BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: ab 254
SENATOR ALAN LOWENTHAL, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: jeffries
VERSION: 6/16/09
Analysis by: Jennifer Gress FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: June 23, 2009
SUBJECT:
Authorized emergency vehicles: payment of tolls
DESCRIPTION:
This bill establishes the circumstances under which an
authorized emergency vehicle is exempt from paying a toll on a
tolled facility.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law makes every vehicle using a toll bridge or toll
highway liable for any tolls or other charges that may be
prescribed and prohibits a person from evading or attempting to
evade the payment of those tolls or charges.
If a vehicle is found, by automated devices (including cameras),
by visual observation, or otherwise, to have evaded a toll, a
toll operator shall issue to the registered owner of the vehicle
a notice of toll evasion violation within 21 days of the
violation. The notice must describe the violation, the
approximate time and location of the violation, the vehicle
license plate number, a clear and concise explanation of the
procedures to contest the violation, and if practicable, the
registration expiration date and the make of the vehicle. If
the toll operator is unable to obtain accurate information
concerning the identity and address of the registered owner
within 21 days of the violation, it shall have an additional 45
calendar days to issue the notice.
Toll evasion penalties include any late payment penalty,
administrative fee, fine, assessment, and costs of collection.
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Existing law limits toll evasion violation penalties to $100 for
the first offense, $250 for a second within one year, and $500
for each additional violation within one year.
Existing law defines an "authorized emergency vehicle" as any of
the following:
Any publicly owned and operated ambulance, lifeguard, or
lifesaving equipment or any privately owned or operated
ambulance licensed by the Commissioner of the California
Highway Patrol (CHP) to operate in response to emergency
calls.
Any publicly owned vehicle operated by the following persons,
agencies, or organizations:
o Any federal, state, or local agency, department, or
district employing peace officers as for use by those
officers in the performance of their duties.
o Any forestry or fire department of any public agency or
fire department organized in accordance with state law.
Any vehicle owned by the state, or any bridge and highway
district, and equipped and used either for fighting fires, or
towing or servicing other vehicles, caring for injured
persons, or repairing damaged lighting or electrical
equipment.
Any state-owned vehicle used in responding to emergency fire,
rescue, or communications calls and operated either by the
Office of Emergency Services or by any public agency or
industrial fire department to which the Office of Emergency
Services has assigned the vehicle.
Any vehicle owned or operated by any department or agency of
the United States government when the vehicle is used in
responding to emergency fire, ambulance, or lifesaving calls
or is actively engaged in law enforcement work.
Any vehicle for which an authorized emergency vehicle permit
has been issued by the Commissioner of CHP.
An authorized emergency vehicle is exempt from most traffic
laws, including speed laws, stopping at signs and signals, and
driving on the right side of the road, under the following
AB 254 (JEFFRIES) Page 3
conditions:
The vehicle is being driven in response to an emergency call,
while engaged in rescue operations, is being used in the
immediate pursuit of an actual or suspected violator of the
law, or is responding to, but not returning from, a fire
alarm. Fire department vehicles are exempt whether they are
directly responding to an emergency call, being driven from
one place to another by reason of emergency call to the scene
of the emergency, or driven from one fire station to another
or to some other location by reason of an emergency call.
The driver of the vehicle sounds a siren as may be reasonably
necessary and the vehicle displays a light red lamp visible
from the front.
This bill :
Exempts an authorized emergency vehicle from any requirement
to pay a toll or other charge on a toll facility if the
following conditions are met:
o The authorized emergency vehicle is properly displaying
an exempt California license plate and is properly
identified or marked as an authorized emergency vehicle.
o The vehicle is being driven while responding to or
returning from an urgent or emergency call, is engaged in
an urgent or emergency call or response, or is engaging in
a fire station coverage assignment directly related to an
emergency response. "Urgent" is defined as an incident or
circumstance that requires an immediate response to a
public safety-related incident, but does not warrant the
use of emergency warning lights. "Urgent" does not include
personal, commuting, training, or administrative uses of
the vehicle.
o The driver of the vehicle determines that the use of the
toll facility is likely to improve the availability or
response and arrival time of the vehicle and the delivery
of essential public safety services.
