BILL ANALYSIS AB 1500 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 27, 2009 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION Mike Eng, Chair AB 1500 (Lieu) - As Introduced: February 27, 2009 SUBJECT : High occupancy vehicle lanes: hybrid vehicles SUMMARY : Extends the sunset date on a program granting high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane driving privileges to electric vehicles, natural gas vehicles and a limited number of certain hybrid vehicles. Specifically, this bill : Extends, until January 1, 2016, the sunset date for the statute that allows super ultra-low emission vehicles, ultra-low emission vehicles, inherently low-emission vehicles, and those hybrid vehicles that have a fuel economy rating of at least 45 miles per gallon and were previously issued a Clean Air sticker to travel in HOV lanes, whether or not they have the required number of occupants. EXISTING LAW : 1)Allows the Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and local authorities to reserve highway lanes within their respective jurisdictions for the exclusive use of HOVs. 2)Prohibits the operation of single occupant vehicles in HOV lanes, with the exception of motorcycles and Clean Air vehicles. 3)Allows the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to issue 85,000 Clean Air stickers to hybrid vehicles that meet specified emission criteria and have a fuel economy rating of at least 45 miles per gallon. 4)Allows single-occupant Clean Air vehicles to operate in HOV lanes until such time as Caltrans determines that federal law does not authorize the state to allow such vehicles to use those lanes. 5)Requires Caltrans to submit a notice of such a determination to the Secretary of State, at which time HOV lane access privileges for single occupant Clean Air vehicles would be terminated. AB 1500 Page 2 6)Allows a vehicle that meets California's super ultra-low emission vehicle standard for exhaust emissions and the federal inherently low-emission vehicle evaporative emission standard, or a vehicle that was produced during the 2004 model-year or earlier and meets California ultra-low emission vehicle standard for exhaust emissions and the federal inherently low-emission vehicle evaporative emission standard, to operate in an HOV lane without regard to occupancy levels. 7)Requires DMV to issue Clean Air stickers to vehicles meeting those standards. 8)Sunsets the HOV lane access provisions impacting hybrid vehicles (#3-5 above) when the Secretary of State receives Caltrans' notification of a federal ban, or on January 1, 2011, whichever occurs first, and sunsets those provisions impacting low emission vehicles (#6 and 7) simply on January 1, 2011. FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown COMMENTS : An HOV lane, commonly referred to as a "carpool" or "diamond" lane, is part of a traffic management strategy designed to reduce the number of single occupancy vehicles during peak periods of traffic congestion. These lanes are intended to provide an incentive for commuters to form carpools by offering reduced travel times. The declared legislative intent in establishing these lanes is to relieve traffic congestion, conserve fuel, and reduce vehicular emissions. Over the years, advocates for many groups have suggested using HOV lane access to reward certain behaviors or to ease the commute for one class of motorists or another. Historically, HOV lane access has been proposed for doctors, seniors, veterans, the disabled, and others. These proposals were rejected as being inconsistent with the original intent of establishing the lanes, which is to reduce congestion. Subsequently, AB 71 (Cunneen), Chapter 330, Statutes of 1999, extended to certain "Clean Air" vehicles the privilege of using HOV lanes even when required occupancy levels are not met. Vehicles meeting AB 71's standard are generally limited to battery-powered vehicles and those operating on compressed natural gas, neither of which is especially prevalent in California's vehicle fleet. Proponents of AB 71 contended that AB 1500 Page 3 that this bill would induce the purchase and investment in clean air vehicles, consistent with at least a part of the legislative intent in authorizing HOV lanes. In light of the relatively small number of these vehicles, it was felt that the bill's exemption would have negligible impact on the timesaving benefit of HOV lanes. Hybrid vehicles, which have become a popular means by which vehicle manufacturers may meet consumer demand for fuel efficiency, do not meet the clean air standard established by AB 71; consequently, their owners and advocates were dismayed that they were not allowed into HOV lanes. In 2004, therefore, the Legislature enacted AB 2628 (Pavley), Chapter 725, Statutes of 2004, extending the Clean Air provisions of AB 71 to hybrid vehicles that achieve 45 miles per gallon fuel economy. Since allowing large numbers of hybrids into HOV lanes would reduce the effectiveness of the lanes by compromising their ability to offer a quicker commute than adjacent mixed-flow lanes, AB 2628 limited the aggregate number of stickers for hybrids to 75,000 and allowed Caltrans to suspend HOV lane privileges for hybrids on any particular lane that reaches a specified level of congestion. AB 2600 (Lieu), Chapter 614, Statutes of 2006, increased the limit on hybrid stickers to 85,000 and extended AB 2628's 2008 sunset date to 2011. (DMV reached the 85,000 sticker cap for hybrids in February 2007 and is no longer issuing new hybrid stickers.) In June of 2007, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) requested Caltrans to submit a plan to address "HOV lane degradation" on California freeways. Caltrans' analysis had indicated that 54% of its HOV lanes had experienced such degradation (i.e., the lane does not maintain 45 mph or greater operating speed during peak commute hours for 90% or more of 180 consecutive workdays). Recognizing that one component of HOV lane congestion may be the presence of hybrid vehicles, one of the options that Caltrans is considering is banning hybrids in certain HOV lanes, as it is already authorized to do. This bill would extend, for an additional five years, the authorization for already-stickered hybrids, as well as those vehicles previously authorized under AB 71, to operate in HOV lanes. As beneficial as hybrids are, by virtue of their reduced consumption of gasoline, to the state's environment and economy, AB 1500 Page 4 it is difficult to articulate a compelling rationale for allowing their operation in HOV lanes for an additional five years. The initial impetus for granting this privilege was to incentivize their purchase. The 85,000 hybrids that are currently stickered have indeed been purchased. As no additional stickers are available for issue, HOV lane access is no longer an incentive to purchase a new hybrid. And as the automotive industry adjusts its mix of models to meet consumer demand for higher mileage vehicles, hybrids are capturing an increasing share of the market without any need for incentives. Extending the sunset date of the program therefore simply continues to reward motorists for purchase choices they made several years ago while making more difficult the task of reducing congestion in HOV lanes. Natural gas and electric vehicles, by contrast, are rather small in number, continue to struggle for market share, and place few demands on the HOV lane system. Additionally, as supporters point out, natural gas vehicles are primarily used in fleet applications (taxis, shuttles, and public agencies). "Because fleet owners need adequate time to make vehicle fleet replacement decisions, it is important that they be assured the single occupancy HOV lane access will be continued beyond the current (December 31) 2010 sunset." Signaling an extension of the program well in advance of its scheduled sunset will help assure continued purchases of natural gas vehicles. Related legislation : SB 535 (Yee) would allow HOV lane privileges for electric and natural gas vehicles as well as for hybrids to sunset as scheduled in 2011 but would grant HOV lane privileges for "plug-in" hybrids. That bill is scheduled to be heard tomorrow in the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee. AB 1502 (Eng) would extend until January 1, 2017, the sunset date for natural gas and electric vehicle access to HOV lanes. AB 1502 is not scheduled for a hearing at this time. Suggested committee amendment : The author may wish to consider removing hybrid vehicles from the bill's sunset extension, so that the bill only applies to pure electric and natural gas vehicles that continue to need an incentive to build a viable market. REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION : AB 1500 Page 5 Support California Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition Opposition None received Analysis Prepared by : Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093