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BACKGROUND The Tri-Valley area consists of several communities in southern Contra Costa County and eastern Alameda County that experience many inter-related transportation problems. In 1991 the Tri-Valley Transportation Council (TVTC) was created to address these related regional needs. The TVTC, in 1995, adopted the 'Tri-Valley Transportation Plan/Action Plan" for Routes of Regional Significance to address some of the more congested elements of the Tri-Valley transportation network. The Action Plan listed 11 transportation projects as "high priority" for the region. In 1998, the TVTC jurisdictions of San Ramon, Dublin, Livermore, Pleasanton, Danville and the Counties of Alameda and Contra Costa, entered into a Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement (JEPA) to create the Tri-Valley Transportation Development Fees (TVTDF) as a mechanism to partially fund the $763 million cost of these 11 high priority projects. Since its inception, the fees collected have been used to help complete five of these high priority projects. However, the majority of the remaining projects remain under- funded due to escalating construction costs and insufficient matching funds from state and federal governments. The remaining 6 of the original 11 projects, which will be now be referred to as "List A" projects, currently have an estimated unfunded balance of $369 million. In recognition of these funding shortfalls, the TVTC authorized an update to its original Fee Nexus Study to determine the funding levels necessary to complete the remaining original "List A" projects and to help fund 11 new transportation improvements that have emerged from various Tri-Valley transportation planning efforts over the last decade, referred to as "List B" projects. See Attachment 1 for a detailed description of the List A and List B projects. The new "List B" projects currently have an estimated unfunded balance of $1.1 billion. Projects on both lists are termed collectively the "TVTC Projects" and have a total estimated unfunded amount of$1.4 billion. DISCUSSION In 2008, the TVTC proposed a phased fee increase to address the funding shortfalls for priority transportation projects in the Tri-Valley. Fee increases necessitate an amendment to the JEPA, an action which required a unanimous vote of the TVTC and adoption by each of the seven member jurisdictions. It took the TVTC several years to come to a final agreement on the needed voting structure, and in 2012 adopted a new JEPA that revised the unanimous requirement down to a 6 to 1 voting structure which was supported by resolution of the 7 member agencies in the Fall of 2013. Upon resolution of the voting structure and adoption of the new JEPA, the TVTC decided to re-address the shortfall in funding for the 22 TVTC Projects by initiating a new update to the TVTD Fee. Rather than recommending fee rates at the maximum level which would generate sufficient revenues to collect the necessary 1.4 billion to fund all 22 TVTC Projects, (as justified by the 2008 Nexus Study), the TVTC Page 2 of 3