BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1888
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 23, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
AB 1888 (Gatto) - As Introduced: February 22, 2012
SUBJECT : Commercial driver violator school
SUMMARY : Allows commercial drivers to attend commercial driver
violator schools (CDVS) which this bill establishes.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Allows, to the extent permitted by federal regulations, a
person holding a class A, class B, or commercial class C
driver's license who receives a notice to appear at a court or
board proceeding for a violation of any statute relating to
the safe operation of vehicles to be granted a continuance of
the proceeding in consideration for completion of a course of
instruction at a licensed CDVS, that results in a designation
of the conviction as confidential in consideration for that
completion.
2)Requires the clerk of a court or a hearing officer to prepare
an abstract of the record of the court or board proceeding
that indicates that the person was convicted of the violation
and ordered to complete a course of instruction at a CDVS,
certify the abstract to be true and correct, and cause the
abstract to be forwarded to the Department of Motor Vehicles
(DMV) at its office at Sacramento within five days after
receiving proof that the program was completed or the due date
to which the proceeding was continued, whichever comes first.
3)Allows DMV's record relating to the first proceeding and
conviction under these provisions to only be disclosed for
purposes of Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations and
not to be otherwise disclosed to any person, except a court.
The violation point count will be assessed only if the driver
incurs a subsequent point violation within 12 months of
completing the CDVS course.
4)Precludes these provisions from applying to CDVS owners,
operators or instructors.
5)Provides statutory definitions for the terms: "commercial
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driver violator school," "commercial driver violator school
branch or classroom location," "commercial driver violator
school instructor," "commercial driver violator school
operator," "commercial driver violator school owner," and
"traffic assistance program (TAP)."
6)Requires DMV to license CDVSs for commercial drivers holding a
class A, class B, or commercial class C driver's license and
to provide commercial driver safety instruction to other
persons holding a class A, class B, or commercial class C
driver's license who elect to attend.
7)Prohibits a person from owning or operating a CDVS or giving
instruction for compensation in a commercial driver violator
school without a currently valid license issued by DMV, unless
that instruction is given in a public school.
8)Requires a person who elects to attend a CDVS to receive from
the school and to sign a copy of a specified consumer
disclosure statement prior to the payment of the school fee
and attending the school.
9)Requires CDVS owners to meet specified criteria regarding
their business offices, knowledge and skills, bonding
requirements, and related issues before DMV may issue a CDVS
license.
10)Requires this mandate to be met within one year from the date
of application for a license, or a new application and fee is
required.
11)Exempts public schools and other public agencies from several
of these requirements, as well as from being required to post
a cash deposit.
12)Requires a notice approved by DMV to be posted in every CDVS,
branch, and classroom location stating that any person
involved in the offering of, or soliciting for, a completion
certificate for attendance at a CDVS program in which the
person does not attend or does not complete the minimum amount
of instruction time may be guilty of a Penal Code violation.
13)Requires DMV to license CDVS operators and prohibits acting
as a CDVS operator without a currently valid license.
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14)Prohibits CDVS operators from having committed any act which,
if the applicant were licensed as an operator, would be
grounds for suspension or revocation of the license and
requires them to: to pass an examination, within three
attempts, that DMV requires on commercial driver laws, safe
driving practices, teaching methods and techniques,
regulations, and office procedures and recordkeeping; to be 21
years of age or older; to have provided not less than 300
hours of actual in-class instruction in a specified manner; to
have a classroom or classrooms approved by DMV and the proper
equipment necessary for giving instruction to commercial
driver violators; and to have a lesson plan approved by DMV
that provides not less than 16 hours of instructional time
including a minimum of 960 minutes within specified subject
areas.
15)Requires all of these requirements to be met within one year
from the date of application for the license, otherwise the
application would lapse. However, the applicant could
thereafter submit a new application upon payment of the
required fee.
16)Requires DMV to license CDVS instructors and prohibits a
person from acting as an instructor without a currently valid
instructor's license.
17)Requires an applicant for a license as a CDVS instructor,
within one year from the date of application for a license, to
have a high school education; to pass, within three attempts,
a DMV examination on commercial driving commercial driver
laws, safe driving practices, operation of motor vehicles, and
teaching methods and techniques; to hold a currently valid
California driver's license that is not subject to probation;
to have a driving record with no outstanding notices for
violating a written promise to appear in court or for
willfully failing to pay a lawfully imposed fine; to be 18
years of age or older; to meet specified experience
requirements; and to comply with a Department of Justice
background check.
