Authorizes the California Transportation Commission (CTC) to enter into an agreement with a county transportation commission or authority to advance funds for a project included in the state transportation improvement program from resources estimated to be available to the county for any purpose in the most-recently adopted fund estimate. Requires the agreement to be upon terms and conditions established by the CTC.
Repeals the August 1, 1999, sunset date on the authority of the South Coast Air Quality Management District to impose a $1 annual vehicle registration fee surcharge to fund clean fuels programs. Establishes an expiration date of July 1, 2009, on the surcharge authority.
Requires the California Transportation Commission to allocate funds from the State Highway Account in the State Transportation Fund and other available funds under the jurisdiction of the commission to the State Department of Transportation to be used to meet capital and interest obligations created by the Transportation Finance Bank, created as specified, and specifies the manner in which those allocations are to be construed. Authorizes the commission to allocate federal and state transportation funds to the department for an enforceable commitment to the California Economic Development Financing Authority for implementing the purposes of the Transportation Finance Bank, consistent with applicable state and federal laws governing the use of those funds. Imposes various restrictions and limitations on the funding of these projects.
Similar legislation was AB 87 (Escutia-D), which died in Senate Appropriations Committee.
Institutes follow-up revisions to the transportation funding reform legislation enacted last year (SB 45 (Kopp), Chapter 622, Statutes of 1997). Specifically:
A. California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) must submit the guidelines to the California Transportation Commission (CTC) by February 1, 1999, instead of September 15, 1998.
B.The CTC is required to adopt these guidelines by May 1, 1999, rather than December 31, 1998.
Appropriates $300 million from the State Highway Account in the State Transportation Fund to the State Controller for allocation to counties (50%) and to cities (50%) for street and highway reconstruction, and repair of storm damage to local streets and highways, as specified, and, in a city and county, for other purposes related to transportation, as specified.
Requires, until July 1, 2001, a city or county, in order to receive this funding, to annually expend from its general fund for street and highway purposes a certain amount not less than the annual average of its expenditures from the general fund during specified fiscal years, as reported to the State Controller. Requires the State Controller, at the conclusion of each fiscal year for which a city or county receives this funding, to verify the city's or county's compliance with these provisions. Authorizes, if a city or county fails to so comply, the city or county to expend during that fiscal year and the following fiscal year, a total amount that is not less than the total amount required to be expended for those fiscal years.
Authorizes the creation of the North Lake Tahoe Transportation Authority within a specified territory and authorizes the authority to impose a retail transactions and use tax of not more than one-half percent within that territory if (1) the tax ordinance imposing the tax is adopted by a majority vote of the authority's board of directors, (2) imposition of the tax is subsequently approved by a two-thirds vote of the voters voting on the measure at a special election called for that purpose by the board, (3) a transportation expenditure plan is adopted, as specified, and (4) certain election requirements are met.
Among other provisions, appropriates $475,000 from the Public Transportation Account to the State Department of Transportation for allocation of local assistance to the Bay Area Rapid Transit District.
Similar legislation was SB 1575* (Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee), which was vetoed by the Governor.
Sets forth legislative findings relating to seismic retrofit and the contracting out of seismic retrofit projects, and urges the California Department of Transportation and the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency to continue to expedite the delivery of seismic retrofit projects with the use of private consultants.
Authorizes the California Transportation Commission to advance unallocated funds in the State Highway Account, in the form of loans, to transportation planning agencies, county transportation commissions, transit districts, and local transportation authorities for the advancement of projects eligible under the state transportation improvement program that are included within an adopted regional transportation plan. Sets forth procedures governing the advancing of these funds and requires the commission to adopt guidelines and procedures governing these provisions not later than specified dates.
Requires the commission to begin operation of the loan program not later than March 1, 1999.
Creates the Pasadena Metro Blue Line Construction Authority and directs the authority to award and administer all design and construction contracts for the completion of a 13.6-mile light rail line between downtown Los Angeles and the City of Pasadena.
Creates the San Fernando Valley Transportation Planning Authority and makes the authority the sole responsible entity for the planning and programming of transportation projects and services for the San Fernando Valley region, as defined.
Requires the authority to have a board of directors, appointed not later than February 1, 1999, and consisting of 20 members, with 15 voting members appointed, as specified, and five nonvoting members representing certain public entities.
Requires the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to provide the board of the authority with adequate funds, from state transportation improvement program funds designated for administration, to enable the authority to carry out its duties and responsibilities as the transportation planner and programmer for the San Fernando Valley region.
Memorializes the President and the Congress of the United States to enact appropriate legislation providing adequate federal funding to support the creation of the infrastructure needed to construct additional carpool lanes and intermodal transit terminals on Highway Route 101.
Memorializes the President and the Congress of the United States not to include any provisions in the National Economic Crossroads Transportation Efficiency Act that impose tolls on interstate highways that have already been completed.
Memorializes the United States Secretary of Transportation to provide full federal transportation funding to ensure safe and cost-effective transportation into the 21st Century through California's ports of entry into Mexico, including the timely completion of State Highway Routes 7 and 905.
Requires the California Economic Development Financing Authority to establish and operate the California Transportation Finance Bank program for the purposes of providing financial assistance to public entities that are carrying out, or proposing to carry out, transportation projects that are eligible for assistance under Section 350 of Public Law 104-59.
Requires the authority, the California Transportation Commission, and the Department of Transportation to implement the program in accordance with the provisions of federal law, this bill, and a prescribed memorandum of agreement.
Similar legislation was SB 567 (Schiff-D), which became Chapter 664, Statutes of 1998.
Adds freight railroads owned by a public agency, specifically by reference, the North Coast Railroad Authority to the list of eligible categories for inclusion in the State Transportation Improvement Program.
Authorizes the State Department of Transportation to enter into agreements with private entities to undertake the study, planning, design, development, financing, acquisition, installation, construction, improvement, operation, or maintenance, or any combination of those, of public transportation projects, using, in whole or in part, private sources of financing. Sets forth the requirements for those agreements, legislative findings and declarations.
Authorizes a transportation planning agency or a county transportation commission to adopt a resolution to allocate all or a portion of the county's minimum programming under those formulas to another county that adopts a similar resolution, as specified.
Requires the regional transportation planning agency where the soundwall is located and the State Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to jointly develop a program for the construction of all the remaining soundwalls on the May 3, 1989 priority list. Requires the program to be submitted to the California Transportation Commission (CTC) not later than March 1, 1999, and the CTC to adopt it not later than June 1, 1999. Requires that the program provide for the construction of all soundwalls not later than July 1, 2006. Authorizes the CTC, with the concurrence of the region and Caltrans, to extend the completion date to July 1, 2008, for one or more soundwalls or delete that soundwall from the program.
Requires all soundwall costs to be paid for with State Transportation Improvement Program funds, subject to "north/south split." Requires one-half of the cost to be paid for with regional funds and the other one-half with state discretionary funds.
Requires that prior to the preparation and adoption of the year 2000 State Transportation Improvement Program, a regional transportation planning agency or a county transportation commission in a county with over eight million persons review and revise the process, as specified, by which it allocates funds for regional improvement programs identified by the California Transportation Commission. Requires the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority by March 31, 1999, to develop an allocation process that includes the revised process and identifies a percentage of funds available for subregional transportation policy decisions for each cycle of the state transportation improvement program. Requires the percentage of funds identified for subregional transportation policy decisions be less than 10% and not more than 25% of the available state funds. Requires the chair of the authority to appoint authority members to assist the authority's staff in developing the process.
Prohibits the State Department of Transportation from using any toll revenues or funds in the State Highway Account to fund the removal of ramps that provide bus access to the transbay bus terminal in the City and County of San Francisco.
Authorizes the board of directors of the Sacramento Regional Transit District to construct all or part of the Folsom Corridor Light Rail Extension and Double Tracking Project using a design and construct approach with a specified procedure involving advertising a request for qualifications and prequalifying bidders.
Authorizes a separation-of-grade district to receive direct allocation of funds from the California Transportation Commission. Provides that, as a result of this change, the district is to receive state funds to plan and build separation-of-grade projects.
