BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: AB 61 SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: jeffries VERSION: 3/8/11 Analysis by: Carrie Cornwell FISCAL: yes Hearing date: June 7, 2011 SUBJECT: Neighborhood electric vehicles DESCRIPTION: This bill authorizes, until 2017, the County of Riverside and the cities within that county to adopt neighborhood electric vehicle transportation (NEV) plans. ANALYSIS: Existing law defines a low-speed vehicle as a motor vehicle that is 4-wheeled; can attain a speed of no 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 several communities to run pilot projects, provided that the following conditions are met: 1)Each local government establishes a "neighborhood electric vehicle transportation plan" for its jurisdiction 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 the plan may allow NEVs on streets with speed limits over 35 MPH only where dedicated lanes are provided for NEVs. 2)Each jurisdiction works with the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to establish uniform specifications AB 61 (JEFFRIES) Page 2 and symbols for signs, traffic control devices, and rights-of-way designation in the plan areas and obtain Caltrans approval in any instance where a NEV route in the plan will cross or use a state highway. 3)If a jurisdiction adopts a NEV transportation plan, it reports to the Legislature on the plan, its effectiveness, and its impact on traffic flows and safety, and the jurisdiction makes a recommendation to the Legislature on whether to extend the sunset date or expand the authorization for NEV transportation plans statewide. These reports are due to the Legislature about a year before the jurisdiction's NEV plan authority sunsets. Communities statutorily authorized to adopt NEV plans are: Lincoln and Rocklin . AB 2353 (Leslie), Chapter 422, Statutes of 2004, authorizes the NEV transportation plan pilot projects until January 1, 2009, for the cities of Lincoln and Rocklin, and AB 2963 (Gaines), Chapter 199, Statutes of 2008, extends the sunset date on these pilot projects until January 1, 2012. Amador County and the cities of Jackson, Sutter Creek, and Amador City . AB 584 (Huber), Chapter 437, Statutes of 2010, allows until 2016, the County of Amador and the cities of Jackson, Amador City, and Sutter Creek to establish a NEV transportation plan or plans. Fresno . AB 1781 (Villines), Chapter 452, Statutes of 2010, authorizes until 2016 the City of Fresno to establish a NEV plan. Ranch Plan Planned Community in Orange County . SB 956 (Correa), Chapter 442, Statutes of 2007, authorizes 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 County of Riverside and the cities within that county to establish jointly or individually NEV transportation plans under the same terms as the pilot projects previously authorized in law. Specifically, the bill: 1)Permits the County of Riverside or any of the cities within it AB 61 (JEFFRIES) Page 3 to establish by ordinance or resolution a NEV plan for streets under its jurisdictions. Prior to adoption, the county or city or a combination thereof shall receive comments on the plan from the Riverside County Transportation Commission and any agency with traffic law enforcement responsibilities in those jurisdictions. The plan must accommodate the travel of NEVs by identifying routes and providing for NEV facilities (e.g., separate lanes, trails, street crossings, parking, charging stations, etc.). 2)Requires the jurisdictions that adopt a NEV plan to report to the Legislature by January 1, 2016, in consultation with Caltrans, CHP, and local law enforcement agencies. Each report shall describe the plan adopted, evaluate its effectiveness and impact on traffic flows and safety, and make a recommendation to the Legislature on whether to extend the sunset date or expand the authorization for NEV transportation plans statewide. 3)Sunsets on January 1, 2017. COMMENTS: 1)Purpose . The author notes that NEVs provide zero-emission-vehicle alternatives that can assist communities in improving mobility while reducing carbon-based vehicle emissions. In order to do this effectively, NEV plans are needed to overcome connection issues and identify safe routes for NEVs. The author represents a portion of the County of Riverside, which includes a number of cities that have begun to consider and develop NEV plans and hope to implement them in the near future. This bill will enable those communities to implement the NEV plans they are developing. 2)Outstanding public safety issues for NEV plans . While the Legislature has authorized several jurisdictions to create NEV transportation plans as pilot projects, only the City of Lincoln has actually implemented a plan. Partly because of this limited experience, several outstanding public safety issues remain unresolved 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 AB 61 (JEFFRIES) Page 4 right hand side of the roadway. In recognition of these issues, all of the existing statutory authorizations for NEV plans have sunset dates. This bill includes a 2017 sunset date for the same reason. 1)Conflicts between NEVs and bicycles . Bicycle advocates have expressed concern with NEV plans and opposed some of the bills authorizing them, because the plans can result in NEVs operating in bicycle lanes. Specifically, these advocates note that NEVs are too wide for bike lanes, that NEVs should drive in the same lanes as 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. To address these concerns, the committee or author may 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. RELATED LEGISLATION: SB 290 (Correa) extends, from January 1, 2013 until January 1, 2017, the authority of Orange County to establish a NEV transportation plan for the Ranch Plan Planned Community. Pending in the Assembly Transportation Committee. Assembly Votes: Floor: 60 - 0 Appr: 16 - 0 Trans: 13 - 0 POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on Wednesday, June 1, 2011) SUPPORT: Western Riverside Council of Governments (sponsor) City of Banning City of Corona City of Lake Elsinore City of Moreno Valley City of Murrieta City of Perris City of San Jacinto South Coast Air Quality Management District AB 61 (JEFFRIES) Page 5 OPPOSED: None received.