Eliminating authorization to create a regional transit authority, dissolving any existing regional transit authority and the Southeastern Regional Transit Authority, and eliminating the Southeast Wisconsin transit capital assistance program

This bill eliminates authorization to create an RTA and dissolves the Dane County RTA, the Chippewa Valley RTA, and the Chequamegon Bay RTA to the extent previously created. Any such RTA is dissolved 90 days after enactment of the bill, but no RTA may impose sales and use tax after enactment of the bill.

Act 28 also created the Southeastern Regional Transit Authority (SERTA) as a successor entity to what was often referred to as the KRM authority. SERTA is a public body corporate and politic and a separate governmental entity; it consists of the counties of Kenosha, Racine, and Milwaukee. The jurisdictional area of SERTA is the geographic area formed by the combined territorial boundaries of the counties of Kenosha, Racine, and Milwaukee. The powers of SERTA are vested in its board of directors. SERTA's powers are limited but include all powers necessary and convenient to create, construct, and manage a commuter rail transit system connecting the cities of Kenosha, Racine, and Milwaukee (KRM commuter rail line).

Upon approval by its board of directors, SERTA may impose a rental car transaction fee in the counties of Kenosha, Racine, and Milwaukee. SERTA was required to submit, by July 1, 2010, an application to the Federal Transit Administration for funding to enter the preliminary engineering phase for the KRM commuter rail line.

This bill dissolves SERTA after a winding down period of 90 days, during which SERTA may not impose the rental car transaction fee. The bill also eliminates the Department of Transportation's Southeast Wisconsin transit capital assistance program, under which SERTA is the only eligible grant applicant for the program.