Prohibits federal funds available for demonstration projects that are not subject to federal obligational authority, or are accompanied with their own dedicated obligational authority, from being considered funds that would otherwise be available to the state and included in the State Department of Transportation's four-year estimate of funds reasonably expected to be available for transportation capital improvement projects.
Adds bicycle and pedestrian access on the retrofitted west span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge to the list of "amenities" that can be funded with the $1 toll surcharge on all bay area toll bridges.
Requires the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, in cooperation with the City of Los Angeles, the County of Los Angeles, other cities involved, and local transit operators, to establish a local transportation zone, as defined, to serve the geographic area of the San Fernando Valley.
Authorizes the local transportation zone to provide transit services through a joint powers agreement or any other cooperative arrangement, or by contract with a public transit operator or a private common carrier.
Requires the Secretary of the Trade and Commerce Agency and the Secretary of the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, in consultation with the Southern California Association of Governments and the San Bernardino Associated Governments, to review existing studies and ongoing research, and makes recommendations on the feasibility of developing a distribution center in the Inland Empire for activity within the Alameda Corridor.
Appropriates an unspecified sum from the Off-Highway Vehicle Trust Fund to provide grants for the acquisition of additional land for the El Mirage Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Project.
Appropriates $200 million from the General Fund to the Soundwall Project Account, which the bill would create in the State Transportation Fund, as a loan for the retrofitting of soundwalls.
Requires reimbursement to the General Fund from those transportation funds when made available for regional improvement projects, as specified in existing law.
Requires the State Department of Transportation to conduct a study regarding the mitigation of increased traffic caused by the Alameda Corridor, including determining the cost of constructing specified grade separations.
Among other provisions, appropriates $2 million for the North Coast Rail Authority for the purpose of providing funds to meet immediate and critical needs of the North Coast Rail Authority. Funds would be available for improving the existing accounting system, to address environmental concerns raised by state and federal agencies, make payments to vendors and contractors for services rendered prior to July 1, 1998, and any other necessary expenditure, as specified.
Places, if approved by the voters, conditions on the loan of constitutionally-protected state motor vehicle revenues and related transit and local transportation funds. Requires repayment of any such loans within specified time periods.
Requests the President and the Congress to support the efforts of Congressman Lantos to reallocate $52 million in federal emergency highway repair funds and any other funds available for construction of a tunnel on State Highway Route 1 behind Devil's Slide through San Pedro Mountain in northern San Mateo County.
States intent of Legislature to repeal the law requiring any person registering a 1975 or subsequent model year gasoline-powered motor vehicle or a 1980 or subsequent model-year diesel-powered motor vehicle last registered outside this state to pay a $300 smog impact fee to the Department of Motor Vehicles at the time of registration if they are held to be unconstitutional by a final decision of a state or federal appellate court.
Exempts out-of-state motor vehicles sold through a dealer conducting a motor vehicle auction from the existing $300 smog impact fee imposed on out-of-state vehicles first registered in California.
Requires the State Air Resources Board to conduct vehicle emission inspections at specified points near the California-Mexico border.
Deletes provisions in existing law requiring that Rule 2202, adopted by the South Coast Air Quality Management District be amended to raise the worksite employee threshold to 250, as specified. Also repeals provisions of existing law requiring funding for voluntary ridesharing.
Repeals the August 1, 1999 sunset date on the authority of the South Coast Air Quality Management District to impose a $1 annual vehicle registration fee surcharge to fund clean fuels programs. Establishes an expiration date of July 1, 2009 on the surcharge authority.
Repeals provisions of existing law that requires, in any air basin designated by the State Air Resources Board as a nonattainment area, each employer of 50 persons or more who provides a parking subsidy for employees to offer a parking cash-out program.
Defines the term "substance" to mean "a specific element or compound having uniform or constant composition with one set of chemical properties." Authorizes the state board to list substances identified in diesel exhaust as toxic air contaminants, but prohibits the state board from listing diesel exhaust as a toxic air contaminant, except as provided. Authorizes the state board to prepare a report on any regulations that may be necessary to regulate toxic air contaminants contained in diesel exhaust, and to adopt specified control measures for those toxic air contaminants. Authorizes the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency to estimate the cost of completing a study on the cost, feasibility, and impact on the economy of the state of developing cleaner diesel engines, fuels, and emissions controls, and converting to the use of alternative fuels, and to convene an advisory committee to advise the agency regarding the conduct of such a study.
Creates the Air Quality Standards Attainment Trust Fund in the State Treasury and would make the moneys in that fund available, upon appropriation, to carry out specified purposes.
Abolishes the Diesel Emission Reduction Fund, and instead requires the civil penalty to be deposited in the trust fund created by the bill, and transfers all funds in the Diesel Emission Reduction Fund on the operative date of this bill to the trust fund.
Modifies the Air Resources Board's Heavy-Duty Vehicle Inspection Program (HDVIP) and the Periodic Smoke Inspection (PSI) program by enacting numerous substantive changes. Specifically, this bill:
Requires the State Air Resources Board to give as much consideration to new technology advances when considering methods to reduce particulate matter as it gives to reconstituted fuel or fuel alternatives.
Requires implementation of the enhanced vehicle inspection (smog check) program in an area classified as a nonattainment area for ozone and which has been designated as an overwhelming or significant contributor to downwind ozone air pollutants in another nonattainment district.
Requires the State Air Resources Board to modify existing mitigation requirements to require upwind districts that contribute an overwhelming or significant level of transported air pollutants to revise those plans to reduce emissions, make mitigation payments, or both, as prescribed. Subjects those upwind districts to the enhanced motor vehicle inspection and maintenance program. Deletes existing provisions of law that prohibit the implementation of provisions for testing at test-only facilities in areas other than certain urbanized nonattainment areas.
Prohibits changes to regulations relating to emissions by the Air Resources Board and the Department of Consumer Affairs until the Legislature has enacted a statute approving the change. Requires the Joint Committee on Rules to adopt a procedure governing the submittal and approval of the regulation changes by the Legislature. Requires the proposed regulation change to be returned to the board or department if the Legislature does not enact a statute approving the change, and requires the board or department to "consider any comments made concerning the proposal in committee and floor analyses." A revised regulation change may be resubmitted in accordance with the above procedures.
Requires the existing statewide privately operated program to generate emission reduction credits through the retirement or disposal of high-emitting light-duty vehicles to permit the sale of vehicles that are of interest to collectors to an interested individual.
Prohibits the State Air Resources Board from adopting any emission standards for all-terrain vehicles or off-road motorcycles that are powered by a two-stroke engine. Provides that no regulation concerning emission standards for motorcycles may be adopted, amended, or repealed by the state board until the regulation, its proposed amendment, or its repeal has been submitted to the Legislature and the Legislature has enacted a statute approving the adoption, amendment, or repeal of the regulation.
Permits every motor vehicle subject to the smog check inspection program to be pretested, as defined. Requires information contained in the renewal of registration notice to notify the owner of the vehicle of the right to have the vehicle pretested. Authorizes motor vehicles to be equipped with not more than two exterior-lighted data monitors that transmit information to the driver of the vehicle regarding the efficient or safe operation, or both the efficient and safe operation, of the vehicle, as specified.
Exempts from the Vehicle License Fee Law the incremental cost of purchasing an ultra-low emission vehicle on purchases made between January 1, 1999, and December 31, 2002.
Modifies and increases the allocations of state funding under the Carl Moyer Memorial Air Quality Standards Attainment Program as established by AB 1368 (Villaraigosa-D).
Provides that a manufacturer of methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE), or a product containing MTBE, is jointly liable along with the operator of a facility which releases MTBE into the groundwarer or surface waters of the state.
Encourages the members of the State Air Resources Board, the secretary for Environmental Protection, the chairperson of the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, the director of the Bureau of Automotive Repair, and air quality management district and air pollution control district board members to drive not more than one private vehicle for every two members of their immediate family that have California driver's licenses, and encourages these officials to travel on public transportation.
