(a) From the funds programmed pursuant to Section 188 for regional improvement projects, the commission shall approve programs and program amendments, so that funding is distributed to each county of County Group No. 1 and in each county of County Group No. 2 during the county share periods commencing July 1, 1997, and ending June 30, 2004, and each period of four years thereafter. The amount shall be computed as follows:

(1) The commission shall compute, for the county share periods all of the money to be expended for regional improvement projects in County Groups Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, as provided in Section 188.

(2) From the amount computed for County Group No. 1 in paragraph (1) for the county share periods the commission shall determine the amount of programming for each county in the group based on a formula that is based 75 percent on the population of the county to the total population of County Group No. 1 and 25 percent on state highway miles in the county to the total state highway miles in County Group No. 1.

(3) From the amount computed for County Group No. 2 in paragraph (1) for the county share periods the commission shall determine the amount of programming for each county in the group based on a formula that is based 75 percent on the population of the county to the total population of County Group No. 2 and 25 percent on state highway miles in the county to the total state highway miles in County Group No. 2.

(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), that portion of the county population and state highway mileage in El Dorado and Placer Counties that is included within the jurisdiction of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency shall be counted separately toward the area under the jurisdiction of the Tahoe Regional Transportation Agency and may not be included in El Dorado and Placer Counties. The commission shall approve programs, program amendments, and fund reservations for the area under the jurisdiction of the Tahoe Regional Transportation Agency that shall be calculated using the formula described in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a).

(c) A transportation planning agency designated pursuant to § 29532 of the Government Code, or a county transportation commission created by Division 12 (commencing with Section 130000) of the Public Utilities Code, may adopt a resolution to pool its county share programming with any county or counties adopting similar resolutions to consolidate its county shares for two consecutive county share periods into a single share covering both periods. A multicounty transportation planning agency with a population of less than three million may also adopt a resolution to pool the share of any county or counties within its region. The resolution shall provide for pooling the county share programming in any of the pooling counties for the new single share period and shall be submitted to the commission not later than May 1 immediately preceding the commencement of the county share period.

(d) For the purposes of this section, funds programmed shall include the following costs pursuant to subdivision (b) of § 14529 of the Government Code:

(1) The amounts programmed or budgeted for both components of project development in the original programmed year.

(2) The amount programmed for right-of-way and right-of-way support costs in the year programmed in the most recent state transportation improvement program. If the final estimate is greater than 120 percent or less than 80 percent of the amount originally programmed, the amount shall be adjusted for final expenditure estimates at the time of right-of-way certification.

(3) The engineer’s final estimate of project costs, including construction support, presented to the commission for approval pursuant to § 14533 of the Government Code in the year programmed in the most recent state transportation improvement program. If the construction contract award amount is less than 80 percent of the engineer’s final estimate, excluding construction support, the department shall notify the commission and the commission may adjust its project allocation accordingly.

(4) Project costs shown in the program, as amended, where project allocations have not yet been approved by the commission, escalated to the date of scheduled project delivery.

(e) Project costs shown in the program may not be changed to reflect any of the following:

(1) Differences that are within 20 percent of the amount programmed for actual project development cost.

(2) Differences that are within 20 percent of the amount reported at the time of allocation pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (d) for actual right-of-way costs calculated at the time of acceptance of a project construction contract.

(3) Construction contract award amounts, except when those amounts are less than 80 percent of the engineer’s final estimate, excluding construction support, and the commission has adjusted the project construction allocation.

(4) Changes in construction expenditures, except for supplemental project allocations made by the commission, including supplemental allocations made pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 188.9.

(f) For the purposes of this section, the population in each county is that determined by the last preceding federal census, or a subsequent census validated by the Demographic Research Unit of the Department of Finance, at the beginning of each county share period.

(g) For the purposes of this section, “state highway miles” means the miles of state highways open to vehicular traffic at the beginning of each county share period.

(h) It is the intent of the Legislature that there is to be flexibility in programming under this section and Section 188 so that, while ensuring that each county will receive an equitable share of state transportation improvement program funding, the types of projects selected and the programs from which they are funded may vary from county to county.

(i) Commencing with the four-year period commencing on July 1, 2004, individual county share shortfalls and surpluses at the end of each four-year period, if any, shall be carried forward and credited or debited to the following four years.

(j) The commission, with the consent of the department, may consider programming projects in the state transportation improvement program in a county with a population of not more than 1,000,000 at a level higher or lower than the county share, when the regional agency either asks to reserve part or all of the county’s share until a future programming year, to build up a larger share for a higher cost project, or asks to advance an amount of the share, in an amount not to exceed 200 percent of the county’s current share, for a larger project, to be deducted from shares for future programming years. After consulting with the department, the commission may adjust the level of programming in the regional program in the affected region against the level of interregional programming in the improvement program to accomplish the reservation or advancement, for the current state transportation improvement program. The commission shall keep track of any resulting shortfalls or surpluses in county shares.

(k) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), in a region defined by § 66502 of the Government Code, the transportation planning agency may adopt a resolution to pool the county share of any county or counties within the region, if each county receives no less than 85 percent and not more than 115 percent of its county share for a single county share period and 100 percent of its county share over two consecutive county share periods. The resolution shall be submitted to the commission not later than May 1, immediately preceding the commencement of the county share period.

(l) Federal funds used for federal demonstration projects that use federal obligational authority otherwise available for other projects shall be subtracted from the county share of the county where the project is located.

(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 29, Sec. 139. (SB 82) Effective June 27, 2019.)