18)Exempts persons in a public school or other public
educational institution and holding a valid teaching
credential with satisfactory training or experience in the
subject area from these licensing requirements.
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19)Sets the term of owner and operator licenses at a period of
one year from the date of issue unless canceled, suspended, or
revoked by DMV and provides for them to be renewed annually.
20)Requires DMV to require compliance with all of the
prerequisites for licensure in order to renew the license of a
CDVS owner or a CDVS operator.
21)Requires DMV to provide a list of licensed CDVSs on its
Internet Web site. For each licensed school, the list must
indicate the modalities of instruction offered and specify the
cities where classroom instruction is offered. The sequential
listing of licensed schools is to be randomized daily.
22)Requires a court or TAP, when it provides a hard copy list of
licensed CDVSs to a commercial violator, to provide only a
current date-stamped list downloaded from DMV's Internet Web
site and requires the list to be as current as practicable,
but in no event could a list be distributed with a date stamp
that is more than 60 days old.
23)Requires DMV to develop a Web-based database that will enable
it, the courts, and CDVSs to monitor, report, and track
participation and course completion. CDVSs would be required
to update course information within three business days of
class completion and provide to the courts class completion
information on a daily basis.
24)Allows a TAP to also provide services, under contract with a
court, to process commercial violators or, under contract with
DMV, to assist in oversight activities.
25)Allows a court to use a TAP to assist the court in performing
services related to the processing of commercial violators,
including printing and providing to the court and commercial
violators hard copy county-specific lists printed from DMV's
Internet Web site, administratively assisting commercial
violators, and any other lawful activity relating to the
administration of the court's commercial infraction caseload.
26)Allows courts to charge a commercial violator a fee to defray
the costs incurred by a TAP for commercial case administration
services provided to the court. The court could delegate
collection of the fee to the TAP. These fees would be
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approved and regulated by the court and could not exceed the
actual costs incurred by the TAP for the activities authorized
by this bill.
27)Allows DMV to use a TAP for monitoring of licensed CDVSs,
including, but not limited to, audits, inspections, review and
examination of business records, class records, business
practices, the content of the program of instruction set forth
in the lesson plan, or curriculum of a licensee. Inspection
includes, but is not limited to, the review of the business
office, branch office, and applicable classroom facilities of
a licensee.
28)Requires each applicant for a license as a CDVS owner,
operator, or instructor to provide DMV with any information
concerning the applicant's character, honesty, integrity, and
reputation which DMV may consider necessary.
29)Requires DMV to issue a license certificate to each CDVS
instructor when it is satisfied that he or she has met the
qualifications required by this bill. The original instructor
license and any license renewed would be valid for a period of
three years from the date of issuance unless canceled,
suspended, or revoked by DMV.
30)Allows applications for the renewal of a CDVS license to be
made by the licensee prior to the expiration date of the
license.
31)Prohibits a CDVS instructor from renewing his or her license
after the date of expiration.
32)Requires, for the renewal of an instructor's license,
satisfactory completion of an examination conducted by DMV at
least once during each succeeding three-year period after the
initial issuance of the license or, at the discretion of DMV,
submission by the licensee of evidence of continuing
professional education.
33)Allows DMV to issue a probationary license subject to special
conditions determined by DMV to be in the public interest to
be observed by the licensee in the exercise of the privilege
granted.
34)Requires DMV to charge fees for original issuance, renewal,
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duplicate, and transfer of a CDVS owner, operator, instructor,
and branch or classroom location license; approval of
curriculum, based on the instructional modality of the
curriculum; and administering required examinations.
35)Requires these fees to be sufficient to defray the actual
cost to administer the CDVS program, except for routine
monitoring of instruction.
36)Requires courts to assess a single administrative fee against
each driver who is allowed or ordered to attend CDVS. Included
in this fee would be an amount determined by DMV to be
sufficient to defray the cost of routine monitoring of CDVS
instruction.
37)Applies to CDVSs many of the statutory existing provisions
that already apply to traffic violator schools (TVSs).
38)Prohibits a point being added to the record of a driver
licensed with a class A license, class B license, or
commercial class C driver's license who is allowed, for a
violation, to complete, and who completes, the 16-hour course
of instruction at a CDVS. However, if that driver incurs a
point violation within 12 months after the date the driver
completes the course of instruction at the commercial driver
violator school, DMV would be required to add the points for
the violation onto the driver's record. If the driver does
not incur any point violation within that 12-month period, the
point count for the violation would remain off the driving
record.