Prohibits these officials from being provided with, or transported in, a publicly owned or leased vehicle and requires those officials to submit records of their personal, business, and immediate family's travel on public and private modes of transportation to the Assembly and Senate Transportation committees on a quarterly basis.
Exempts, until January 1, 2003, from state sales and use tax the gross receipts from the sale or use in this state of a high fuel-efficient motor vehicle or zero-emission vehicle, as defined, and prohibits this new exemption from being automatically incorporated into any local tax, including, but not limited to, any local sales or transactions and use tax.
Provides that a certificate of compliance or noncompliance that is issued to a licensed automobile dealer is valid for 180 days.
Changes the date when a motor vehicle manufactured prior to the 1974 model-year is exempt from compliance or noncompliance requirements to until January 3, 2003, and provides after that date, any motor vehicle that is 30 or more model-years old will be exempt.
Amends the California Constitution to include the pre-revision provisions of the vehicle inspection and maintenance law. Makes various changes, including prohibiting the use of centralized testing stations, dynamometers, and remote sensing equipment; deleting testing for oxides of nitrogen; requiring BAR 90 testing equipment and additional prescribed tests; authorizing pretesting of vehicles. Imposes a $250 cost limit for repairs. Provides that it supersedes existing law and would be self-executing, as specified.
Memorializes Congress to enact legislation that would permit California to promulgate and implement reformulated gasoline rules.
Establishes a motor vehicle owners' rights advocate for consumers with complaints about the state's smog check program.
Creates the Carl Moyer Memorial Air Quality Standards Attainment Program, to be administered by the State Air Resources Board. Permits the administration of the program to be delegated to air pollution control districts, air quality management districts, and port authorities that apply to administer funds. Authorizes the state board to make grants for locomotive and marine vessel emission reduction projects, as specified. Authorizes only air districts to make grants for heavy-duty motor vehicle emission reduction projects.
Creates the Carl Moyer Memorial Air Quality Standards Attainment Trust Fund in the State Treasury to provide funds to carry out the program. Requires civil penalties recovered by the state board from owners and operators of heavy-duty diesel motor vehicles with excessive smoke emissions to be deposited in a specified account in the fund. Provides that it shall only become operative if funds are appropriated in the Budget Act of 1998 to carry out its provisions. Provides that it will become inoperative and be repealed if the California Air Quality Improvement Act of 1998 is approved by the electors at the November 3, 1998, statewide general election.
Requires the State Air Resources Board to determine the emission benefits, in comparison with a specified fuel blend that meets all applicable standards established by the state board, that are attributable to the oxygen content of any fuel blend on the basis of independently verifiable exhaust and evaporative emission tests, as specified. Prohibits the state board from applying a maximum oxygen content standard to any blend of reformulated gasoline unless it determines that the application of the standard will result in greater emission benefits in the case of the emissions of potency weighted toxic air contaminants and in the case of the ozone forming potential of the emissions, as specified.
Subjects, until March 31, 1999, a fuel blend of gasoline of at least 10% ethyl alcohol to a specified vapor pressure standard adopted by the state board until the state board has made a specified determination. Requires the California Environmental Policy Council to identify and evaluate all significant beneficial and adverse impacts on the environment that may result from any fuel specification proposed or established by the state board, and to prepare related written findings and recommendations, as prescribed.
Provides a credit in the amount of $50 for each vehicle tested by Bar-97 equipment in the enhanced areas of the state. Provides that this credit be available to individuals under the Personal Income Tax Law.
Extends the sunset date (until January 1, 2003) on a set of prescribed civil and administrative penalties pertaining to violations of motor vehicle fuel requirements and standards. Requires the completion (by January 1, 2002) of a report by the State Air Resources Board to the Legislature evaluating the effectiveness of the penalty system.
Provides for the taxation of experimental fuel, as defined, pursuant to the Diesel Fuel Tax Law, at a rate of $0.06 per gallon, except that for the first 24 months experimental fuel is exempt from the tax.
Repeals the August 1, 1999, sunset date on the authority of the South Coast Air Quality Management District to impose a $1 annual vehicle registration fee surcharge to fund clean fuels programs. Establishes an expiration date of August 1, 2004, on the surcharge authority.
Provides, until January 1, 2005, for a credit against income and bank and corporation taxes for taxable and income years beginning on or after January 1 of a year that the State Air Resources Board makes a particular finding related to the number of vehicles subject to emission testing and transmits that finding to the Franchise Tax Board, of an amount equal to the adjusted cost, as defined, paid or incurred by a taxpayer that owns and operates smog check station that is a small business, as defined, for the purchase or lease of a dynamometer in order to comply with a specified regulation of the Bureau of Automotive Repair, as provided.
Authorizes a credit against those taxes for each taxable and income year beginning on or after January 1, 1998, and before January 1, 2005, in an amount equal to the cost paid or incurred during the taxable or income year, in excess of a specified base amount, by a taxpayer that owns or operates a smog check station for additional enhancements, as defined, to a dynamometer and related equipment.
Makes a number of changes to the Smog Check II Program by eliminating "ping-ponging" of laws that fail a smog test between "test-only" shops and repair shops. Revises the low-income and repair assistance program. Simplifies procedures for vehicles to be removed from the enhanced testing requirements (in heavy smog areas) when ownership is transferred to a non-enhanced area. Provides for various tax credits.
States the intent of the Legislature that the State Air Resources Board not impose any requirements in addition to fleet average emission standards that a manufacturer of new motor vehicles must meet in order to sell those vehicles in California.
Requires the California Environmental Protection Agency to establish a potency weighted water toxicity and degradation emission factor for all reformulated motor vehicle fuels sold, or proposed to be sold, in this state. Requires the State Air Resources Board to consider those factors in determining whether a particular fuel additive would result in a significant and beneficial reduction in vehicular emissions.
Expands the existing "Gold Shield" pilot program to allow motorists whose vehicles have failed a smog test, including those who initially were required to go to a test-only station, to have their vehicles repaired, retested and certified at a single "Gold Shield" station.
Establishes criteria by which the Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR) shall establish performance standards for the certification of "Gold Shield" stations. Establishes legislative intent that these new certification standards be established by the emergency rulemaking process.
Allows stations currently designated as "Gold Shield" stations to apply for recertification 60 days before the new standards become effective.
Requires BAR to certify 350 "Gold Shield" stations within 60 days and take all reasonable steps to maximize the number of "Gold Shield" stations, ensuring that these stations are located to provide reasonable convenience to all persons statewide. Establishes legislative intent that, by June 30, 1999, and without compromising performance standards, the number of stations qualified under the new "Gold Shield" standards shall grow to approximate the number that were operating as "Gold Shield" stations during the 1997-1998 fiscal year.
Requires BAR to develop, and to require the distribution of a brochure detailing a motorist's options upon failing a smog check test.
Establishes a low-income repair assistance program administered through expanded "Gold Shield" stations to be implemented immediately and expanded during fiscal year 1998-1999, becoming effective statewide by April 24, 1999. Requires that economic hardship extensions continue to be offered, pursuant to current law, in areas in which the program has not been implemented.
Provides that low-income motorists shall pay up to $75 for repairs and that the state and the low-income motorist shall split (50-50) repair costs of $75-$425. Provides that the low-income motorist's required contribution shall be capped at $250, at which point a two-year repair cost waiver shall be offered. Nothing, however, shall preclude a vehicle owner from voluntarily spending more than $250 on repairs.
States that eligibility for the low-income repair assistance shall be set at 185% of the federal poverty level. Allows motorists to self-certify eligibility by signing under penalty of perjury, and providing to the "Gold Shield" technician an income tax return or a form of public assistance verification, and vehicle registration documents, and a Vehicle Inspection Report indicating a smog check inspection. Provides that these documents may be used by the Bureau of Automotive Repair solely for post-repair audits.
Allows BAR, for the sole purpose of post-repair audits, to collect a participating motorist's Social Security number and the California Driver's License or Identification number. Allows BAR to contract with social service agencies to verify a participant's low-income eligibility.
