The Mendocino Council of Governments (MCOG) was formed in 1972 and designated as the Regional Transportation Planning Agency (RTPA) for Mendocino County under the Mills-Alquist-Deddeh Act (SB 325). Enacted by the California Legislature to improve existing public transportation services and encourage regional transportation coordination, this legislation is commonly known as the Transportation Development Act of 1971, or TDA. The law provides funding to be allocated to transit and non-transit related purposes that comply with regional transportation plans.

TDA provides two funding sources, allocated locally by the RTPA:

Local Transportation Funds (LTF), derived from a quarter-cent of the general sales tax, and State Transit Assistance (STA), derived from the statewide sales tax on diesel fuel.

MCOG has authority to approve the programming of other state and federal transportation funds, in partnership with Caltrans, for projects in the countywide region. MCOG is responsible for preparing and maintaining the Regional Transportation Plan as the basis for such funding decisions.

View or download Caltrans' Guidebook of the TDA Statutes and California Code of Regulations: