BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 607|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 607
Author: Brownley (D)
Amended: 6/20/11 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 6-1, 6/7/11
AYES: DeSaulnier, Gaines, Harman, Huff, Kehoe, Rubio
NOES: Simitian
NO VOTE RECORDED: Lowenthal, Pavley
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 72-1, 5/5/11 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Illuminated signs on public transit buses
SOURCE : City of Santa Monica
DIGEST : This bill authorizes the City of Santa Monicas
bus transit system to establish a demonstration program to
equip the sides of its buses with electronic signs
displaying advertising.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law :
1. Authorizes buses, operated by a publicly-owned transit
system on regularly scheduled service, to be equipped
with illuminated head signs that include destination,
route-number, run-number, or a combination. These signs
may emit any light color, other than the color red, from
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forward-facing signs consistent with the following
conditions:
Signs must emit diffused non-glaring light.
The area of the signs may be no greater than 720
square inches.
Signs shall be installed in a position that does
not interfere with the visibility or effectiveness of
a required lamp, reflector, or other device on the
bus.
Signs shall display information directly related to
public transit service, including, but not limited to,
route number, destination description, and run number.
2. Authorizes dynamic messaging on all illuminated signs if
the practice adheres to the following requirements:
"Paging," meaning information presented for a
period of time and then disappearing all at once
before new information is presented, is permitted if
the display time of each message is between 2.7 and 10
seconds. Blanking time between each message is must
be between 0.5 and 25 seconds.
"Streaming," meaning information moving
continuously and smoothly across the display, is
permitted if the character movement time, from one end
of the display to the other, is at least 2.7 seconds,
and the movement time of the entire message is not
more than 10 seconds.
This bill:
1. Authorizes the City of Santa Monica's bus transit system
to establish a pilot program allowing the city's transit
buses to be equipped with illuminated signs for display
advertising on the sides of the buses. Limits the
number of buses with illuminated signs to 25 for two
years, after which the city may increase the total
number to 30.
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2. Establishes conditions governing the use of illuminated
display advertising signs including:
Signs shall emit diffused non-glaring light.
Signs shall not be greater than 4,464 square inches
in area.
Signs shall not be installed in a position that
interferes with the visibility of required lamps,
reflectors, or other devices.
Signs shall not be forward or backward facing
(i.e., not on the front or rear of the bus).
Light emitting diodes for illumination may include
red provided the colored formed by the mixing of light
from the diodes in the advertising is not red.
Signs shall be static when the buses are operating
on state freeways.
Existing standards for paging and streaming
(described above) shall apply to the display of
advertising signs.
3. Requires the City of Santa Monica transit staff and the
city's police department to develop collaboratively a
report examining the safety of the display advertising
signs to the Legislature and the California Highway
Patrol by July 1, 2016.
4. Sunsets on January 1, 2017.
Background
Public transit agencies have long used static signs placed
on the sides of buses to display advertising. Transit
agencies receive revenue from firms that use the signs for
advertising. A project sponsored by the Transit
Cooperative Research Program, a joint venture of the
Federal Transit Administration and the Transportation
Research Board, identified the emerging media of digital
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bus advertising as a revenue stream for transit agencies.
The Chicago Transit Authority began a digital advertising
on buses in 2008 and reported a 400 percent increase in
revenues from static poster display advertising.
City of Santa Monica staff reports that the current static
advertising generates about $4.1 million annually, but
expects digital signs to generate about $8 million
annually, a 100 percent increase in revenue. This added
revenue can be used to assist with the operating cost of
the transit service.
The digital signs are ultra-thin, light weight, light
emitting diode screens that can easily be mounted on the
sides of buses. Digital advertising allows for customize
advertising, including a rate structure that varies by the
time of day, because the advertising being displayed can be
managed remotely. It is, therefore, possible to render the
advertising static when the buses are operating on
freeways.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/20/11)
City of Santa Monica (source)
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
this bill allows for a pilot project that will examine the
impacts of digital display advertising on the sides of
public transit buses in Santa Monica and assist in
determining whether it is appropriate to extend the use of
illuminated advertising signs to other transit system
across the state.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson,
Donnelly, Eng, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Galgiani, Gatto,
Gordon, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi,
Roger Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries,
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Knight, Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor,
Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell, Morrell, Nestande, Norby,
Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Portantino, Silva,
Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Valadao,
Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez
NOES: Feuer
NO VOTE RECORDED: Furutani, Garrick, Gorell, Jones,
Monning, Nielsen, Vacancy
JJA:do 6/20/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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