Requires the State Department of Motor Vehicles to make all computer system modifications necessary to allow it to notify BAR within ten days of applications for change of address and change of ownership. Establishes legislative intent that these modifications be completed by October 1, 1998, and requires a report on the status of these changes by January 1, 1999.
Allows smog technicians at "Gold Shield" stations, test-only stations, or referee stations to update or override zip code information for the sole purpose of correcting address and ownership information, for six months or until the DMV makes the above changes, whichever comes first.
Authorizes new motor vehicle dealers in non-enhanced areas, who are also licensed as smog check stations, to update or override zip code information in order to perform smog check tests on any dealer's vehicle inventory, until DMV has completed modifications to remedy problems associated with the transfer of retail inventory from enhanced to basic areas.
Applies existing civil penalties to smog check station owners/technicians and motorists who engage in fraudulent activities relating to the low-income assistance program or any other component of the smog check program.
Defines "urbanized area," for the purposes of enhanced or basic smog attainment designation, to mean an area that has a population of 100,000 or more residents.
States legislative intent to reimburse smog check stations for investments made in order to comply with BAR regulations for enhanced areas in areas which will be reclassified as "basic" areas pursuant to this bill.
Provides guidelines for BAR's allocation of reimbursement funds appropriated by the 1998-99 Budget Act.
Makes various changes to the Vehicle and Health and Safety Codes which would return the current Motor Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance Program to the program in operation prior to 1994. This program is commonly referred to as "BAR-90". Specifically, this bill:
Repeals all Vehicle Code and Health and Safety Code sections added to establish the "Smog Check II" program.
Retains requirements of the "BAR-90" Program, as the program was constituted prior to 1994 amendments.
Repeals all references to enhanced areas, dynamometers, gold shield stations, and test-only requirements.
Retains exemption provisions established in 1997, which exempt from the program all vehicles manufactured prior to the 1974 model year and all new vehicles for the first four model years. Retains the Low-Income Repair Assistance Program, but removes all references to the "Smog Check II" Program.
Requires the State Department of Motor Vehicles to notify motorists of their right to have vehicles pre-tested, pursuant to Section 44011.3 of the Health and Safety Code.
Provides funding from Item 1111-001-0582 of the Budget Act of 1998 for reimbursement of costs to smog check station owners associated with complying with Bureau of Automotive Repair regulations establishing the enhanced program. Eligible costs, as determined by the bureau, includes equipment and installation costs incurred through participation in the enhanced program.
Establishes a presumption, rebuttable as provided, that the transportation related use of a public transportation corridor, as defined, does not give rise to a taxable possessory interest on the part of the user of that corridor.
Requires the issuance and display of special series, red "DUI" license plates on every vehicle owned, operated or acquired by a person convicted of a second or subsequent violation of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, with a specified exception. Requires the person's driver-related records to be labeled "multiple DUI offender," requires a law enforcement officer to confiscate the license plates of a vehicle operated by such a person under specified circumstances, and makes the operation of a vehicle without required DUI plates a misdemeanor.
Makes it a crime for an alcohol-addicted person to drive a vehicle, repeals an exemption allowing a drug-addicted person to drive during participation in a narcotic treatment program, and establishes related crimes. Imposes various license issuance and reissuance fees and imposes other conditions related to multiple DUI offenses.
Similar legislation was SB 1680 (Haynes-R), which failed in Senate Transportation Committee.
Authorizes the chief of police of any city police department to enter into agreements with providers of towing, emergency road, or storage services for services to be provided within the jurisdiction of that police department. Requires the agreements to meet specified requirements, including, but not limited to, provision of a suspension or termination hearing and appeal process. Requires the agreements to include, but not be limited to, provisions relating to (1) liability insurance requirements, (2) fees for towing service, emergency road service, and storage, (3) inspection of business and storage facilities and equipment, (4) recordkeeping, (5) minimum equipment requirements, and (6) establishment of two districts.
Establishes a five-year pilot project authorizing the Coachella Valley Association of Governments and the Sunline Joint Powers Transit Agency to establish a neighborhood electric vehicle plan, adopt design and marking specifications, and adopt design and safety standards for neighborhood electric vehicles. Makes a violation of certain restrictions regarding operating these vehicles an infraction. Requires the association or agency to issue permits for these vehicles and to adopt safety criteria for operators, including financial responsibility requirements. Requires the association's or agency's plan to be submitted to the transportation planning agency for review and comments prior to adoption. Requires the association or agency to transmit a report to the Legislature on or before December 31, 1999. Repeals these provisions on January 1, 2003.
Requires the State Air Resources Board to conduct vehicle safety and emissions inspections at specified points near the California-Mexico border. Requires the California Highway Patrol to adopt reasonable rules and regulations promoting the safe operation of all foreign vehicles entering into, and operating within, California.
Creates, until January 1, 2003, a Better Auto Body Repair Shop Gold Star Program for auto body repairs, with specified guidelines and requirements.
Creates the Coachella Valley Intermodal Transportation Authority and prescribes the powers and duties of the authority. Requires all districts, which may be local entities, within the authority, as specified, to perform specified duties.
Provides that, notwithstanding any other provisions of law, nothing prohibits the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) from acquiring by eminent domain any right-of-way necessary to construct the BART-San Francisco Airport Extension provided that specified conditions are met.
Provides that when an assault is committed against the person of an operator or driver of a public transit bus, the offense is punishable by a fine of $2,000 and imprisonment in a county jail for a full term of one year. Provides that when a battery is committed against the operator or driver of a public transit bus, the offense is punishable by a fine of $3,000 and imprisonment in a county jail for a full term of one year. If an injury is inflicted on the operator or driver, the offense is punishable by a fine of $4,000 and imprisonment in the state prison for a full term of two or three years.
Exempts vehicle dealers from specified vehicle equipment requirements related to the sale of a leased vehicle to the lessee, when the lessee has possession of the vehicle immediately prior to the sale.
Provides for mandatory community service of from 40 to 160 hours as a condition of probation for the crime of trespass on a toll bridge.
Clarifies the applicable time period for vehicle dealers to submit prescribed registration forms, applications and fees to the State Department of Motor Vehicles upon the sale of a used vehicle. Specifies that the allowable submittal period is 30 days in the case of a used vehicle and not 20 days, as in the case of a new vehicle.
Makes it a misdemeanor for driving school owners or operators to hire independent contractors as driving school instructors.
Reestablishes ridesharing tax credits for taxable or income years, or both, beginning on and after January 1, 1997, and before January 1, 2002.
Authorizes the Riverside County Transportation Commission to construct, manage, and operate transportation toll facilities in the commission's jurisdiction, as specified.
Prescribes a code of conduct for members of the board of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Provides that in a county with a population of 750,000 or more, a speed limit may be established that is up to 15 miles-per-hour less than the speed limit justified by the engineering and traffic survey, and the enforcement of that speed limit does not constitute a speed trap.
Deletes from the special interest license plates program the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the Coachella Valley Mountain Conservancy and the Friends of the Desert Mountains, the Gene Chappie Heritage Network Act of 1992, the American Heritage Rodeo Foundation, and the firefighter personal vehicle special license plates, and adds a red ribbon special interest license plate that recognizes the impact of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) on society to the special interest license plate program. Requires the additional funds collected by the issuance of red ribbon special interest license plates to be deposited in the AIDS Research Account, created by the bill, in the General Fund to be used, when appropriated, to fund AIDS research grants awarded by the University of California. Authorizes the University of California, for the purpose of meeting the requirement that not less than 5,000 applications for the special interest license plate be received and submitted to the State Department of Motor Vehicles, to contract with a private, nonprofit entity that is exempt from taxation under specified provisions of the Internal Revenue Code.
Requires the State Department of Transportation, until a specified date, to mitigate the closure for seismic retrofit of State Highway Route 260 at the Posey Street Tube and Webster Street Tube by any reasonable means necessary, including, but not limited to, funding appropriate improvement, maintenance, and operation of specified bridges on local streets that are alternate routes to the specified tubes.
