BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: SB 663
SENATOR ALAN LOWENTHAL, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: benoit
VERSION: 2/27/09
Analysis by: Carrie Cornwell FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: April 14, 2009
SUBJECT:
Neighborhood electric vehicles
DESCRIPTION:
This bill authorizes the City of Palm Desert to establish a
neighborhood electric vehicle transportation plan.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law defines a low-speed vehicle as a motor vehicle that
is 4-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 a 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.
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:
1)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
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with speed limits over 35 MPH where dedicated lanes are
provided for NEVs.
2)The cities must work with the California Department of
Transportation (Caltrans) to establish uniform specifications
and symbols for signs, traffic control devices, and
right-of-way designation in the plan areas.
3)If Lincoln or Rocklin adopts a 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
make a recommendation to the Legislature on extending the
sunset date or expanding the authorization for NEV
transportation plans statewide.
Last year, 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:
1)Declared that the City of Lincoln has complied with all of the
requirements in existing law relative to developing a NEV
transportation plan and reporting to the Legislature, and it
authorized Lincoln to proceed with implementing its plan.
2)Provided the City of Rocklin one more year, until January 1,
2009, to report on its NEV transportation plan under the pilot
project.
3)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.
SB 956 (Correa), Chapter 442, Statutes of 2007, allowed Orange
County to establish a 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 Palm Desert to establish
neighborhood electric vehicle transportation plan under many of
the same terms as the pilot projects in Lincoln and Rocklin, but
without a sunset date. Specifically, the bill:
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1)Permits the city to establish a NEV plan for all city streets
within Palm Desert. The city shall adopt the plan by ordinance
or resolution and shall receive comment and review on the plan
from the Riverside County Transportation Commission and any
agency with traffic law enforcement responsibilities in Palm
Desert prior to adoption. 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.).
2)Allows NEVs to be in the same lanes as cars on streets with
speed limits of 55 MPH or less. For streets with speed limits
of 55 MPH or greater, the city must provide dedicated NEV
lanes on those streets. (The author will offer an amendment to
require separate lanes for streets with speed limits of more
than 35 MPH; see Comment #4 below.)
3)Requires the city, if it adopts a NEV plan, to report to the
Legislature by November 1, 2013, in consultation with 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.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . The author introduced this bill to allow the City of
Palm Desert to further its vision of creating a sustainable
development that reduces gasoline demand and vehicle emissions
by offering a cleaner, more economical means of local
transportation within the city. The bill contains many of the
same requirements as in the statute authorizing NEV plan
pilots in Orange County, Lincoln, and Rocklin.
2.Outstanding public safety issues for NEV Plans . There are
numerous outstanding public safety issues to be resolved with
NEV plans, including:
conflicts with bicycles, as noted below;
appropriate and universal signage; and
the difficulty for a NEV making a left turn on a street
with a speed limit in excess of 35 MPH where the NEV must
cross traffic in order to move from a dedicated lane on the
right hand side of the roadway.
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In recognition of these, all of the existing statutory
authorizations for NEV plans have sunset dates: Orange
County's sunsets in 2013, and Lincoln's and Rocklin's sunset
in 2012. The committee may wish to amend this bill, therefore,
to add a January 1, 2014 sunset date.
1.Allowing NEVs in lanes with 55 MPH speed limits . By definition
a NEV is a vehicle that can attain speeds no greater than 25
MPH. Under Rocklin and Lincoln's NEV plan statutory
authorization, NEVs may only share vehicle lanes on streets
with speed limits up to 35 MPH. In Orange County's NEV Plan,
state law lets NEVs share vehicle lanes only on street with
speeds of up to 25 MPH. This bill allows NEV's in Palm Desert
to travel in the same lanes as vehicles on streets with speed
limits as high as 55 MPH . This is a recipe for disaster, as a
vehicle that can only go 25 MPH being in the same lanes as
cars traveling 35, 45, or 55 MPH will certainly result in
serious accidents because varying vehicle speeds are a major
cause of accidents. The committee may therefore wish to amend
this bill to allow NEVs in Palm Desert to share lanes with
motor vehicles only on streets with speed limits of up to 25
MPH or 35 MPH.
2.Conflicts between NEVs and bicycles . Bicycle advocates,
including the Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates and the Marin
County Bicycle Coalition, have expressed concern with NEV
plans, because they can result in NEVs operating in bicycle
lanes. Specifically, these advocates note that NEVs are too
wide for bike lanes, that NEVs should be with other motorized
vehicles rather than bikes because of the severity of NEV-bike
accidents for bicyclists, and that allowing NEVs in bike lanes
leads to the incorrect impression that NEVs may travel on
bicycle paths that are separate from roadways. The author or
the committee may therefore wish to amend this bill to clarify
that dedicated NEV lanes may not be for joint use of NEVs and
bicycles nor may NEV lanes displace bicycle lanes.
3.Technical amendment . On page 4, line 34, strike "and golf
carts"
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday,
April 8, 2009)
SUPPORT: City of Palm Desert (sponsor)
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OPPOSED: None received.