Provides that if a toll facility elects to send a bill or
invoice to the public agency for the use of the facility by an
authorized emergency vehicle that meets the conditions above,
the head of the public agency may certify in writing that the
AB 254 (JEFFRIES) Page 4
vehicle was responding to or returning from an emergency call
or response and is exempt from payment. The letter shall be
accepted by the toll operator in lieu of payment and shall be
considered a public document.
Provides that, upon information or belief that an authorized
emergency vehicle did not meet the conditions to be exempted
from liability to pay the toll, the public agency shall make
accessible, upon written request, to the toll operator the
dispatch records or log books relevant to the time period when
the vehicle was in use on the toll facility.
Provides that the provisions of this bill do not prohibit or
amend an agreement into entered between a public agency and a
toll operator that establishes mutually-agreed upon terms for
the use of the facility, and further provides that they do not
preclude a toll operator from establishing a policy that meet
or exceeds them. If either party opts out of the agreement,
these provisions do apply, however.
Provides that the terms of an agreement between a toll
operator and public agency do not extend to other public
agencies that may use a toll facility in the jurisdiction of
the toll operator when assisting the public agency that is
subject to the agreement.
Defines "toll facility" to include a toll road, high-occupancy
vehicle lane, toll bridge, or a vehicular crossing for which
payment of a toll or other charge is required.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . According to the author, emergency first responders
and their vehicles are routinely called upon to provide
essential services across California without regard to
jurisdictional boundaries. Toll facilities are operated in
various parts in the state. When responding to an emergency
call, emergency vehicles such as fire trucks and policy
vehicles sometimes use these tolled facilities either because
they provide the quickest route or because they provide access
to the incident. These vehicles are often issued notices of
violation when using these facilities to respond to an
emergency call. When responding to a large incident that
involves many emergency vehicles, the public agency, such as a
fire department, will receive a significant number of tickets
AB 254 (JEFFRIES) Page 5
with penalties for failure to pay a toll.
Contesting these violations requires a public agency to spend
valuable time researching the incident and use of the vehicle,
pulling incident logs, contacting vehicle operators, and
dealing with bureaucracy in order to prove to the toll
operator that their vehicles were responding to an actual
emergency.
By exempting authorized emergency vehicles from the
requirement to pay tolls and by requiring a toll operator to
accept a letter from the head of the public agency certifying
that the vehicle was responding to an emergency call as
sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the vehicle is indeed
exempt, this bill establishes a minimum, statewide standard
regarding the payment of tolls by emergency service providers
and simplifies the process of contesting violations.
2.Focus of the debate . The debate on the payment of tolls by
authorized emergency vehicles is less concerned with actual
payment and more focused on the bureaucratic difficulties in
contesting notices of violation. Several public agencies have
agreements with their local toll operators regarding the
payment of tolls and in cases where such agreements do not
exist, public agencies acknowledge that toll operators often
waive the tolls once the operators are convinced that use of
the facility was in response to an emergency. The process for
contesting notices, however, can be cumbersome and a public
agency can accrue numerous violations and penalties. An
excerpt from a letter of support from the City of Vallejo
illustrates the frustration that several emergency service
providers express:
The north anchorage of the Carquinez (Al Zampa Memorial)
Bridge terminates in Vallejo. As such the Vallejo Police
Department frequently responds to calls for service on the
bridge to either assist the California Highway Patrol or
handle criminal matters that are the responsibility of this
Department?It is not uncommon for pursued vehicles to
"circle round" and cross over the Bridge traveling north
leading Vallejo units through the Toll Booths. As a
result, in almost every case, the City receives a Notice of
Toll Violation.
While Bridge Authorities are generally helpful in clearing
these notices, a considerable amount of research and staff
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time is required to identify the vehicles involved, locate
and copy the dispatch records, contact the officer(s)
involved to verify the information and prepare a response
to the Toll Collection Agency. This system has become even
more complicated with implementation of FasTrak because the
process in [sic] strictly mechanical and we are required to
deal with a toll collection contractor rather than State
personnel. Without exaggeration, we receive over 100
Notices of Toll Violation each year and because of the
complicated procedures needed to clear alleged FasTrak
violations, we now are receiving notices from collection
agencies.