Requires the State Department of Motor Vehicles to issue professional sports team or organization reflectorized license plates containing the name and reflectorized logotype, motto, symbol, or other design, as specified, of a participating professional sports team or organization of the applicant's choice.
States findings and declarations of the Legislature regarding Route 73, including declarations regarding a method of comparing the cost effectiveness of highway maintenance performed by contracting out and maintenance performed by civil service employees using portions of the route. Sunsets these provisions on January 1, 2003.
Provides that a public highway is not in a dangerous condition and, therefore, a basis for tort liability, merely because the public entity failed to erect a median barrier on the highway.
Changes the ignition interlock device programs for driving under the influence offenders, and gives the State Department of Motor Vehicles responsibility to administer them.
Similar legislation is AB 762 (Torlakson-D), Chapter 756, Statutes of 1998.
Prohibits a person from driving a vehicle upon any highway while operating a cellular telephone if the operation of that telephone requires the driver to hold the telephone in his or hand.
Repeals the January 1, 1999, sunset date of current law and extends indefinitely provisions which allow the use of automated enforcement systems at official traffic control signals, and provides for specific notification and enforcement procedures.
Similar legislation was AB 2411 (Shelley-D), which died in Assembly Transportation Committee.
Requires a person who pleads guilty to, and is placed on probation for, alcohol- or drug-related reckless driving to complete a licensed alcohol/drug education program as a condition of probation.
Requires the immediate 30-day suspension of the commercial driver's license of a driver who tests positive for alcohol or drugs, and specifies conditions for reinstatement of the license.
Reorganizes, renumbers, and rephrases various Vehicle Code, Business and Professions Code, Harbors and Navigation Code, Health and Safety Code, Insurance Code and Penal Code provisions relating to driving under the influence of alcohol and makes confirming changes, but does not make substantive changes.
Requires the South Coast Air Quality Management District to convene an advisory committee to review the air quality impacts of the proposed expansion of the Los Angeles International Airport.
Makes technical changes to the Revenue and Taxation Code and the Vehicle Code by repealing obsolete references to the 1976 registration year for motor vehicles. Expands the requirements of the automatic vehicle identification system. Requires a publicly-owned transit driver to report specified accidents within ten days of an accident.
Modifies the design of the driver's license and identification cards issued by the State Department of Motor Vehicles regarding indication of intent to provide an anatomical gift.
Exempts, as of July 1, 1999, vehicle license fees and registration fees of a vehicle owned by a former prisoner-of-war for vehicles weighing up to 8001 pounds. Specifies changes in the design of the prisoner-of-war license plates.
Establishes a process for adopting rules and regulations related to commercial vehicle safety inspections and out-of-service criteria, as follows:
Requires an impounded vehicle storage facility operator to remove markings they have made on a vehicle's window upon that vehicle's release to the owner or person in control of the vehicle. Provides that it is an affirmative defense to charges brought under this provision that the person to whom the vehicle was released refused to allow the storage facility operator to clean the windows prior to release of the vehicle.
Allows the State Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to exempt local agency-owned general airports from the requirement to repay state funds granted to them by Caltrans if Caltrans determines closure of the airports would not harm California's system of public airports.
Requires the examination for a driver's license to include a test of the applicant's knowledge of the interaction between bicycles and motor vehicles on the highway.
Appropriates $6,750,000 from the State Highway Account in the State Transportation Fund to the Merced County Association of Governments to fund the capital construction of streets for the University of California, Merced campus, in accordance with a specified schedule.
Makes clarifications to AB 1226 (Granlund-R), Chapter 583, Statutes of 1997, which extended the eligibility period for the higher allocation formula for vehicle license fee revenues available to cities incorporated after January 1, 1987. Specifically, clarifies that Chapter 583 extends the eligibility period by an additional two years, regardless of whether the seven- or ten-year eligibility period had expired prior to the enactment of Chapter 583 or within two years after its enactment.
Makes various technical, nonsubstantive changes to the Vehicle Code and deletes obsolete provisions in the Vehicle Code.
Expands the various laws and prohibitions on alcoholic beverages, open containers of alcoholic beverages and marijuana while driving on streets and highways, to include off-highway vehicles on specified public lands.
Increases, from $2,500 to $4,000, the value limit for determining which vehicles are subject to the simplified vehicle lien sale process.
Clarifies that a car rental agency, whether through liability insurance coverage or other legal means establishing financial responsibility, is primarily liable for accidents to its vehicles.
Specifies that a county sealer of weights and measures may test and certify the accuracy of all city-owned parking meters within the county.
Requires the issuance and display of special series red "DUI" license plates on every vehicle owned, operated or acquired by a person convicted of a second or subsequent violation of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, with a specified exception. Requires a court to order the surrender of the regular license plates on all vehicles registered to a person convicted of a second DUI offense and makes operation of a vehicle without required DUI plates a misdemeanor.
Makes it a crime for any person to cause or permit the operation of a vehicle by a person required to display DUI license plates without displaying such plates and imposes unspecified DUI license plate issuance fees and imposes other conditions related to multiple DUI offenses.
Similar legislation was SB 108 (Haynes-R), which failed passage in Senate Transportation Committee.
Adds San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit Police (BART Police) to various criminal and other statutes involving certain described peace officers.
Provides that the current total gross weight limitations may be exceeded by 2.5% by a vehicle transporting agricultural products from a field to the point of first processing. Prohibits requiring a load of agricultural products being transported from a field to the point of first processing by a vehicle that does not exceed the total gross vehicle weight limitations by more than 2.5%, but less than 5%, to be reloaded, and prohibits requiring any portion of the load to be removed.
Phases out vehicle license fees (VLF) over a five-year period and provides reimbursement to local governments for the loss of VLF revenues from the state's sales and use tax revenue.
Similar legislation was AB 1776* (McClintock-R), which died in Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee.
Exempts from the Vehicle License Fee Law the incremental cost of purchasing an ultra-low emission vehicle on purchases made between January 1, 1999, and December 31, 2002.
Allows the Judicial Council to adopt rules and forms governing trials by declaration, which shall supersede any local rule governing trials of traffic officers.
Requires physicians to disclose information regarding blood-alcohol level that they obtain while treating a patient as a result of a motor vehicle accident and provides immunity for disclosing that information.
Exempts the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) preference power from statutes and Public Utilities Commission regulations that govern direct access transactions. Authorizes BART to elect to obtain power from multiple sources.
Revises the membership provisions of the Riverside County Transportation Commission, as specified.
Codifies portions of existing regulation by requiring the State Department of Transportation, at the request of a city or county, to hold a public hearing regarding a request for an aircraft noise variance. Requires that the district attorney (DA) investigate within 60 days any alleged violation of a noise standard variance, and requires the attorney general to investigate the violation if the DA does not investigate within 90 days. Requires airport operators subject to noise control variances to notify affected residents and businesses of changes in published flight paths at least 15 days before the change takes effect. Does not apply to any airport within 50 miles of the Mexican border.
Requires the State Department of Motor Vehicles to report to the Legislature recommendations relative to standardizing the curriculum for use in traffic violator schools. Specifies that any correspondence course or any other course, training or instruction, if it is not offered under direct, personal supervision and instruction of a licensed driving instructor or a public or private secondary school teacher, does not meet driver's license examination requirements.
Eliminates the option of a urine test in most driving-under-the-influence cases, as specified.
Authorizes the San Francisco International Airport and the San Diego Unified Port District to impose a user fee on the customers of rental car companies for the purpose of financing (1) a new ground transportation system at San Francisco International Airport, and (2) the construction of a new parking facility which would be adjacent to the San Diego Convention Center.
Allows the Altamont Commuter Express Authority to contract with designated persons to issue citations for infractions related to fare evasion and other public transportation-related matters.
Requires that the State Department of Motor Vehicles' field offices in the cities of Bellflower, Long Beach, and San Pedro be kept open for business for at least four hours on Saturdays.
