Report to the Commission: December 16, 2015
Global Infrastructure Initiative
Half Moon Bay, November 19
Commissioners Schaaf, Wiener and I attended this conference sponsored by McKinsey & Co. which featured discussion of international infrastructure trends as well as a special regional focus on how to plan, finance and construct a new Transbay transit tube.
FAST Act Signed into Law
Washington DC, December 4
Defying the predictions of many observers (including this one), the Congress wrapped up action on the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act before current law expired and President Obama signed the bill into law the following day. The $305 billion, five-year bill is the most significant federal reauthorization measure in a decade, and it gives state and local government much-needed certainty in funding for the next several years. The General Fund infusion from the raid on the Federal Reserve Bank also bumps up the annual funding levels beyond what was promised in either the Senate or House bills.
I would like to single out by our legislative analyst Rebecca Long, and our Washington lobbyist Tom Bulger for their diligent work in improving the bill to benefit the interests of MTC, the Bay Area, and the State of California. On issues ranging from MPO board representation to CMAQ eligibility to the brand-new investment categories for goods movement – Rebecca, Tom, and our allies scored numerous legislative victories. Kudos to them both.
Rating Agency Briefings
New York, December 7-8
Andy Fremier, Brian Mayhew, Susan Woo and I met with rating agency analysts and members of our banking team to discuss BATA’s progress in substantially completing the toll bridge seismic retrofit program as well as future initiatives such as the regional express lane network.
Historical Fixed-Rate Market and BATA Financing
This chart compares the historical fixed rate Revenue Bond Index (RBI) to the actual results of BATA's financings since 2000. As you can see, the average RBI over that time period is a little over 5%, while BATA's actual "all in" blended rate is nearly 100 basis points lower at 4%. That blended rate includes fixed rate, synthetic fixed rate, and variable rate debt. Our savings in debt service costs over the life of the financings are projected to exceed $2 billion. Looked at another way, our financing strategy has avoided about a $1.50 in higher tolls on all the state-owned bridges. Brian Mayhew and Susan Woo deserve immense credit for producing such an outstanding financial result in a truly turbulent market.