3.Issues to consider . This bill raises a number of questions
that the committee may wish to consider.
a. Are the circumstances under which emergency vehicles
would be exempt from payment of tolls and subject to the
process established by this bill appropriate? The
circumstances under which an authorized emergency vehicle
would be exempt from payment of tolls under this bill
include the following:
Responding to or returning from an urgent or
emergency call.
Engaging in an urgent or emergency response. This
provision is intended to address situations where an
incident, such as a wildfire, may extend for days and an
emergency vehicle, in the area because of the emergency,
is using the toll facility not necessarily to race to the
fire scene but to return to where personnel are staying
for the duration of the incident (e.g., hotel).
Engaging in a fire coverage assignment directly
related to an emergency response. This provision is
intended to address situations where an emergency service
provider, such as a fire department, is responding to an
incident located in another jurisdiction. Personnel and
vehicles from a fire department in a neighboring
jurisdiction may then travel to the jurisdiction of the
fire department that is responding to that incident in
order to provide coverage for the department while its
personnel are away. These arrangements help to ensure
that communities are served in cases when their own
emergency service providers are away to assist with an
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incident in another jurisdiction.
Furthermore, to be exempt from payment of tolls, these
situations may be urgent or an emergency . Authorized
emergency vehicles would only be exempt under these
circumstances if using a toll facility would improve the
availability of public safety services or the response and
arrival of public safety services. "Urgent" situations are
included to address those situations that require a prompt
or immediate response, but that don't necessarily require
sirens and lights. A common example is when a fire
department in one part of the state travels to another part
of the state to fight a large fire. Improving the
"availability" of public safety services refers to
returning to a station or another location promptly so that
personnel and equipment may be available in the event of
another emergency call.
b. Who should be responsible for payment of tolls? The
premise of this bill is that authorized emergency vehicles
should be exempt from payment of tolls when an urgent or
emergency matter exists. Toll operators generally support
this premise by waiving many toll violations once the
public agency establishes that the matter causing a vehicle
to use a toll facility was in response to a call. On the
one hand, emergency service providers are providing an
essential public service that benefits all residents, and
they do not choose where or when an emergency occurs.
Still, at some point, use of the facility will need to be
paid for, either by a user or by the toll operator who
absorbs the cost. Should the payment of tolls be
considered part of the cost of operating a service paid for
by taxes? In cases where an emergency service provider is
assisting another jurisdiction, there is a process for
reimbursement that could include tolls.
4.Toll facilities in California . The following toll facilities,
including toll bridges, toll roads, and HOT lanes, are
currently in operation in California:
Seven state-owned toll bridges in the Bay Area operated
by the Bay Area Toll Authority, including the Antioch,
Benicia-Martinez, Carquinez, Dumbarton, Richmond-San
Rafael, San Francisco-Oakland Bay and San Mateo-Hayward
bridges.
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The Golden Gate Bridge, operated by the Golden Gate
Bridge, Highway and Transportation District.
State Highway Routes (SR) 73, 133, 241, and 261, which
constitutes 67 miles of toll roads in Orange County,
operated by the Transportation Corridor Agencies, a joint
powers authority.
SR 125, a 10-mile toll road privately operated by South
Bay Expressway, Inc., a subsidiary of investment firm
Macquarie.
SR 91 Express Lanes, ten miles of HOT lanes in the
median of SR 91 in Orange County, operated by the Orange
County Transportation Authority.
I-15 HOT lanes in San Diego County, operated by the San
Diego Association of Governments.
In addition to these, several HOT lane facilities and one toll
road (SR 11 in San Diego County) have been planned or are in
development around the state.
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 77-0
Appr: 15-0
Trans: 12-0
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday,
June 17, 2009)
SUPPORT: California Peace Officers' Association
California Police Chiefs Association
California Special Districts Association
California State Firefighters' Association, Inc.
California State Sheriffs' Association
City of Vallejo
City of Murrieta
Peace Officer's Research Association of
California
San Bernardino County Fire Department
OPPOSED: Metropolitan Transportation Commission