Prohibits vehicles from being equipped with radar jamming or disabling equipment, and prohibits anyone from using, purchasing, manufacturing, or selling such equipment. Makes a violation of the provisions of this bill an infraction. Makes the possessions of four or more of the units a misdemeanor. Allows for the transportation of the units, as specified.
Reduces the percentage rate of the vehicle license fee from 2% to 1% on January 1, 1999, and from 1% to 0.5% on January 1, 2002.
Abolishes the vehicle license fee.
Requires the State Department of Motor Vehicles to establish and operate a field office in Tehachapi.
Requires the State Department of Motor Vehicles to design and make available special interest license plates bearing the logo of the Boy Scouts of America and a specified motto, subject to specified criteria and payment of special fees. Provides that net proceeds from the sale of the license plates are to be used for specified scouting programs and overhead expenses.
Permits the removal of "billboards" by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority without compensation to the owners under certain conditions, as specified.
Requires the State Department of Motor Vehicles, when providing the registered owner with any final notice of delinquent registration, to include a warning that failure to properly register a vehicle could result in the removal and impoundment of the unregistered vehicle.
Allows the Santa Maria Public Airport District to apply for and operate a foreign trade zone encompassing an area larger than that contained within the boundaries of the airport district.
Permits a local transportation authority in the name of the authority to acquire specified real property or any interest therein by purchase, lease or donation. Permits a local transportation authority to exercise the power of eminent domain in the authority's name to acquire real property or any interest therein to complete and improve priority regional highways, as specified. Permits the exercise of eminent domain only after the authority has tried to acquire the real property or interest therein by donation, or by purchase or lease at fair market value.
Authorizes the State Department of Transportation, on or after July 1, 1999, to lease airspace under the interchange of Route 4 and Sutter Street in San Joaquin County to any city, county, or other political subdivision, or any state agency, for feeding program purposes. Requires the lease to be for $1 per month, with an administrative fee of not more than $500 per year. Authorizes the lease to be renewed under certain conditions.
Imposes specified requirements for the construction of Alameda Corridor rail and highway improvements.
Establishes the California Automotive Repair Advisory Committee to review and report on certain aspects of the automotive repair industry.
Requests the State Department of Transportation to grant to the Western Star Lodge No. 2 an encroachment permit authorizing a historical plaque dedicated to the Western Star Lodge No. 2 to be placed within the right-of-way of State Highway Route 299 in the Town of Shasta, Shasta County.
Designates a specified portion of Interstate Highway Route 680 the "Donald D. Doyle Highway," and requests the State Department of Transportation to erect plaques and markers showing that designation if contributions from private sources are received to cover the costs.
Designates a specified section of State Highway Route 101 in Sonoma County the Sonoma County Veterans Memorial Highway. Requests the State Department of Tranportation to determine the cost of appropriate plaques and markers showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect appropriate plaques and markers.
Redesignates the Boxes Creek Viaduct, in Del Norte County, the Delbert A. Brown Memorial Bridge.
Designates a specified segment of State Highway Route 1 in the City and County of San Francisco as Veterans Boulevard.
Designates a portion of State Highway Route 133 in Orange County the Veterans Memorial Highway.
Requests the State Department of Transportation (Caltrans), the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, and the California Highway Patrol to jointly conduct a study of a specified demonstration project involving a new high-occupancy vehicle lane on Interstate 80 and requires Caltrans to make available to the public copies of the completed study.
Dedicates the portion of State Highway Route 166 from Route 102 near Santa Maria to Route 33 in Cuyama Valley to the memory of California Highway Patrol Officers Britt T. Irvine and Rick B. Stovall, and specifies that this portion of Route 166 shall be known as the CHP Officers Irvine and Stovall Memorial Highway.
Designates the 11.3-mile stretch of Interstate Highway Route 5 between State Highway Route 152 and State Highway Route 165 the CHP Officer Alfred R. Turner Memorial Highway.
Recognizes the 25th anniversary of the creation of the State Department of Transportation.
Designates the portion of State Highway Route 101 that extends from the San Francisco International Airport to the Broadway-Burlingame exit as the Officer Dave Chetcuti Memorial Highway.
Designates State Highway Route 380 in San Mateo County as the "Quentin L. Kopp Freeway."
Designates the Lincoln Avenue overcrossing bridge in the community of Easton in the County of Fresno the Richard Allen Flores Memorial Bridge and the Shaw Avenue Interchange on State Highway Route 168 the Robert L. Binger Interchange.
Names a specified freeway interchange at the junction of Interstate Route 210 and Interstate Route 15 in San Bernardino County the William E. Leonard Interchange.
Memorializes the President and the Congress of the United States to enact appropriate legislation to eliminate or freeze, at the current level, the federally imposed average fuel economy standards.
Requests the President and Congress of the United States to require the Federal Aviation Administration to mandate minimum service standards for domestic airlines, including, but not limited to, on-time performance, lost baggage, overbooking, overcrowded airplanes, and overcrowded terminals.
Requests the President and Congress of the United States to enact legislation to rename the Washington National Airport as the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
Similar legislation was AJR 46 (Kaloogian-R), which died on Senate Inactive File.
Urges the Congress of the United States to enact legislation to amend the Highway Beautification Act of 1965 to include a new category of signs that are allowed within 660 feet of a federal interstate system or a federal primary highway where the signs will be placed on the grounds of public schools that are located within two miles of an international airport.
Memorializes the President and the Congress of the United States to ensure that legislation pertaining to salvaged vehicles includes specified provisions.
Authorizes, under the personal income tax and bank corporation tax laws, as a credit against the amount of net tax, an amount equal to 40% of employer's cost for providing either subsidized transit passes to an employee or a subsidy toward an employee's monthly vanpool fare. Specifies that this credit is effective for taxable and income years beginning on or after January 1, 1997, and before January 1, 2002.
Requires, effective on a date selected by the director of the State Department of Motor Vehicles, but not later than January 1, 2000, a salvage certificate, except as specified, to include a statement that the seller and any subsequent sellers are required to disclose to the purchaser at, or prior to, the time of sale that the vehicle has been declared a total loss salvage vehicle. Provides that a seller who fails to make the disclosure is subject to a specified civil penalty.
Exempts specified combinations of vehicles from various vehicle length limits when the combinations are used to transport boats. Reenacts provisions which, until January 1, 1998, authorized ocean marine terminals (ports) to inspect truck-trailer chassis on a daily basis for roadability in lieu of other inspections every 90 days.
Allows the County of San Diego to define a portion of unincorporated area within its boundaries (known as Rancho Santa Fe) as an "estate residential district" for the purpose of establishing a 35 miles-per-hour prima facie speed limit.
Requires the State Department of Transportation to include $5.1 million in the proposed budget to fund expansion of the Twin Oaks Valley Bridge over Route 78 in San Diego County near San Marcos.
Authorizes, until January 1, 2003, the director of the State Department of Transportation to extend to Orange County the opportunity to become part of the demonstration program providing for the recognition of an individual or entity who sponsors materials to the state for use along highways by placing a recognition sign, as specified, recognizing his or her sponsorship.
Allows private property owners to utilize vehicle immobilization devices (boots) for parking enforcement purposes.
Provides that, notwithstanding any other provision of law, the State Department of Transportation is required to annually consult with intercity bus companies licensed to operate regular route service that is accessible to persons with disabilities for the purpose of determining whether or not intercity bus companies can provide desired rail feeder bus service under terms and conditions beneficial to the state's interests in intercity passenger rail service.
Requires 25% of the revenue derived from the imposition of commercial truck weight fees to be apportioned to counties (minus state administrative costs) from the State Highway Account, for purposes of maintaining county roads.
Increases, beginning January 1, 1998, the revenue source for California's state highway maintenance and construction system as financed by motor vehicle and diesel fuel excise taxes. Indexes the per gallon tax on gas and diesel fuel according to the California Consumer Price Index.
Revises California's driving under the influence laws by increasing the drivers license suspension period for driving under the influence, while allowing the issuance of a restricted drivers license to a second offender before the end of the suspension period without an interlock device, provided the person is participating in a treatment program. Eliminates the need to petition the court to get a restricted license issued.
