BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1298| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ THIRD READING Bill No: AB 1298 Author: Blumenfield (D) Amended: 7/12/11 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 9-0, 7/5/11 AYES: DeSaulnier, Gaines, Harman, Huff, Kehoe, Lowenthal, Pavley, Rubio, Simitian SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8 ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not relevant SUBJECT : Regulation of mobile billboards SOURCE : Author DIGEST : This bill expands the ability of local governments to regulate advertising on non-motorized vehicles and allows local governments to regulate specified advertising signs on motor vehicles parked or left standing upon a public street. ANALYSIS : The California Vehicle Code (CVC) prohibits a local government from enacting or enforcing any ordinance on the matters covered by the code, such as parking, unless the CVC expressly authorizes a local ordinance. The CVC currently allows a local government to adopt an ordinance regulating mobile billboard advertising displays. CONTINUED AB 1298 Page 2 Such ordinances may set a schedule of penalties, including impoundment when the owner parks or leaves standing the display in violation of the ordinance. In the event that the local ordinance provides for impoundment, the law allows the local government to provide notice either through signage in the areas where the ordinance will be enforced or by issuing a warning citation advising the display owner of the penalties, including impoundment, for subsequent violations. Current law defines a "mobile billboard advertising display" as an advertising display that is attached to a wheeled, mobile, non-motorized vehicle that carries, pulls, or transports a sign or billboard and is for the primary purpose of advertising. This definition does not include advertising displays on motor vehicles. This bill: 1. Alters the definition of "mobile billboard advertising display" to allow local governments to regulate advertising displays on non-wheeled vehicles (i.e., sleds, as opposed to trailers), devices, and advertising displays attached to bicycles. 2. Additionally allows local governments to regulate advertising signs on any motor vehicle parked or left standing upon a public street, except for signs painted directly upon or permanently affixed to the vehicle for permanent decoration, identification, or display that do not extend beyond the overall length, width, or height of the vehicle. 3. Allows for impoundment of a vehicle parked or left standing and displaying advertising in violation of a local ordinance where the local government provides notice either through signage in the areas where the ordinance will be enforced or by issuing a warning citation advising the vehicle owner of the penalties, including impoundment, for subsequent violations. 4. With respect to both mobile billboard advertising displays and advertising on motor vehicles, allows local governments to establish a minimum distance that an CONTINUED AB 1298 Page 3 owner must move such a display after a specified time period. 5. Contains double-jointing language with SB 565 (DeSaulnier). Comments Purpose of this bill . The author is concerned with the proliferation of mobile billboards that owners park indefinitely on public streets. He believes that such mobile billboards constitute visual blight, reduce available on-street parking, and impair the visibility of pedestrians and drivers. Last year, he authored AB 2756 (Blumenfield), Chapter 615, Statutes of 2010, giving local governments the authority to regulate advertising on non-motorized vehicles. The owners of such mobile billboards have already found loopholes in AB 2756. First, the law is limited to wheeled vehicles, so advertisers have begun to use sleds. Second, the law excludes bicycles from the definition of "vehicle," so advertisers have begun to attach billboards to bicycles. Third, the law does not explicitly authorize locals to set minimum distances that a vehicle must be moved between parkings, so advertisers will move a vehicle as little as a few inches in order to restart the clock. In addition, AB 2756 did not allow for regulation of billboards attached to motor vehicles. This bill seeks to give local governments greater authority over mobile billboards by closing the loopholes in AB 2756, expanding local authority to regulate billboards attached to motor vehicles parked on public streets, and allowing local governments to set a minimum distance that an owner must move such advertising displays to avoid citation or impoundment. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 7/13/11) City of Los Angeles CONTINUED AB 1298 Page 4 League of California Cities JJA:kc 7/13/11 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED