BILL NUMBER: SB 1220 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 15, 2010
INTRODUCED BY Senator Wolk
FEBRUARY 18, 2010
An act to amend Section 35002 of the Vehicle Code, relating to
vehicles, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect
immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1220, as amended, Wolk. Vehicles: emergency vehicles: fire
apparatus.
(1) Existing law requires specified authorized emergency vehicles
owned and operated by a governmental agency that are first purchased
on or after January 1, 1994, to meet certain size, weight, and load
requirements, including the requirement that the manufacturer weigh
and certify fire apparatus to determine compliance with weight
requirements. Existing law defines a "fire apparatus" as, among other
things, a vehicle designed, maintained, and used exclusively for the
suppression of fires or for fire prevention activities, including
the training of firefighters.
This bill would instead define a "fire apparatus" as a vehicle
designed to be used under emergency conditions to transport personnel
and equipment, or to support the suppression of fires or mitigation
of other hazardous situations, consistent with Standard 1901 of the
National Fire Protection Association.
Existing law, beginning July 2, 2010, authorizes overweight
firetrucks with tandem or tridem axles to receive transportation
permits from various public entities to operate on public roads but
requires the permit to limit tandem and tridem weights to no more
than 15% over the weight allowed by law.
This bill would specify that supplemental towing and hauling
equipment that is over the permissible weight requirement would not
receive an overweight exemption.
(2) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately
as an urgency statute.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated
local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 35002 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:
35002. (a) (1) This division does not apply to an authorized
emergency vehicle owned or operated by a governmental agency while
being used in responding to and returning from emergency fire calls,
while being moved from place to place in anticipation of emergency
fire calls, when used during training in any fire service application
or during fire prevention activities, or when vehicles ordinarily
used for those purposes are necessarily transported for vehicle
maintenance, repair, or service. This subdivision only applies to
vehicles purchased prior to January 1, 1994. Vehicles purchased on
January 1, 1992, to and including December 31, 1993, shall meet the
applicable requirements of Standards 1901 to 1904, inclusive, of the
National Fire Protection Association, as those standards were in
effect on December 31, 1991.
(2) All vehicles described in paragraph (1) first purchased on or
after January 1, 1994, shall comply with the applicable permit
requirements adopted by the Department of Transportation.
(3) For purposes of this section, "purchased" means the date that
the operating agency enters into a contract to purchase the vehicle.
(b) All vehicles described in subdivision (a) purchased on or
after January 1, 1994, shall meet the following requirements:
(1) It shall be the responsibility of the manufacturer to provide
a gross axle weight rating (GAWR), gross combined weight rating
(GCWR), and gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR), adequate to carry a
full water tank with the allowance for personnel and miscellaneous
equipment, including hose load, shown in the table below:
Misc.
Personnel Equipment
Pumpers 1,200
lbs. 2,000 lbs.
Light attack
900
apparatus 600 lbs. lbs.
Water towers 1,200
lbs. 1,500 lbs.
Aerial platforms
with
1,200
ground ladders lbs. 2,500 lbs.
Aerial ladders
with 1,200
ground ladders lbs. 2,500 lbs.
Fire apparatus shall be weighed and certified by the manufacturer to
determine compliance with the table above prior to acceptance by the
purchaser. Apparatus and chassis manufacturers shall furnish
certification of the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR), gross
combined weight rating (GCWR), and gross axle weight rating (GAWR) on
a nameplate affixed to the apparatus.
(2) A fire apparatus exceeding 31,000 pounds gross vehicle weight
rating (GVWR) shall be equipped with a retarder.
(3) For purposes of this section, a "fire apparatus" is a vehicle
designed to be used under emergency conditions to transport personnel
and equipment, or to support the suppression of fires or mitigation
of other hazardous situations, consistent with Standard 1901 of the
National Fire Protection Association.
(4) For purpose of fire apparatus overweight exemptions pursuant
to subdivision (g) of Section 1411.7 of Chapter 7 of Division 2 of
Title 21 of the California Code of Regulations, effective on July 2,
2010, supplemental towing and hauling equipment that is over the
permissible weight requirement shall not receive a
15-percent-overweight exemption.
(c) A vehicle owned, operated, or rented by a public agency that
is being used in responding to or returning from an emergency, may be
operated as required, if a reasonable effort is first made by the
agency to obtain verbal permission from an authorized officer or
employee of the agency having jurisdiction of the highways used, and,
upon termination of the emergency, when the vehicle is returning
from the site of the emergency, the public agency either obtains a
permit at the location of the emergency or makes a reasonable effort
to obtain verbal permission from an authorized officer or employee of
the agency having jurisdiction of the highways used, and obtains a
written permit for that use pursuant to Section 35780 not later than
three days after the date of the emergency. As used in this
subdivision, "emergency" means a condition that poses an imminent
threat of loss of property or a hazard to life, as determined by the
public agency charged with responsibility to respond thereto.
(d) A governmental agency operating an authorized emergency
vehicle or other vehicle subject to this section is liable to the
governmental agency having jurisdiction of a state or county highway
for the damage to the highway or a highway structure caused by the
operation of the vehicle of a size or weight of vehicle or load
exceeding that specified in this division. The cost of repair of the
damage is a proper charge against the support fund of the
governmental agency operating the oversize or overweight vehicle.
(e) Neither the state nor an agency thereof is liable for damage
to a highway or highway structure caused by vehicles operated,
pursuant to this section, by or on behalf of a local authority or any
other local governmental entity.
SEC. 2. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to revise Vehicle Code provisions regulating the
operation of authorized emergency vehicles as soon as possible, these
changes need to go into effect immediately.