dates for both operator and equipment.

 

The dates for 2015 are: Feb. 24-25, April 28-29, June 23-24, Aug. 4-5 and Sept. 29-30. Click HERE for more information about testing dates, costs, etc. 

 

The California Asphalt Pavement Association's Central Coast Technical Committee is pleased to sponsor a "Hot Topics in Hot Mix Asphalt" educational event Feb. 17 in Buellton. Click HERE to learn more and to register on-line.

For more information, contact CalAPA at (916) 791-5044.

Gov. Jerry Brown has reappointed Brian Anderson of CalAPA member firm Vulcan Materials to the State Mining and Geology Board, it was announced last week.

Anderson, vice president of property permitting and environment at

Brian Anderson

Vulcan Materials, has been with the company since 2002 in various capacities. He worked at Brown and Caldwell Inc. from 1994 to 2002. He is a registered geologist in California an holds a Master of Science degree geological sciences from the University of California, Riverside.

He was first appointed to the State Mining and Geology Board in 2014. His appointment will require Senate confirmation. The official announcement from the Governor's Office is HERE.