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 




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            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 




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            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 




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               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




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               OPPOSED:  None received.