39)Allows a court, after a deposit of bail and bail forfeiture,
a plea of guilty or no contest, or a conviction, to order a
continuance of a proceeding against a person who receives a
notice to appear in court for a violation of a statute
relating to the safe operation of a vehicle, in consideration
for successful completion of a course of instruction at a CDVS
and to order that the conviction be held confidential by DMV.
40)Specifies that this provision does not apply to a person who
receives a notice to appear as to, or is otherwise charged
with leaving the scene of an accident, driving under the
influence, reckless driving, vehicular manslaughter, evading a
police officer, driving on the wrong side of a barrier,
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engaging in a speed contest, illegally transporting
explosives, or driving on a suspended or revoked license.
41)Allows a court, after a deposit of the specified fee or bail,
a plea of guilty or no contest, or a conviction, to order or
permit a driver licensed with a class A license, class B
license, or commercial class C driver's license who pleads
guilty or no contest or is convicted of a traffic violation to
attend a CDVS and allows the court to order that a conviction
of a traffic offense by the licensee be kept confidential. If
it does so, the court may require this confidentiality only in
conformance with Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
42)Provides that a person who willfully fails to comply with a
court order to attend CDVS is guilty of a misdemeanor.
43)Requires court clerks to collect a fee from every person who
is ordered or permitted to attend a CDVS in an amount equal to
the total bail set forth for the eligible offense on the
uniform countywide bail schedule. (If multiple offenses are
charged in a single notice to appear, the "total bail" is the
amount applicable for the greater of the qualifying offenses.
However, the court may determine a lesser fee upon a showing
that the defendant is unable to pay the full amount.)
44)Allows the clerk to accept a payment of at least 10% of the
fee upon filing a written agreement by the defendant to pay
the remainder of the fee according to an installment payment
schedule of no more than 90 days as agreed upon with the
court. The clerk, however, must collect a fee of up to $35 to
cover administrative and clerical costs for processing an
installment payment.
45)Allows a court, when a defendant fails to make an installment
payment of the fee, to convert the fee to bail, declare it
forfeited, and report the forfeiture as a conviction. The
court could also charge a failure to pay and impose a civil
assessment or issue an arrest warrant for a failure to pay.
46)Requires revenues derived from the fee to be deposited in the
general fund of the county and distributed as specified.
47)Requires the clerk of the court, in a county that offers
CDVSs, to include in any courtesy notice mailed to a defendant
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for an offense that qualifies for CDVS attendance the
following statement: "NOTICE: If you are eligible and decide
not to attend commercial driver violator school your insurance
may be adversely affected. One conviction in any 12-month
period may be held confidential and not show on your driving
record, except to the extent required under federal law, if
you complete a commercial driver violator school program."
1)Requires the fee collected from violators to include a fee
determined by DMV to be sufficient to defray the cost of
routine monitoring of CDVS instruction and a fee, if any,
established by the court to defray the costs incurred by a
TAP. The fee revenues from the portion of the fee
attributable to DMV's costs would be allocated to DMV.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Assesses zero, one, or two points for various traffic
violations and labels a licensee a "negligent operator" if he
or she accumulates four or more points in twelve months, six
or more points in 24 months, or eight or more points in 24
months. A negligent operator designation allows DMV to
suspend or restrict the licensee's driving privilege.
2)Allows holder of noncommercial class C and motorcycle driver's
licenses to attend TVS as a condition of having certain
traffic violations held confidential, or "masked."
3)Prohibits this privilege from being offered to holders of
class A, class B, or commercial class C driver's licenses.
4)Prohibits states, under federal law, from masking, deferring
imposition of judgment, or allowing an individual to enter
into a diversion program that would prevent a commercial
permit holder's or commercial driver's license holder's
conviction for any violation, in any type of motor vehicle, of
a state or local traffic control law (other than parking,
vehicle weight, or vehicle defect violations) from appearing
on that driver's record.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Under existing law, commercial vehicle drivers are
prohibited from attending TVS for the purpose of removing
routine traffic violations from their records, making it more
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difficult for them to maintain their Class A or Class B licenses
in good standing. According to the author, "California needs a
program that allows commercial drivers to address minor
violations by successfully completing an educational program
that reinforces commercial safety laws." He points to the
difficulty that the trucking industry is experiencing in
maintaining a sufficient supply of high quality drivers and
notes that "California's trucking industry is critical to moving
international commerce into and out of California, agriculture
products from the fields to tables, and goods from warehouses to
store shelves."