Reduces the State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) workload in issuing restricted licenses by streamlining procedures. Includes attempts to remove the interlock device from the law requiring DMV to suspend the privilege to operate a motor vehicle. Requires a study to be submitted by 2002 and sunsets the ignition interlock program in 2005.
Allows a second-time offender who has completed 12 months of the suspension or probation period to apply to DMV for a restricted license if they install an ignition device on their vehicle.
Similar legislation was SB 1115 (Lockyer-D), which died in Assembly Public Safety Committee.
Authorizes the director of the State Department of Transportation to conduct a demonstration to evaluate the benefits of the project "design-build" process.
Changes existing laws as those laws apply to bicycle operation on streets and highways in the following manner:
Authorizes the director of the State Department of Transportation to accept other real property owned by a city as security for payment of the purchase price when conveying any real property or interest therein to that city for use as a park or for educational purposes.
Authorizes the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District to acquire property necessary or incidental to the exercise of its authority and provides that that authority includes the authority to acquire property necessary for, incidental to, or convenient for, joint development, and property physically or functionally related to rapid transit service or facilities, but does not include the authority to condemn property in eminent domain proceedings for the primary purpose of joint development.
Authorizes the board of directors of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District to provide, by ordinance or resolution, that each director of the district shall be paid a sum that shall not exceed $1,000 for each month served, provided the director attended all scheduled meetings. Provides compensation of $100 per meeting, if the director fails to attend all scheduled meetings.
Requires the Governor to appoint a state administrator to oversee the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and to assume all powers, including certain specific powers and duties that are granted to the authority, with the authority's board serving in an advisory capacity to the state administrator.
Adjusts vehicle registration fees annually by the same rate as the Consumer Price Index, rounded to the nearest dollar, after July 1, 1998.
Exempts from the prohibition against placing advertising displays adjacent to landscaped freeways, a nonconforming billboard or advertising sign erected within the City of Artesia.
Prohibits a local or state agency from charging for any hearing or appeal relating to the removal, impoundment, storage, or release of an impounded vehicle unless that hearing or appeal has been requested, in writing, by the vehicle owner or his or her agent.
Increases the punishment for driving a motor vehicle while willfully evading a peace officer from a wobbler to a felony.
Requires the home address of a surviving spouse or child of a peace officer killed in the line of duty to be held confidential for three years following the death of the officer. Deletes the provision allowing the surviving spouse or children to have the State Department of Motor Vehicles confidentiality on a permanent basis.
Repeals the motorcycle safety helmet requirement for persons 18 years-of-age and older and who can show proof of current medical insurance covering the potential costs of personal injuries. Leaves the helmet requirement in effect for 16- and 17-year-olds and those who could not show proof of medical coverage. Deletes statutory references to the safety benefits of such helmets.
Deletes an existing helmet exemption for a specialized, fully-enclosed three-wheel motorcycle meeting certain safety standards.
Reduces the members of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, after July 1, 1999, from 14 to 10, including three members selected by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, three members selected by the mayor of the City of Los Angeles and confirmed by the Los Angeles City Council, three members selected by the Los Angeles County City Selection Committee from three corridors established by the League of Cities in the county excluding the City of Los Angeles, and one nonvoting member selected by the Governor.
Repeals the statutory restriction for high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes in the unincorporated areas of Alameda County, provided that federal law allows it. Requires the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), if the State Department of Transportation restricts or requires the restriction of the use of any lane on any federal-aid highway in the unincorporated areas of Alameda County to HOV's, to review the use patterns of those lanes and to determine if congestion relief is being efficiently achieved by the creation of the HOV lanes. Requires MTC to report its findings and recommendations in its HOV Master Plan Update for the San Francisco Bay Area.
Defines a paratransit vehicle, establishes qualifications for drivers of such vehicles, specifies safety and inspection requirements for paratransit vehicles, and requires employers of paratransit vehicle drivers to participate in specified driver safety and testing program.
Repeals the requirement that pumps and dispensers used to retail gasoline containing alcohol be labeled to indicate that a portion of the fuel is alcohol.
Exempts from vehicle length limitations loads consisting of poles and tools transported on dual-axle pole or pipe dollies (mobile platforms).
Requires, until January 1, 2002, the State Department of Motor Vehicles to implement a three-year pilot program to provide residence information to independent institutions of higher education for the purpose of enforcing parking restrictions. Makes related conforming changes and clarifications.
Amends the pedestrian mall law to delete the requirement that a city must pay all damages prior to adopting an ordinance closing a public street to establish a pedestrian mall. Allows for payment of damages in (1) a public hearing, (2) arbitration, or (3) court. Allows the city to begin construction on the project and requires only the payment of claims settled at the public hearing or through arbitration before the street is physically closed to vehicular traffic. Allows the establishment of a pedestrian mall, including the closing of a street to traffic, without paying other outstanding claims which are proceeding through court. Provides that payment for these claims would be delayed for a certain time.
Eliminates, over a five-year period, the vehicle license fee on all vehicles subject to registration under the Vehicle Code. Transfers sales and use tax revenues to the Sales and Use Tax Account of the Local Government Independence Fund, which is created by this bill, in an amount based upon the reduction or elimination of the vehicle license fee on those vehicles. Appropriates that amount for allocation to local governments, as provided.
Requires, pursuant to legislative findings and declarations, any of certain counties, if specified airlines execute a written settlement agreement or waiver, as provided, within that county, to issue specified total amounts of credits to those airlines against property taxes from the 1998-99 fiscal year to the 2002-03 fiscal year, inclusive. Provides for fiscal years to the 1997-98 fiscal year, inclusive, for the 1998-99 fiscal year to the 2002-03 fiscal year, inclusive, and for the 2003-04 fiscal year, that the assessed value of certificated aircraft shall be deemed to be the amount entered on the tax roll with respect to those aircraft, if certain assessment procedures are followed.
Allows the sale of tire chains on state highways as specified.
Revises current law with respect to failure to display current registration tabs on parked vehicles.
Places additional restrictions on the issuance of duplicate or substitute certificate of vehicle ownership or license plates and specifies conditions and requirements for the issuance of such copies or replacement.
Creates a demonstration program in Butte County and any other county in which the board of supervisors elects to have the county participate in the program that would require courts to impose installation of the ignition interlock device for first-time, driving-under-the-influence (DUI) offenders. Creates a task force to study existing DUI statutes, programs and the demonstration program.
Expands the definition of new motor vehicle under the Torres Consumer Protection Act, a.k.a. the lemon law, to include a new motor vehicle that is used for both personal transportation and by a business with fewer than five vehicles.
Similar legislation was SB 289 (Calderon-D), which failed passage in Assembly Consumer Protection, Governmental Efficiency, and Economic Development Committee.
Requires each county to establish an amnesty program for parking penalties and service fees that requires the processing agency to provide, upon application to the agency, a one-time waiver of all unpaid parking penalties and service fees owned by the applicant, if specified requirements are met.
Allows an articulated bus or trolley coach to exceed the maximum authorized length of 60 feet if the excess length results from a folding bicycle rack, as specified.
Establishes a plan to regulate auto service contracts.
Requires the State Department of Transportation to transfer certain described state-owned property to the City of Pacifica to enable the city to implement the San Pedro Creek Flood Mitigation Project.
Requires the California Highway Patrol to study the safety record of motor carriers operating at the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. Provides that the report is due to the Legislature by December 1, 1999.
Creates drug and alcohol assessment programs for driving-under-the-influence offenders.
Eliminates the State Department of Housing and Community Development's inspection program on new and used recreational vehicles (RV's). Requires, on or after January 1, 1999, that any RV that is offered for sale, sold, rented or leased within the state be constructed in accordance with specified standards of the American National Standards Institute.
Permanently revokes a person's driving privilege after three driving-under-the-influence (DUI) convictions. Eliminates the wash-out period on prior convictions and extends DUI sanctions to persons driving with any trace of a controlled substance in their bodies.
