BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 728|
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UNFINISHED BUISNESS
Bill No: SB 728
Author: Lowenthal (D)
Amended: 4/27/09
Vote: 21
SENATE ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY COMMITTEE : 5-2, 5/4/09
AYES: Simitian, Corbett, Hancock, Lowenthal, Pavley
NOES: Runner, Ashburn
SEN. TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 6-3, 5/14/09
AYES: Lowenthal, DeSaulnier, Kehoe, Oropeza, Pavley, Wolk
NOES: Huff, Ashburn, Hollingsworth
NO VOTE RECORDED: Harman, Simitian
SENATE FLOOR : 21-16, 5/26/09
AYES: Alquist, Cedillo, Corbett, DeSaulnier, Ducheny,
Florez, Hancock, Kehoe, Leno, Liu, Lowenthal, Negrete
McLeod, Oropeza, Padilla, Pavley, Romero, Simitian,
Steinberg, Wiggins, Wolk, Yee
NOES: Aanestad, Ashburn, Benoit, Cogdill, Correa, Cox,
Denham, Dutton, Harman, Hollingsworth, Huff, Maldonado,
Runner, Strickland, Walters, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Calderon, Wright, Vacancy
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 45-29, 8/24/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Air pollution: parking cash-out program
SOURCE : Environmental Defense Fund
National Resources Defense Council
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DIGEST : This bill allows cities, counties, and air
districts to ensure compliance with the states parking
cash-out law.
Assembly Amendments add double-jointing language to prevent
a chaptering out problem with AB 1186 (Blumenfield) which
is currently on the Senate Third Reading File.
ANALYSIS : Current law requires each employer with 50 or
more employees that provides a parking subsidy to employees
to provide a cash allowance to an employee who does not use
the parking space an amount equivalent to the amount the
employer would otherwise pay to provide that employee a
parking space. This law is known as the parking cash-out
program.
The program is administered by the California Air Resources
Board (ARB). Under current law, ARB may impose a civil
penalty up to $500 per vehicle.
An employer must comply with the program if it has the
following characteristics:
1.Employs at least 50 persons, regardless of the number of
work sites.
2.Is located in an air basin designated nonattainment for
any state air quality standard. (Practically speaking,
this means every county except Lake County.)
3.Provides free or subsidizes employee parking on leased
spaces (i.e., on spaces the employer does not own).
4.Can calculate the expense of the parking subsidy, which
means the parking is leased separately from building or
office space.
5.Is able to reduce the number of leased parking spaces
without financial penalty.
This bill:
1.Allows cities, counties, and air districts to establish,
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by ordinance or resolution, a penalty or other mechanism
to ensure compliance with the parking cash-out law.
2.Provides that if the local entity establishes a penalty,
it must also establish procedures for providing notice to
employers and appeal by employers of any penalty imposed.
3.Provides that if both ARB and a local entity impose a
penalty on an employer, then only the penalty imposed by
ARB shall apply.
Effect of Free Parking on Commute Behavior . According to a
2002 report prepared by the Legislative Analyst's Office
(LAO) to examine California's parking cash-out law, there
is some research to suggest that providing free parking
encourages employees to drive to work alone. The report
cites a 1990 study that found a 41 percent average
reduction in solo driving when employees had to pay to
park. The LAO also notes a 2000 survey of Bay Area
commuters, which found that while 77 percent of commuters
drive alone to work when free parking is available, only 39
percent do so when they have to pay to park.
Benefits of Parking Cash-Out . The parking cash-out program
was established by AB 2109 (Katz), Chapter 554, Statutes of
1992, in response to a number of studies indicating that
employees are more likely to rideshare, use transit, or
carpool when they have to pay the full cost of parking
spaces. Additionally, concerns were raised that
employer-subsidized parking distorts the free market and
encourages single-occupant auto trips, contributing to
traffic congestion and air pollution.
According to the 2002 LAO report, as well as a more recent
report by the RAND Corporation, the parking cash-out
program is inexpensive to administer and offers numerous
benefits, including easing traffic congestion, improving
air quality, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, promoting
social equity, and supporting investments in other travel
modes.
