BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 426| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ SPECIAL CONSENT Bill No: AB 426 Author: Bonnie Lowenthal (D) Amended: 6/10/11 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 9-0, 6/7/11 AYES: DeSaulnier, Gaines, Harman, Huff, Kehoe, Lowenthal, Pavley, Rubio, Simitian ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-0, 4/11/11 (Consent) - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Administrative adjudication of transit violations SOURCE : Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority DIGEST : This bill adds the North County Transit District and the Southern California Regional Rail Authority (Metrolink) to the list of districts with the authority to adopt a civil administrative adjudication process for specified transit violations. ANALYSIS : Existing law makes it a criminal infraction for a person to engage in any of the following activities in a transit vehicle or facility: Fare evasion. CONTINUED AB 426 Page 2 Misuse of a transfer, pass, ticket, or token with the intent to evade the payment of a fare. Playing sound equipment. Smoking, eating, or drinking where the transit provider prohibits those activities. Expectorating. Willfully disturbing others by engaging in boisterous or unruly behavior. Carrying an explosive or acid, flammable liquid, or toxic or hazardous material. Urinating or defecating except in a lavatory. Willfully blocking the free movement of another person unless permitted by First Amendment rights. Skateboarding, roller skating, bicycle riding, or roller blading except as necessary for utilization of the transit facility by a bicyclist. Unauthorized use of a discount ticket or failure to present acceptable proof of eligibility to use a discount ticket. The standard process for enforcing these criminal infractions is for the transit officer citing the offense to give the alleged violator a citation with a court date, which the alleged violator signs promising to appear. The court later sends a notice to the alleged violator reminding him/her of the court date, listing the bail amount, and stating that he/she must appear unless the bail is paid. On the day the case is set for a hearing in court, the defendant enters a plea. If the plea is "guilty" or "no contest," the judge or magistrate fixes the penalty amount. If the plea is "not guilty," the court generally assigns a later trial date. At the trial, the officer is subpoenaed and must appear. In some counties, the defendant may enter a plea with the court clerk or even online, instead of in court. In some counties, the plea CONTINUED AB 426 Page 3 hearing and trial may be held at the same time. State law provides that most of these criminal offenses are punishable by a maximum base fine not to exceed $250 and 48 hours of community service. A third or subsequent fare evasion violation is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $400 and 90 days in jail, and certain of the more disruptive violations (willfully disturbing others, carrying an explosive, flammable, or toxic material, urinating or defecating, and willfully blocking the free movement of another person) are punishable by a fine of up to $400 and 90 days in jail for a first offense. Since the enactment of SB 1749 (Migden), Chapter 258, Statutes of 2006, state law also allows the City and County of San Francisco (operator of SF Muni) and Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) to establish an alternative civil infraction process for the transit violations specified above that occur within their systems. SB 1320 (Hancock), Chapter 493, Statutes of 2010 expanded this authority to the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, the Sacramento Regional Transit District, Long Beach Transit, Foothill Transit, and the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District. Under these provisions, the named transit districts may adopt and impose an administrative penalty and adjudication process for these same violations committed by non-minors, which is similar to the process for issuing and enforcing parking tickets. The issuing officer serves the alleged violator with a "notice of fare evasion or passenger misconduct violation," which includes the date, time, location, and nature of the violation, the administrative penalty amount, the date by which the penalty must be paid, and the process for contesting the citation. If the alleged violator contests the citation, then the issuing agency or its contracted processing agency must provide an initial review. If the citation is not dismissed after the initial review, the alleged violator may request an administrative hearing for which the issuing agency or its contracted processing agency must provide an impartial administrative hearing officer and at which the citing officer is not required to appear. If the alleged violator is unsatisfied with the results of the administrative CONTINUED AB 426 Page 4 hearing, then he/she may file an appeal in Superior Court, which hears the case de novo. Existing law allows the transit providers to set the administrative penalty amounts for these infractions but provides that the amounts shall not exceed the maximum statutory criminal penalties described above. All administrative penalties collected are deposited in the general fund of the county in which the citation was issued. This bill: 1. Adds the North (San Diego) County Transit District and Metrolink to the list of districts with the authority to adopt a civil administrative adjudication process for specified transit violations. 2. Allows the named transit districts to establish the conditions under which they would handle a particular citation under the administrative adjudications process. In other words, transit districts could issue and process some citations civilly and others through the traditional criminal process. 3. Clarifies that the bill applies to violations that occur in or on a Metrolink facility or vehicle, whether owned or leased. 4. Allows the named transit districts to contract with a governmental agency, in addition to a private vendor, for the processing of civil citations. Comments Purpose of the bill . In addition to adding two new transit providers to the current program, this bill seeks to clarify that transit districts need not treat all violations of the specified prohibitions through the civil process but may instead establish the circumstances under which violations will be treated criminally or civilly. LACMTA wants to maintain the remedy of a criminal warrant for serious matters, multiple offenses, or those violators who choose not to respond to LACMTA's efforts to provide an CONTINUED AB 426 Page 5 administrative process. In addition, maintaining the criminal process option allows the Superior Court to exercise its entire array of remedies to address those violators that most endanger public transportation and its law abiding passengers. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 6/9/11) Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (source) North County Transit District Southern California Regional Rail Authority (Metrolink) ASSEMBLY FLOOR : AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson, Eng, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NO VOTE RECORDED: Butler, Donnelly, Fletcher, Gorell, Halderman, Vacancy JJA:mw 6/24/11 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED AB 426 Page 6 CONTINUED