The Metropolitan Transportation Commission will gain two new members from San Jose and Oakland under the terms of Assembly Bill 57, signed Friday by Gov. Jerry Brown, a commission spokesman said.

The bill, introduced by Assemblyman Jim Beall, D-San Jose, expands the commission from 19 to 21 members, adding commissioners to be appointed by the mayors of San Jose and Oakland, commission officials said.

In addition, it limits to three the number of voting members from the same county that can serve on the board, and requires the Bay Conservation and Development Commission representative to be a San Francisco resident, a BCDC commissioner and to be approved by the mayor of San
Francisco, officials said.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission is a regional transportation coordinating and financing agency. The commission includes voting representatives from nine Bay Area counties, Bay Area cities and the Association of Bay Area Governments as well as the BCDC. The mayor of San
Francisco already appoints one commissioner.

The new law means that the counties of Santa Clara, Alameda and San Francisco each have three voting members on the commission, according to
Beall.

"This is a great day for San Jose," Beall said. "We're the biggest city in the Bay Area and now we actually will have a greater role at the table when it comes to funding for transportation projects like BART to San Jose and improvements for our freeways."

Non-voting members of the commission include representatives from the state Business, Transportation & Housing Agency, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

AB 57 will take effect on Jan. 1, 2013. The first terms of the new representatives from San Jose and Oakland will end in February 2015 to coordinate them with the commission's four-year cycle.

— Bay City News Service

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