BILL ANALYSIS
AB 951
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 27, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON UTILITIES AND COMMERCE
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 951 (Lieu) - As Amended: April 21, 2008
SUBJECT : Charter-party carriers.
SUMMARY : Increases the range of fines the California Public
Utilities Commission (PUC) can impose on charter-party carriers
who knowingly violate state laws and PUC rules.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Prohibits a charter-party carrier from engaging in
transportation services subject to regulation by the PUC
without obtaining a specified certificate or permit from the
PUC.
2)Permits the PUC to cancel, revoke, or suspend any operating
permit or certificate upon specified violations.
3)Permits the PUC to levy a civil penalty of up to $5,000 for
the specified violations, as an alternative to canceling,
revoking, or suspending the permit or certificate.
4)Requires a carrier to pay a reinstatement fee of $125 if its
certificate or permit was suspended for a specific reason, and
wanted the PUC to reinstate its certificate.
5)Imposes a minimum fine of $1,000 for each day of operation if
the PUC finds after a hearing that a charter-party carrier has
continued to operate as a carrier after its certificate has
been suspended.
6)Imposes a fine of not more than $1,000 for every charter-party
carrier who violates or who fails to comply with the laws or
PUC regulations.
7)States that a carrier is guilty of a misdemeanor and is
punishable by a fine of $1,000, by imprisonment in the county
jail, or both if the carrier continues to display any
identifying symbol other than the PUC symbol, and fails to
remove an identifying symbol when required by the PUC.
AB 951
Page 2
8)Imposes a fine of not more than $1,000 on every corporation or
person other than a charter-party carrier in violation of the
laws and PUC rules.
9)Requires the court to impose a fine of not more than $2,500
for a first conviction and $5,000 for each subsequent
conviction for operating a charter-party carrier or a taxicab
without a valid certificate or permit.
THIS BILL makes various increases to the fines for violations
pertaining to charter-party carriers, including:
1)Increases the civil penalty from a maximum of $5,000 to
$7,500.
2)Increases the reinstatement fee from $125 to $1,000.
3)Increases the minimum fine $1,000 to $7,500 for each day of
operation if the carrier has continued to operate with a
suspended certificate.
4)Increases the fine from $1,000 to a range of not less than
$1,000 and not more than $5,000 for every charter-party
carrier who violates or who fails to comply with the laws or
PUC regulations.
5)Increases the fine from $1,000 to $2,500 for every
charter-party carrier who continues to display any identifying
symbol other than the PUC symbol, and who fails to remove an
identifying symbol when required by the PUC.
6)Increases the fine from not more than $1,000 to not more than
$2,000 on every corporation or person other than a
charter-party carrier who violates state laws or PUC
regulations.
7)Allows the PUC to increase the fine a court imposes for a
first conviction to $10,000 and up to $25,000 for each
subsequent conviction for operating a charter-party carrier or
a taxicab without a valid certificate or permit, if the
operator has the ability to pay.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS : According to the author, the purpose of this bill is
AB 951
Page 3
to implement stronger deterrents for charter buses that pose
great harm to passengers. The author states that the current
fines in state law are too low to serve as a deterrent for bad
charter-party carriers that would rather compromise the safety
of its passengers to make a profit. Fines regarding
charter-party carriers can range from as low as $125 to $5,000
for violations that compromise the safety of human beings.
1) What is a charter-party carrier : Charter-party carriers
furnish limousines-for-hire or passenger charter transportation
service in motor vehicles. Charter-party carriers do not
include vehicles on a set schedule or between fixed termini,
taxi cabs, car rentals, or a city bus. Typical charter party
carriers provide different sized vehicles to take a scheduled
group of people to another location and/or back. The group
would usually reserve the vehicle as a group, and would not
reserve a "seat" individually.
Current law requires charter-party carriers to possess a
certificate to operate, provided by the PUC. The intent is to
secure adequate and dependable transportation by carriers
operating upon the public highways, and to promote carrier and
public safety through its safety enforcement regulations.
2) Public Safety : The author cites two major incidents where
the charter-party carrier was in violation of the law.
On October 5, 2008, a bus crashed on its way to a casino in
Colusa County. The crash killed 10 and injured nearly 40
others. The investigation report revealed that the bus driver
did not have the proper "P" endorsement from the Department of
Motor Vehicles (DMV), and the bus company was currently filed
with DMV as "non-operational."
On October 31, 2008, a charter bus carrying the Alameda High
School varsity football team crashed in Pinole. There were no
major injuries, but the CHP determined later that the driver did
not hold the proper license and the bus itself had not been
registered with CHP since 2005.
In February 2009, surprise inspections at the Thunder Valley
Casino found violations in 12 of the 13 buses that were
inspected. Violations ranged from brake deficiencies to loose
lug nuts, cracked wheels, and lighting and steering problems.
AB 951
Page 4
RELATED LEGISLATION :
AB 636 (Jones) requires the PUC to permanently revoke the
authority of a charter-party carrier if the carrier knowingly
employs a non-licensed or inappropriately licensed driver, and
requires a California Highway Patrol (CHP) officer to impound
the bus if driven by a non-licensed driver.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Bus Association
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Gina Adams / U. & C. / (916) 319-2083