BILL NUMBER: AB 45 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 9, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 11, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 29, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Hill
DECEMBER 6, 2010
An act to amend Sections 5384.1 and 5384.5 of the Public Utilities
Code, and to add Section 40000.20 to amend
Section 23229.1 of, and to add Section 40000.20 to, the Vehicle
Code, relating to charter-party carriers of passengers.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 45, as amended, Hill. Charter-party carriers of passengers:
alcoholic beverages: open containers.
The Passenger Charter-party Carriers' Act, with certain
exceptions, prohibits a charter-party carrier of passengers from
engaging in transportation services subject to regulation by the
Public Utilities Commission without obtaining a specified certificate
or permit, as appropriate, from the commission. The act, except as
specified, requires the driver of any limousine for hire operated by
a charter-party carrier of passengers (carrier) under a valid
certificate or permit to comply with prescribed requirements relating
to alcoholic beverages, including ascertaining whether any passenger
is under the age of 21 years, reading to the passenger a statement
that the consumption of any alcoholic beverage in the vehicle is
unlawful, requiring such a passenger to sign the statement, and, if a
minor passenger, after signing the statement, is found to be, or to
have been, consuming any alcoholic beverage during the course of the
ride, immediately terminating the contract of hire and returning the
passenger to the point of origin. The act also subjects the carrier
to specified civil penalties, based on the number of offenses, for
conviction of a driver, or any officer, director, agent, or employee
of the carrier, of a violation of the Vehicle Code that prohibits
storage of an opened container of an alcoholic beverage in a motor
vehicle.
This bill would expand the application of those alcoholic beverage
provisions concerning passengers under the age of 21 years by
applying those requirements, except as specified, to the driver of
any vehicle used in the transportation of passengers for hire
operated by a permitted or certificated carrier. The bill would
subject such a driver to existing open container prohibitions and
make the 3rd or subsequent violation of the
a specified open container prohibition by a driver of any
vehicle used in the transportation of passengers for hire operating
under a valid certificate or permit a misdemeanor. The bill, by
creating a new crime, would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the Brett
Studebaker Law.
SEC. 2. Section 5384.1 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
5384.1. (a) The driver of any vehicle used in the transportation
of passengers for hire operated by a charter-party carrier of
passengers under a valid certificate or permit shall do all of the
following:
(1) The driver shall ascertain whether any passenger is under the
age of 21 years.
(2) If any passenger is under the age of 21 years, the driver
shall read to the passenger a statement that the consumption of any
alcoholic beverage in the vehicle is unlawful, that no alcoholic
beverage may be transported in the passenger compartment of the
vehicle, that all alcoholic beverages are required to be carried in
the vehicle trunk or other locked compartment, and that, if during
the course of the ride any minor is found to be, or to have been,
consuming any alcoholic beverage, the contract will be terminated and
the customer will be brought back to the point of origin of the
ride.
(3) After reading the statement described in paragraph (2) to
every passenger under the age of 21 years, the driver shall require
every passenger under the age of 21 years to sign the statement. The
operator of the vehicle shall retain the signed statement for the
period required by the commission.
(4) If any minor passenger, after signing a statement pursuant to
paragraph (3), is found to be, or to have been, consuming any
alcoholic beverage during the course of any ride subject to this
section, the driver shall immediately terminate the contract of hire
and shall return the passengers to the point of origin of the ride.
(b) Any failure of a driver to comply with subdivision (a) that
results in the conviction of the driver of a violation of Section
23225 of the Vehicle Code, shall be subject to the penalties
prescribed in Section 5384.5.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, this section does
not prohibit a parent or legal guardian from consuming alcoholic
beverages in a vehicle used in the transportation of passengers for
hire while accompanied by his or her minor children.
(d) This section does not apply to the driver of any of the
following:
(1) A bus, taxicab, or van exempted from this chapter pursuant to
Section 5353.
(2) A pupil activity bus, including any motor vehicle specified in
subdivision (k) of Section 545 of the Vehicle Code.
(3) A school pupil activity bus, as defined in Section 546 of the
Vehicle Code.
(4) A vehicle for a charter-party carrier that has been engaged to
provide transportation for minors accompanied by a legal guardian or
parent.
SEC. 3. Section 5384.5 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
5384.5. If the driver of any vehicle used in the transportation
of passengers for hire operating under a valid certificate or permit,
or any officer, director, agent, or employee of a charter-party
carrier of passengers operating vehicles used in the transportation
of passengers for hire under such a certificate or permit, is
convicted of a violation of Section 23225 of the Vehicle Code, the
commission, after a hearing, shall do the following:
(a) For a first offense, the commission may impose a civil penalty
of not more than two thousand dollars ($2,000) upon the carrier, as
determined appropriate by the commission.
(b) For a second offense, the commission may impose a civil
penalty of not more than two thousand dollars ($2,000) upon the
carrier or suspend the carrier's certificate or permit for
not more than 30 days, or both, as determined appropriate by the
commission.
(c) For a third offense, the commission shall revoke the carrier's
certificate or permit. A third or subsequent offense
shall also be punishable pursuant to Section 40000.20 of the Vehicle
Code.
SEC. 4. Section 23229.1 of the Vehicle
Code is amended to read:
23229.1. (a) Subject to subdivision (b), Sections 23223 and 23225
apply to any charter-party carrier of passengers, as defined in
Section 5360 of the Public Utilities Code, operating a
limousine vehicle used in the transportation of
passengers for hire when the driver of the vehicle transports
any passenger under the age of 21.
(b) For purposes of subdivision (a), it is not a violation of
Section 23225 for any charter-party carrier of passengers operating a
limousine vehicle used in the transportation
of passengers for hire that is licensed pursuant to the Public
Utilities Code to keep any bottle, can, or other receptacle
containing any alcoholic beverage in a locked utility compartment
within the area occupied by the driver and passengers.
(c) In addition to the requirements of Section 1803, every clerk
of a court in which any driver in subdivision (a) was convicted of a
violation of Section 23225 shall prepare within 10 days after
conviction, and immediately forward to the Public Utilities
Commission at its office in San Francisco, an abstract of the record
of the court covering the case in which the person was convicted. If
sentencing is not pronounced in conjunction with the conviction, the
abstract shall be forwarded to the commission within 10 days after
sentencing, and the abstract shall be certified, by the person
required to prepare it, to be true and correct. For the purposes of
this subdivision, a forfeiture of bail is equivalent to a conviction.
SEC. 4. SEC. 5. Section 40000.20 is
added to the Vehicle Code, to read:
40000.20. A third or subsequent violation of Section 23225,
relating to storage of an opened container of an alcoholic beverage,
by a driver of any vehicle used in the transportation of passengers
for hire, operating under a valid certificate or permit pursuant to
the Passenger Charter-party Carriers' Act (Chapter 8 (commencing with
Section 5351) of Division 2 of the Public Utilities Code), is a
misdemeanor.
SEC. 5. SEC. 6. No reimbursement is
required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the
California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred
by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this
act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or
infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within
the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the
definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII
B of the California Constitution.