(a) There is hereby created a “Board of Transportation Commissioners”, referred to in this chapter as the “Transportation Commission” or the “Transportation Board”, which shall be the successor to the Board of Traffic Commissioners, the Board of Public Utilities and Transportation, and the Board of Parking Commissioners.
(b) The Transportation Commission shall be comprised of seven members.
(c) The Transportation Commissioners shall be appointed and may be removed in accordance with Charter Section 502.
(d) The original seven members of the Transportation Commission shall be appointed for such terms as shall cause two terms to successively expire on the date of June 30 in two years, three years, four years, and one to expire in five years, respectively, next following the effective date of the appointment of the original Board of Transportation Commissioners. The period of the term of each of the first seven members shall be designated in the appointment.
Thereafter, the terms of succeeding members of the Transportation Commission shall be five (5) years beginning with the first day of July following the expiration of the prior term.
(e) No person shall be appointed a member of the Transportation Commission who is not a registered voter of the City of Los Angeles.
(f) Organization and Meetings of the Transportation Commission.
(1) During the last week in July of each year, the Transportation Commission at a meeting thereof held during such period, shall elect a President and a Vice-President, and each shall hold office for one year and until their successors are elected, unless their respective membership on the Commission ceases sooner. The Transportation Commission may fill from its members for the unexpired term, any vacancy occurring in the office of President or Vice-President. The first appointed Transportation Commission shall elect interim officers from its members to serve as President and Vice-President until succeeded as above provided.
(2) The Transportation Commission shall hold a regular meeting at least once a month. All meetings of the Transportation Commission shall be in a municipal or other facility open to the public and there shall be reasonable provision for notice and attendance by the public. An attendance fee of Fifty Dollars ($50.00) per meeting attended, not exceeding Two Hundred Fifty Dollars ($250.00) in any calendar month to any member, shall be paid to each Commissioner. Said fees shall not be paid from monies derived from Vehicle Parking Districts established under the Parking District Law of 1943 or the Parking District Law of 1951.
(3) The Transportation Commission shall appoint a Secretary from among employees of the Transportation Department. The duties of the Secretary shall be in addition to the regular duties prescribed for such employee, who shall be under supervision of the General Manager or the designee thereof.
(4) The Secretary shall keep a record of the proceedings and transactions of the Transportation Commission. The Secretary shall post and publish all orders, resolutions and notices which the Transportation Commission shall order to be posted or published, and shall perform such other duties imposed by this article, by the General Manager, or by order of the Commission.
(5) Four members of the Transportation Commission must be present at any meeting in order to constitute a quorum, but a smaller number may adjourn from time to time until a quorum is present.
(6) The Transportation Commission may establish and empower a Committee, composed of three of its members, to conduct hearings on behalf of, and make recommendation, to the Transportation Commission.
(7) The powers conferred upon the Transportation Commission shall be exercised by order or resolution adopted by a majority of its members and recorded in the minutes with the “Ayes” and “Noes” at length. The minutes shall be attested by the signatures of the President or Vice-President, or two members of the Transportation Commission, and by the signature of the Secretary.
(g) Powers and Duties.
(1) The Transportation Commission’s relationship to the General Manager of the Transportation Department shall be advisory.
(2) Notwithstanding its advisory capacity, the Transportation Commission shall exercise the following powers and duties, and such other powers and duties as may be conferred by ordinance:
A. Traffic and Parking.
1. No ordinance regulating the manner of the use of public streets and other public ways for travel, including the use and operation of vehicles or the placing of obstructions thereon, or ordinance enacted in the exercise of any other power relative to traffic conferred upon local authorities by any law, shall be adopted unless such ordinance shall have first been submitted to and approved by the Transportation Commission or unless adopted by a vote of at least two-thirds of the members of the Council in favor thereof. Failure on the part of the Transportation Commission to disapprove a proposed ordinance within ninety (90) days from the receipt thereof shall be deemed an approval by the Commission. Nothing in this section shall be construed to restrict or otherwise affect the granting of franchises as provided in the Charter, nor shall any of the provisions of this section apply to the routing or rerouting of street cars or motor bus lines or abridge the power of the Council to order any work or improvement as provided in the Charter.
2. The Board of Transportation Commissioners may by resolution, which shall become effective when published once in a newspaper of general circulation in the City, adopt rules regulating the use of the public streets or other public ways for travel, including parking or other use of vehicles thereon, when determined by the Commission to be necessary to meet an emergency. No rule adopted under the authority of this section shall remain in force longer than thirty (30) days unless incorporated into an ordinance.
3. The Transportation Commission is authorized to submit ordinances relating to traffic to the Council for adoption. Such ordinances must be adopted or rejected by the Council within ninety (90) days from receipt thereof.
4. The Transportation Commission is authorized to conduct hearings on all matters within the purview of the Department and to advise the General Manager as to its findings and recommendations.
5. The Transportation Commission shall have the authority, through and in cooperation with the General Manager, to employ such personnel as may be necessary to coordinate all matters relating to off-street parking vehicle facilities acquired by the City for public use, to expend sums for expenses incurred in the coordination and directing of the Off-Street Parking Acquisition Program including such sums as are necessary for legal, engineering and other professional services required to promote the Off-Street Parking Program, subject to the prior authorization of resources by the Mayor and the Council and Charter limitations.
