BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: AB 344
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: Mendoza
VERSION:
8/24/2012
Analysis by: Eric Thronson FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: August 30, 2012
SUBJECT:
Vehicular emission regulation exemptions
DESCRIPTION:
This bill provides exemptions for certain vehicles from the
California Air Resource Board's (ARB) In-Use On-Road Heavy-Duty
Diesel Vehicles Regulation.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law requires ARB to adopt standards and regulations on
all classes of motor vehicles that will result in, among other
things, reductions in motor vehicle exhaust and evaporative
emissions. In 2008, ARB adopted the In-Use On-Road Heavy-Duty
Diesel Vehicles Regulation, which includes requirements for
diesel-fueled school buses with a gross vehicle weight rating
(GVWR) over 14,000 pounds. Among other things, this regulation
generally requires owners to retire schoolbuses manufactured
before April 1, 1977, and then to install particulate filters
on:
33% of their remaining fleet by January 1, 2012;
66% of their fleet by January 1, 2013; and
The entire fleet by January 1, 2014.
ARB's diesel vehicle regulation defines a "low-use vehicle" as a
vehicle that will be operated fewer than 1,000 miles in
California per year. In addition, the regulation defines a
"yard truck" as a vehicle, with an on-road or off-road engine
and a hydraulically elevated fifth wheel, that is used in moving
and spotting trailers and containers at locations such as ports,
heavy-manufacturers, and rail yards.
This bill requires ARB instead to define, for tax-exempt
nonprofit organizations, a "low-use vehicle" as a vehicle
AB 344 (MENDOZA) Page 2
operated fewer than 5,000 miles in the state in a given year.
Further, the bill defines an "affected vehicle" related to
low-use vehicles as a yard truck with an on-road engine, a yard
truck with an off-road engine used for agricultural operations,
a two-engine sweeper, or a school bus with the following
characteristics:
Operates on diesel fuel, dual fuel, or alternative
diesel fuel;
Was originally designed to be driven on public highways
whether or not registered; and
Has a manufacturer's GVWR greater than 14,000 pounds.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . According to the author, this bill is necessary
because many non-profits cannot afford to comply with ARB's
diesel regulation. The author states that ARB exempts
vehicles that travel fewer than 1,000 miles per year, while
the federal government provides grants for organizations to
comply with the regulation if the vehicle travels more than
10,000 miles annually. Many of these organizations, which
pick up needy children in poor neighborhoods and drive them to
and from related service activities and programs, use buses
that travel between 3,000 and 5,000 miles per year. The
author claims that therefore these non-profits are forced to
either spend significant sums to comply with the diesel
regulation or cease to operate their buses and severely impact
their programs. Increasing the annual mileage a bus can
travel and be exempt from the diesel regulation will allow
these non-profit organizations to continue to operate their
buses.
2.The flip side of the fairness issue . The author points out
that it is unfair for these non-profit organizations to spend
precious resources to comply with state emission regulations.
On the other hand, it may not be fair to require buses
carrying children with more advantages to be clean while
allowing underprivileged populations taking advantage of these
non-profits' services to be exposed to dirtier emissions shown
to lead to significant health risks. This bill seems to
suggest that buses carrying needy children in poor
neighborhoods should not be held to the same health standards
AB 344 (MENDOZA) Page 3
that buses in more affluent neighborhoods are required to
meet.
3.Bill applies beyond schoolbuses and ARB's diesel regulation .
Despite the author's contention that this bill is meant to
expand the exemption for relatively low-mileage buses, the
provisions of the bill include vehicles outside of buses in
the expanded exemption. Beyond school buses, this bill defines
vehicles affected by this broader exemption to include yard
trucks and street sweepers. While there may be some
reasonable argument to broadening the exemption for
non-profits using buses to provide services to needy children,
it is unclear what other entities could take advantage of the
exemption created by this bill, and why the Legislature should
unintentionally provide such relief to these unknown entities.
Further, according to ARB, this bill as written will affect
at least five different ARB regulations, not just the diesel
regulation. Given that the scope of this bill appears to be
far outside the potential solution to the author's stated
problem, it may be wise to hold the bill and revisit the
problem next year.
4.Background . This bill was gutted and amended on the Senate
Floor on August 24th to change authors from Assemblymember
Furutani to Assemblymember Mendoza and to include the current
provisions. These amendments are nearly identical to AB 2024
(Mendoza), which passed the Assembly Transportation Committee
on April 16, 2012 with a 14 - 0 vote. In May, AB 2024 was
held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Should the
bill pass this committee, it will be referred to the Senate
Appropriations Committee.
5.Concurrence hearing . When this bill passed the Senate Public
Employment and Retirement Committee in June, it related to the
public employees' retirement law. As mentioned previously,
the author deleted those provisions on the Senate Floor and
inserted the current version of the bill. Because of these
amendments, the Senate Rules Committee referred this bill back
to this committee for a hearing under Senate Rule 29.10. At
today's hearing, the committee may not amend the bill further
and may only, with a majority vote, (1) hold the bill; (2)
return the bill as approved by the committee to the Senate
Floor; or (3) refer the bill to the Committee on
Appropriations.
Assembly Votes: N/A
AB 344 (MENDOZA) Page 4
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday, August
29, 2012 )
SUPPORT: None received.
OPPOSED: None received.