Traffic Congestion and Vehicle Emissions . A 1997 study
conducted for ARB examining the impact of the parking
cash-out law on commute behavior found:
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1.Solo driving dropped 17 percent, from 76 percent to 63
percent of employees.
2.Carpooling increased by 64 percent, from 14 percent to 23
percent of employees.
3.Transit use increased by 50 percent, from six percent to
nine percent.
4.Combined bicycling and walking increased 33 percent, from
three to four percent.
5.Vehicle miles traveled, along with their associated
emissions, decreased by 12 percent per employee per year.
6.Implementing parking cash-out resulted in "an average
reduction in carbon-dioxide emissions of 367 kg (or
nearly half a ton) per employee per year."
Equity . When employers offer free or subsidized parking
without offering subsidies to employees for other travel
modes, employers reward driving over other modes and
provide a commute benefit to some employees but not others.
The LAO report on the cash-out program concludes: "By
providing parking cash-out, the employee is rewarded
equally, whether he or she walks, bikes, take transit,
carpools, or drives alone to work."
Furthermore, women, minorities, and lower-income workers
are less likely to drive to work alone. Parking cash-out
corrects this imbalance by providing for equivalent
subsidies regardless of the travel mode.
Supports Transit and Carpool Lane Investments . The LAO
notes that the state and local governments invest hundreds
of millions of dollars on infrastructure intended to
support non-highway modes of travel, including new carpool
lanes, expanded and more frequent bus and rail service, and
bicycle and pedestrian facilities. Parking cash-out, by
reducing the incentive to drive alone, reinforces
investments in other modes of travel.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
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Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/26/09)
Environmental Defense Fund (co-source)
Natural Resources Defense Council (co-source)
Bay Area Air Quality Management District
Breathe California
California State Association of Counties
City of Los Angeles
Metropolitan Transportation Commission
National Parks and Conservation Association
Planning and Conservation League
Sierra Club California
Transform
OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/26/09)
California Council for Environmental and Economic Balance
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
there is general consensus that few employers currently
comply with the parking cash-out law. ARB is authorized to
enforce the law, but to date it has not issued any
citations to any employers, contending that it is
impractical to identify the specific businesses that are
subject to the requirements of the law.
Several local entities have expressed a desire to have this
program be enforced. Some have explored the possibility of
ensuring compliance with the program themselves, but
believe they do not have the authority to enforce what is a
state law. This bill remedies that concern by allowing
cities, counties, and air districts to establish by
regulation or ordinance a mechanism to ensure compliance
with the program.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : In its letter of opposition,
the California Council for Environmental and Economic
Balance (CCEEB) focuses on the flows it believes exist with
the parking cash-out program generally. CCEEB suggests
that the law could lead to unintended consequences such as
employees who receive cash continuing to drive in a
single-occupant vehicle and simply parking in nearby
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neighborhoods. Furthermore, CCEED asserts that "the
parking cash-out program may work in some situations while
other strategies may work better in other situations." By
enforcing compliance with this program, CCEEB is concerned
that the bill could "stifle the implementation of more
cost-effective alternatives."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Ammiano, Arambula, Beall, Block, Blumenfield,
Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Chesbro, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, Eng, Evans,
Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill,
Huffman, Jones, Krekorian, Lieu, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma,
Mendoza, Monning, Nava, John A. Perez, Portantino,
Ruskin, Salas, Skinner, Solorio, Swanson, Torlakson,
Torres, Torrico, Yamada, Bass
NOES: Adams, Anderson, Bill Berryhill, Blakeslee, Conway,
Cook, DeVore, Duvall, Emmerson, Fletcher, Fuller, Gaines,
Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman, Harkey, Huber, Jeffries,
Knight, Logue, Miller, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, Silva,
Smyth, Audra Strickland, Tran, Villines
NO VOTE RECORDED: Tom Berryhill, Galgiani, Hall, V. Manuel
Perez, Saldana, Vacancy
TSM:cm 8/26/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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