BILL ANALYSIS ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1781| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ THIRD READING Bill No: AB 1781 Author: Villines (R) Amended: 8/11/10 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 7-1, 6/15/10 AYES: Lowenthal, Huff, Ashburn, DeSaulnier, Harman, Pavley, Simitian NOES: Kehoe NO VOTE RECORDED: Oropeza SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8 ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-0, 4/22/10 (Consent) - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Neighborhood electric vehicles SOURCE : Author DIGEST : This bill authorizes, until 2016, the City of Fresno to establish a neighborhood electric vehicle transportation plan. Senate Floor Amendments of 8/11/10 ensure that the Director of the Department of Transportation considers for approval the Neighborhood Electric Vehicle plan that the bill authorizes only after a review of the plan by the California Traffic Control Devices Committee. CONTINUED AB 1781 Page 2 ANALYSIS : Existing law defines a low-speed vehicle as a motor vehicle that is four-wheeled; can attain a speed in one mile of more than 20 miles per hour (MPH) and not more than 25 MPH on a paved, level surface; and has a gross vehicle weight rating of less than 3,000 pounds. Low-speed vehicles are also known as neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs). NEVs meet federal motor vehicle safety standards, and one must possess a valid California driver's license to operate an NEV on public streets. Existing law generally prohibits NEVs from being operated on any roadway with a speed limit in excess of 35 MPH, but a number of bills have provided exceptions for three communities, as follows: 1. AB 2353 (Leslie), Chapter 422, Statutes of 2004, authorized the NEV transportation plan pilot projects until January 1, 2009, for the cities of Lincoln and Rocklin, as follows: A. Each city may establish a "neighborhood electric vehicle transportation plan" for the city or some part of it. Existing law puts numerous requirements on the adoption of the plan, including consultation with local law enforcement and transportation planning officials. The plan must accommodate the travel of NEVs by identifying routes and providing for NEV facilities (separate lanes, trails, street crossings, parking, charging stations, etc.), and it may allow NEVs on streets with speed limits over 35 MPH where dedicated lanes are provided for NEVs. B. The cities must work with the Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to establish uniform specifications and symbols for signs, traffic control devices, and right-of-way designation in the plan areas. C. If Lincoln or Rocklin adopts an NEV transportation plan, then the city must report to the Legislature on the plan, its effectiveness, and its impact on traffic flows and safety, and it must make a recommendation to the Legislature on extending the sunset date or expanding the authorization for NEV AB 1781 Page 3 transportation plans statewide. 2. AB 2963 (Gaines), Chapter 199, Statutes of 2008, extended the sunset date on the Lincoln and Rocklin pilot projects from 2009 until January 1, 2012. In doing so, the bill required the cities jointly or individually if only one proceeds, to report to the Legislature by January 1, 2011, on implementation of their NEV transportation plans. This report shall be prepared in consultation with Caltrans, the California Highway Patrol (CHP), and local law enforcement and provide specified information on the NEV transportation plans and their implementation. 3. SB 956 (Correa), Chapter 442, Statutes of 2007, allowed Orange County to establish an NEV transportation plan for Ranch Plan Planned Community under essentially the same criteria as the Lincoln and Rocklin pilot projects, except with a sunset date of January 1, 2013. This bill authorizes the City of Fresno, until January 1, 2016, to establish a neighborhood electric vehicle transportation plan under the same terms as the pilot projects in Lincoln and Rocklin. Specifically, this bill: 1. Permits the city to establish an NEV plan for all city streets within the city, plus Fresno County islands, which are areas of land, streets, and roads under county jurisdiction, but entirely surrounded by the city, provided that the county concurs in inclusion of any island in the city's NEV plan. 2. Requires that the city adopt the plan by ordinance or resolution and, prior to adoption, receive comment and review on the plan from the Council of Fresno County Governments and any agency with traffic law enforcement responsibilities in the plan area. The plan must accommodate the travel of NEVs by identifying routes and providing for NEV facilities (separate lanes, trails, street crossings, parking, charging stations, etc.). 3. Requires the City, if it develops an NEV plan, to submit the plan to the Director of Caltrans for approval following a review and recommendation by the California AB 1781 Page 4 Traffic Control Devices Committee at Caltrans. 4. Requires the city, if it adopts an NEV plan, to report to the Legislature by November 1, 2014, in consultation with Caltrans, CHP, and local law enforcement. The report shall describe the NEV transportation plan and its elements, and it shall evaluate the plan's effectiveness, including its impacts on traffic flows and safety. 5. Sunsets on January 1, 2016. 6. Contains double-jointing language with AB 584 (Huber). FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes SUPPORT : (Verified 6/15/10) Hon. Ashley Swearengin, Mayor, City of Fresno City of Fresno Fresno County Council of Governments Larry Powell, Superintendent, Fresno County Office of Education San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District OPPOSITION : (Verified 6/15/10) California Bicycle Coalition California Council of the Blind ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author introduced this bill so that the City of Fresno may create an NEV plan to provide for and encourage the use of zero emission vehicles. The author notes that the bill provides for an NEV plan designed and developed to best serve the functional travel needs of the planned area and to have the physical safety of the NEV driver's person and property as a major planning component. This bill contains many of the same requirements as in the statutes authorizing NEV plan pilots in Orange County, Lincoln, and Rocklin, including a review of this pilot project, which is due in November 2014. ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The California Council of the AB 1781 Page 5 Blind opposes this bill because it does not address the safety issues that NEVs pose for pedestrians and especially for visually impaired pedestrians. NEVs and other electric vehicles emit little sound, and it is vehicle sound on which blind pedestrians rely to detect the presence of vehicles and know when it is safe to cross a street. The council indicates that it will support the bill if it is amended to require NEVs to emit sufficient sound for blind pedestrians to audibly detect the presence of NEVs. ASSEMBLY FLOOR : AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Bass, Beall, Bill Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, DeVore, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, John A. Perez NO VOTE RECORDED: Blumenfield, Caballero, Huber, Huffman, Norby, Vacancy JJA:mw 8/11/10 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END ****