6. The Transportation Commission shall have control of, and responsibility for, the Special Parking Revenue Fund, and shall have authority to issue purchase orders, requests and interdepartmental orders for the purchase of services, materials, and supplies that may be required for purposes set forth in Section 5.117 of the Los Angeles Administrative Code, subject to direction and approval of the City Council by ordinance or resolution, or through the Budget or any amendments thereto; provided, however, that as to expenditures from the Special Parking Revenue Fund pursuant to Subsection 6 of Section 5.117 of the Los Angeles Administrative Code, the Transportation Commission, after approving an individual project shall transfer the allocated amount to the Board of Public Works for administration.
7. The Transportation Commission shall have the power, duty and responsibility of coordinating, directing, and managing all matters respecting the acquisition, and thereafter the management, of all public off-street parking places by the City except for those parking facilities which are under jurisdiction or control of departments controlling their own funds.
8. The Transportation Commission may exercise those powers and duties of Parking Place Commissioners provided in the Vehicle Parking District Law of 1943 (Chapter 8, Part 1, Division 18, Streets and Highways Code, State of California), or the Parking District Law of 1951 (Chapter 4, Part 4, Division 18, Streets and Highways Code, State of California), as such now exist or may hereafter be amended, in the manner herein above provided.
B. Public Utilities.
1. The term "Public Utility", for purposes of this section, is defined as including the following:
(i) Any railroad public service declared by the Constitution or statutes of the State of California or the decisions of the Federal or State courts to be a public utility;
(ii) The operation of vehicles for hire, regardless of the form of transportation;
(iii) Any railroad public service declared to be a public utility by the City Council by ordinance.
2. The Transportation Commission shall exercise the following powers and duties with the exception of all matters pertaining to taxicab utilities which are hereby placed under the jurisdiction of the Board of Taxicab Commissioners:
(i) To investigate all privately owned Public Utilities in the City of Los Angeles (except Public Utilities at the Harbor under the jurisdiction of the Harbor Department) and compile such data as may be necessary to determine the proper services to be furnished by those Public Utilities or charges to be made therefor. The Transportation Commission shall have the right of access at all reasonable times to the property and records of the Public Utilities for the purpose of investigation and may require reports respecting those matters from the Public Utilities at a time and in a form as the Commission may prescribe.
(ii) Establish and prescribe, by resolution, regulations providing for the operation of, the extent, character and quality of service, the rates to be charged by and the extensions to be required of, any of the Public Utilities unless preempted by state or federal law. The Secretary of the Transportation Commission shall publish once in a daily newspaper circulated in the City of Los Angeles, a certified copy of every proposed regulation tentatively approved by the Commission, together with a notice to any and all persons to show cause, if any, within five days from the date of publication of the notice, why the proposed regulation should not be made effective. Any persons interested in or affected by the proposed regulation may, within five days after the expiration of the publication, file objections with the Secretary of the Transportation Commission, specifying the grounds of the objections. The Secretary shall place all objections on the Transportation Commission's agenda for its next regular meeting after the expiration of the time for filing the objections, and the Commission shall then fix a date, not less than five days later, for hearing any and all objections, and shall, after the hearing, finally act on the proposed regulation by approving, changing or rejecting it, providing that any resolution of the Transportation Commission approving any regulation shall be published once before becoming effective and shall be subject to the referendum provisions of the Charter relating to ordinances. Any resolution fixing rates must be approved by the City Council, by ordinance, before taking effect. Rules and regulations previously adopted by the Board of Public Utilities and Transportation pursuant to former Charter Section 210 and operative at the effective date of this chapter shall remain in full force and effect.
(iii) Investigate complaints against the services or charges of any Public Utilities, and to make orders adjusting them.
(iv) Inspect all Public Utilities, as defined in this section, as to their compliance with their franchises, the ordinances of the City and the laws of the state, and as to their service generally; and to enforce in the manner prescribed by law a compliance with the terms of the applicable franchises, ordinances or laws.
(v) Keep a record of the Public Utilities granted by the City or exercised therein.
(vi) Administer and exercise those powers and duties provided by those procedures set forth in Division 13 of this Code, as amended, for the granting of franchises, permits and privileges.
C. School Crossings.
1. Adopt policy criteria to assist the General Manager in the assignment of school crossing guards.
2. Conduct necessary hearings and provide written determination with respect to appeals from the General Manager’s school crossing assignments determinations.
SECTION HISTORY
Added by Ord. No. 151,832, Eff. 2-10-79, Oper. 2-25-79.
Amended by: Subsec. (g)(2)A.6., Ord. No. 168,235, Eff. 10-16-92; Article and Section, Ord. No. 172,021, Eff. 6-26-98; Subsecs. (c) and (g)(2)B.2., Ord. No. 173,290, Eff. 6-30-00, Oper. 7-1-00; Subsec. (g)(2)B., Ord. No. 185,204, Eff. 11-22-17.