BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 426 Page 1 CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 426 (Bonnie Lowenthal) As Amended June 10, 2011 Majority vote ----------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: |74-0 |(April 11, |SENATE: |37-0 |(June 27, | | | |2011) | | |2011) | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Original Committee Reference: PUB. S. SUMMARY : Permits specified transit authorities to create ordinances that allow a person cited for a violation be afforded an opportunity to complete an administrative process that imposes only a civil penalty. Requires that penalties be deposited in the respective general fund of the county in which the citation is administered. The Senate amendments : 1)Add the North County Transit District to the list of transit authorities authorized to create local ordinances relating to fare evasion and passenger misconduct. 2)Require an entity that enacts a local ordinance to report specified information to the Legislature, both, two and five years after enactment. 3)Require that penalties collected by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Southern California Regional Rail Authority be deposits in the general fund of the county where the citation is administered. EXISTING LAW : 1) Declares that notwithstanding specified law that deems certain acts as infractions or misdemeanors, the specified transit authorities may enact and enforce an ordinance providing that any of the specified acts, over which the authority has jurisdiction, shall be subject only to an administrative penalty imposed and enforced in a civil proceeding. 2) Provides that pursuant to the Penal Code, as specified, AB 426 Page 2 the specified transit authorities may enact and enforce an ordinance to impose and enforce an administrative penalty for any of the specified acts. States that the ordinance shall include provisions, as specified, and shall not apply to minors. 3)Prescribes the following acts as infractions, for first or second time violations, when committed on or in a facility or vehicle of a public transportation system, punishable by a fine not to exceed $250 and by community service for a total time not to exceed 48 hours over a period not to exceed 30 days. Declares that a third or subsequent violation of the following acts is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than $400 or by imprisonment in a county jail for a period of not more than 90 days, or by both: a) Evasion of the payment of a fare of the system, as specified; b) Misuse of a transfer, pass, ticket or token with intent to evade the payment of a fare; c) Unauthorized use of a discount ticket or failure to present acceptable proof of eligibility, as specified. Acceptable proof must be clearly defined, as specified; d) Disturbing another person by loud or unreasonable noise; e) Smoking, eating, or drinking in or on a system facility or vehicle in areas where those activities are prohibited by that system; f) Expectorating upon a system facility or vehicle; and, g) Skateboarding, roller skating, bicycle riding, roller blading, or operating a motorized scooter or similar device, as specified, in a system facility, vehicle, or parking structure except as necessary for utilization of the transit facility by a bicyclist, as specified. 4) Provides that all fare evasion and passenger conduct violation penalties collected by the transit authority or AB 426 Page 3 its processing agency, as specified, shall be deposited in the general fund of the specified county. AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill permitted specified transit authorities to create ordinances that allow a violation to be handled administratively, and determined that penalties must be deposited in the respective transit authority's fund instead of the county general fund. Specifically, this bill : 1) Permitted the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) and the Southern California Regional Rail Authority to enact and enforce an ordinance providing that a person who is subject to a citation for a specified act, over which the respective authority has jurisdiction may, under the circumstances set forth by the ordinance, be offered an opportunity to resolve the citation by completing an administrative process that imposes only an administrative penalty enforced in a civil proceeding. 2) Declared that the ordinance shall include provisions of the Public Utilities Code, as specified, and shall not apply to minors. 3) Required that penalties collected by the LACMTA and the Southern California Regional Rail Authority be deposited in the general fund of the authority. FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the Legislative Counsel. COMMENTS : According to the author, "Current law allows a number of transit agencies around the state to create transit courts. These courts will allow local transit agencies to process citations on their individual systems rather than having these citations processed through the typical court process. "Los Angeles Metro has been working with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in the implementation of its system. Metro has identified that a two tiered system would be best for Los Angeles. Under this system, Metro's Transit Court would process the majority of minor citations and the regular judicial process would still be available for more serious violations such as chronic violators and those with additional criminal issues. AB 426 Page 4 "Current law does not clearly authorize a two-tiered process. ÝThis bill] will allow the two-tiered process developed by Metro and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. "Additionally, Ýthis bill] provides additional assistance to Metro's transit court by allowing revenues from violations on Metro's system to be deposited in Metro's General Fund rather than having to pass through the County's General Fund. This will improve the accounting of revenues from violations on the system and ensure accountability in the citation process. "The author's office has recently amended the bill to allow the Southern California Regional Rail Authority (Metrolink), at their request, to also benefit from the bill's provisions." Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion of this bill. Analysis Prepared by : Stefani Salt and Greg Pagan / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744 FN: 0001247