The Teamsters, who support this bill, add that "Commercial
drivers, because they drive many more miles that other
motorists, are naturally going to make more mistakes and
potentially receive citations. However, in their case,
resulting increases in their insurance rates can result in
employers no longer being able to afford to employ them. This
bill will help by allowing drivers to attend traffic school."
California's prohibition against commercial drivers attending
TVS as a means of avoiding points being assessed against their
licenses (AB 3049 (Committee on Transportation), Chapter 952,
Statutes of 2004) was enacted in order to comply with the
federal Motor Carriers Safety Improvement Act. The supporters
of this bill, however, have submitted a letter from the Federal
Motor Carriers Safety Administration (FMCSA) that indicates that
the state may "hold the point count for violations that carry
points under California vehicle and traffic law" without running
afoul of the "prohibition on masking violations" contained in
Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations, which implements
that Act.
It should be pointed out that the FMCSA letter goes on to note
that the FMCSA "does not endorse any program that mitigates the
consequences of convictions of moving violations committed by
the holders of commercial motor vehicle drivers (licenses)."
Hence, one might reasonably ask whether the consequence of
allowing drivers who commit moving violations to attend traffic
school is equivalent to having a point assessed against their
licenses.
The trucking association, whose members would ultimately be
responsible for the actions of an unsafe driver, responds that
the requirement to attend CDVS would reinforce the importance of
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safety in the eyes of the driver. They point to California's
excellent record of truck safety, the difficulty they are
experiencing in maintaining an adequate workforce and the rarity
of having a bill that both the trucking association and the
union that represents the drivers can support.
The California Traffic School Association has submitted a
"letter of concern" that states "It would take an unusually
large number of truckers receiving traffic violation citations
to economically support Commercial Driver Violator School for
persons holding a class A, class B or commercial class C
Driver's license. Otherwise the cost of a trucker to attend
traffic school would be extremely costly if appropriately
licensed instructors were readily available.
"Currently, a traffic violator school must enroll at least 6
violators to break even on holding a class. If the school has
less than 6 violators enrolled, the school owner must reschedule
the class for economic reasons; this has been, and continues to
be of common occurrence. Please keep in mind that traffic
violator schools have thousands of classroom locations
throughout the state. This may not be economically feasible
under your proposal."
The insurance industry opposes this bill, stating, "With points
erased from a driver's record, insurers have a difficult time
distinguishing good drivers from bad drivers." They believe
this has the result of having good drivers essentially subsidize
the rates of less safe drivers and they go on to question the
value of traffic school in reducing drivers' accident rates,
concluding that AB 1888 "will likely lower commercial truck
driver safety statistics in California if adopted."
Additionally, a review of DMV records indicates that within a
population of about 700,000 commercial license holders, less
than 1,100 were actually subject to "negligent operator"
hearings last year based on their point counts, and of these,
almost 800 had the action set aside. One hundred seventy eight
were put on probation and a mere 82 had their licenses suspended
or revoked. These numbers would seem to indicate that the
accumulation of points under existing law is not a significant
threat to the licenses of the vast majority of commercial
drivers.
Author's amendment : The author has been working with the
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insurance industry on language to assure that conviction
information remains available to insurers. He now has
amendments to achieve that goal and will serve to remove the
recorded opposition of insurance groups.
Suggested committee amendment : The rationale for prohibiting
commercial drivers from attending TVS was the notion that, given
the public safety implications of their profession (driving
longer, wider, heavier vehicles), they should be held to a
higher standard of performance than noncommercial drivers.
Under that line of reasoning, this bill appears to be a step in
the opposite direction. An argument could be made, however,
that the actions of a commercial licensee when he or she is
driving in a noncommercial capacity (i.e., when NOT driving a
vehicle that requires a class A, class B, or commercial class C
license) should have the same consequences as they would for the
holder of a conventional class C license. In other words, when
the driver is operating a passenger-type vehicle, there may be
justification for allowing his or her violation points to be
withheld in consideration for attending conventional TVS.
Technical amendment required : The reference on page 5, lines
4-5, to Vehicle Code section 12810 (b) (3) - a section which
does not exist, should be changed to 12810.5 (b) (3) - a section
that the bill would establish.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
California Conference Board of the Amalgamated Transit Union
California Conference of Machinists
California Grocers Association
California Teamsters Public Affairs Council
California Tow Truck Association
California Trucking Association
Opposition
American Insurance Association
Association of California Insurance Companies
Analysis Prepared by : Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
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