Requires the State Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to conduct a study to determine the cost of constructing a fourth bore in the Caldecott Tunnel located on State Highway Route 24. Requires Caltrans to report the result of the study to the Legislature on or before December 31, 1999.
Requires seatbelts in all newly manufactured schoolbuses in the state.
Authorizes the San Diego Association of Governments to permit single-occupancy vehicles to use the high-occupancy vehicle lanes along Interstate Highway Route 15 between State Highway Route 52 and State Highway Route 78, as specified.
Narrows the exemption from safety belt requirements for taxicab drivers by specifying that the exemption is provided only when the taxicab is carrying a fare-paying passenger. Specifies that at all other times, the taxicab driver must wear the seat belt.
Increases the minimum penalties for fleeing or attempting to elude a peace officer while driving in a willful or wanton disregard for public safety. Authorizes the California Highway Patrol to undertake a statewide publicity campaign on the offense of fleeing a pursuing peace officer only if grants or other funds become available.
Increases the penalty for causing a death while willfully fleeing a peace officer from a wobbler to a straight felony.
Expands the misdemeanor crime of shining a light or other bright device at a helicopter, with intent to interfere with the operation of the helicopter, to include all aircraft.
Requires the California Highway Patrol (CHP) commissioner to establish a museum at the CHP Academy and requires the State Department of General Services to develop plans and specifications for the museum. Makes technical changes to provisions requiring officer training.
Enacts various technical, clarifying and policy changes to a multitude of transportation statutes, including the repeal of obsolete provisions, as a means of avoiding numerous single-issue bills.
Requires all call boxes installed by a local service authority for freeway emergencies on or after January 1, 1999, to be equipped with Tele-Type/Telecommunication Devices for the Deaf devices for use by hearing impaired motorists, and requires all call boxes installed before that date to be so retrofitted by December 31, 2008.
Requires the State Department of Transportation to contract with the University of California to conduct a traffic model study evaluating the comparative benefits of establishing specified types of highway lanes.
Voids any requirement imposed by the State Department of Transportation on the City of Jackson to own a storm drainage system as a condition of allowing a development in that city.
Provides that the owner of any unlawful or abandoned advertising display removed by the director of the State Department of Transportation under the Outdoor Advertising Act is liable for the costs of the removal.
Changes the conditions for radar enforcement speed limits by (1) clarifying that an engineering and traffic survey is not needed for the enforcement of maximum speed at a "school zone", and (2) providing for a longer period, up to ten years, instead of the current five years, when a survey can be used as justification for the speed limit if specific and stringent criteria are followed.
Declares that driver's license requirements for driver education and training courses may not be satisfied by correspondence courses or any course that is not delivered under the direct, personal supervision of a properly certified instructor.
Requires peace officers to immediately impound the vehicle of an individual arrested for a driving-under-the-influence offense (DUI) with a prior DUI conviction, and allows for the possibility of future vehicle forfeiture.
Authorizes the commissioner of the California Highway Patrol (CHP) to approve the out-of-state travel of CHP members to attend out-of-state funerals related to law enforcement officers.
Enhances the authority of the State Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to prohibit, from portions of state highways, longer vehicles Caltrans believes would pose a hazard to public safety.
Defines a retail vehicle fleet auctioneer, makes an auctioneer subject to specified vehicle dealer requirements, and establishes a regulatory scheme for such auctioneers relative to the consignment and auction sale of motor vehicles to the public. Specifies that these provisions become operative on July 1, 1999.
Requires yacht brokers to sign closing statements on all yacht title transactions, increases the authority of the State Department of Boating and Waterways in disciplinary hearings against yacht brokers, and clarifies that yacht brokers and salesmen are independent contractors ineligible to receive unemployment insurance and disability compensation.
Makes numerous modifications to the lemon law relating to motor homes, including doubling the lemon presumption period, increasing the days out of service, requiring written notification from consumers to motor home manufacturers, and other modifications.
Repeals, for certain vehicles, the $9 cap on optional collision damage waivers offered by rental car companies.
Specifies that a certain, additional taxable possessory interest is conferred upon an operator of certificated aircraft at a publicly-owned airport. Provides, for the 1998-99 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, that all taxable real property rights of an operator of certificated aircraft at a publicly owned airport, except as specified, shall be presumed to be valued and assessed at full cash value only if the assessor follows the applicable, specified income approach in determining the assessed value of that property.
Authorizes the application of a colorless, transparent material to the front side windows of a vehicle to enhance the ability of the windows to block ultraviolet rays.
Codifies existing regulations utilized by the California Public Utilities Commission for a three-year pilot project in Stanislaus County and facilitates the ability of local authorities to cite the railroads for grade crossing blocking violations.
Deletes the requirement that the State Department of Motor Vehicles notify a driver, by process server, whose license has been suspended or revoked and the notification of suspension or revocation by certified mail has been returned as undeliverable.
Changes and clarifies different statutory references to the transportation of explosives to conform to federal law.
Enacts exemptions to existing law that require a schoolbus driver to activate a flashing red light when stopped for the purpose of loading or unloading pupils.
Redesignates State Highway Route 30 as part of Route 210 and redesignates a segment of Route 210 as part of Route 57.
Requires the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to adopt and implement a small business enterprise program.
Prohibits the inclusion of a "gag order" in any agreement between a consumer and automobile manufacturer for the buy-back of a nonconforming automobile, a.k.a. a "lemon."
Similar legislation was SB 1773 (Calderon-D), which died in Senate Judiciary Committee.
Exempts, until July 1, 2000, specified transporters of livestock from vehicle access and length limitations when operating on specified segments of State Highway Route 101 in Mendocino and Humboldt counties. Requires the California Highway Patrol, in conjunction with the State Department of Transportation, to conduct a study of the safety effects of the truck exemptions and report to the Legislature by July 1, 2000.
Appropriates $10 million from the Federal Trust Fund to the State Department of Social Services for CalWORKs program services to be used for funding transportation services for CalWORKs participants, as specified.
Redirects one-half of the revenue derived from the special coastal design license plate from the Environmental License Plate Fund to a new License Plate Coastal Access Account and specifies the authorized uses of such revenues.
Extends, until January 1, 2004, the program providing tourist-oriented directional signs indicating to motorists the location and distance of specified rural facilities and attractions.
Requires the State Department of Motor Vehicles to examine the feasibility of contracting out its current vehicle and vessel registration fee collection responsibilities.
Establishes criteria and procedures for traffic control during funeral processions in Los Angeles County.
Exempts pickup trucks weighing 5,000 pounds or less from the payment of commercial vehicle weight fees if the trucks are used primarily for noncommercial purposes.
Specifies a list of conditions a person under the age of 18 must meet before they will be issued or reissued a driver's license if it has been formerly revoked or suspended for a blood-alcohol concentration violation.
Increases the allowable weight of commercial vehicles exempted from registration and weight fees for such vehicles owned by a disabled veteran or a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, on and after July 1, 1999.
Provides that the Spaceport Office in the State Department of Transportation is the sole state agency for the siting of commercial space launch and recovery sites, and the lead agency under the California Environmental Quality Act for all projects governed by this bill. Requires the Spaceport Office to consult with an agency, prior to completing its environmental review, if a commercial space launch and recovery site is proposed to be located in a zone that is subject to the jurisdiction of some other agency such as the California Coastal Commission or the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission.
Permits a truck and trailer combination vehicle consisting of a truck with cargo tank and pull trailer, that is used to carry petroleum products, to have a maximum gross vehicle weight not to exceed 86,000 pounds.
Creates the Drug-Free Commercial Truck and Bus Driver Task Force with 17 specified members to study and make recommendations for closing loopholes in the drug and alcohol testing program for commercial drivers. Requires a report to the Legislature by January 31, 2000.
Requires the State Board of Education to revise regulations governing apportionments for schoolbus replacement to require school districts with transportation programs to replace, beginning in the 1999-2000 fiscal year, schoolbuses that do not meet 1977 federal safety standards.
Increases the dollar threshold when a competitive bid is required for the purchase of supplies and material for the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District from $25,000 to $40,000.