BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó






           SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE       BILL NO: AB 1888
          SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN              AUTHOR:  Gatto
                                                         VERSION: 6/20/12
          Analysis by:  Eric Thronson                    FISCAL:  yes
          Hearing date:  June 26, 2012



          SUBJECT:

          Traffic violator schools:  commercial drivers

          DESCRIPTION:

          This bill permits a commercial driver's license holder to attend 
          a traffic violator school (TVS) if the person commits a traffic 
          offense while driving a non-commercial vehicle.

          ANALYSIS:

          Under existing law, DMV assigns one, two, or three points to 
          drivers' records for various traffic violations.  A driver 
          becomes a "negligent operator" if he or she accumulates 4 or 
          more points in 12 consecutive months, 6 or more points in 24 
          months, or 8 or more points in 36 months.  DMV may suspend or 
          restrict the driving privilege of a negligent operator.

          Existing law defines a TVS as a business which provides traffic 
          safety instruction, such as classroom defensive-driver concepts, 
          for traffic law violators referred by the courts or people who 
          elect to attend to improve their own skills.  Holders of 
          non-commercial class C (passenger cars and light-duty trucks) 
          and class M (motorcycles) driver's licenses may attend a TVS, 
          while existing law prohibits attendance by class A, B, or 
          commercial class C driver's license holders (generally 
          commercial trucks and large vehicles) regardless of what type of 
          vehicle the violator was operating at the time of the offense. 

          The benefits of attending a TVS are two-fold.  First, DMV does 
          not apply a point to a driver's record for the first conviction 
          in an 18-month period, which extends the time before a driver 
          can be considered a negligent operator.  Second, DMV holds the 
          offense confidential, or "masks it," for insurance premium 
          calculations and other purposes.  By attending a TVS, a traffic 
          violator essentially gets to pay a one-time fee to avoid 
          receiving a point against his or her driving record, which 




          AB 1888 (GATTO)                                        Page 2

                                                                       


          reduces future car insurance costs as well as the chance of DMV 
          suspending or revoking the violator's driving privileges. 

           This bill  permits a driver holding a class A, B, or commercial 
          class C license to attend a TVS if the person commits a traffic 
          offense while driving a vehicle requiring only a class C or M 
          license.  In addition, this bill requires DMV to disclose and 
          not mask the violation if the commercial license holder attends 
          a TVS.  DMV will not, however, apply the conviction toward the 
          driver's negligent operator point count.
          



          COMMENTS:
          
           1.Purpose  .  According to the author, maintaining a sufficient 
            supply of high-quality commercial drivers in the state has 
            become problematic because drivers are retiring and trucking 
            companies are increasing their driver standards in order to 
            control insurance costs and meet regulatory mandates.  If 
            commercial drivers receive a traffic ticket while in their 
            personal vehicle, the negligent operator point counts against 
            their commercial driver's license.  The author contends that 
            every point accrued threatens a commercial driver's livelihood 
            as well as the viability of the trucking industry in 
            California.  This bill affords a commercial driver the same 
            rights as other drivers to attend a TVS to remove a point from 
            his or her driving record.  The author believes this will help 
            keep California's trucking industry functioning by providing a 
            means of dealing with minor violations not committed while on 
            the job.

           2.Commercial drivers are held to higher standards  .  Both state 
            and federal law hold a commercial driver to a higher standard 
            than other drivers, including initial and on-going training 
            requirements, stricter monitoring of driving behavior, and 
            increased sanctions for unsafe operation.  In order to qualify 
            and maintain his or her license, a commercial driver must 
            demonstrate additional skill and knowledge beyond what 
            existing law requires of most drivers, be medically qualified, 
            and in some cases pass a federal background check.  This is 
            because commercial drivers are professionals often moving 
            heavy vehicles with precarious or dangerous loads through 
            increasingly congested streets and freeways.  While a minor 
            mistake made in a passenger vehicle can usually be corrected 




          AB 1888 (GATTO)                                        Page 3

                                                                       


            and remain inconsequential, small deviations by commercial 
            vehicles can lead to drastic and even fatal consequences.  
            This bill lowers the state's standards for commercial drivers 
            by reducing the consequences for bad driving behavior, whether 
            or not in a commercial vehicle.

           3.The negligent operator point system works  .  DMV developed the 
            negligent operator system because data indicated that a driver 
            who receives multiple traffic safety violations is more likely 
            to be the cause of accidents, injury, and death.  DMV has 
            conducted extensive research on the negligent operator point 
            system and concludes that it has a positive impact on traffic 
            safety by reducing violation recidivism and crashes by 
            reducing dangerous driving behavior.  Conversely, research on 
            the TVS program concludes that completion of TVS as a means to 
            reduce the consequences of a traffic safety violation has a 
            negative impact on traffic safety.  Drivers who attend a TVS 
            are more likely to reoffend.  For drivers operating commercial 
            vehicles, using the most effective method for eliminating 
            risky behavior is critical, even if the violation occurred in 
            a non-commercial vehicle.  By allowing a commercial driver to 
            attend a TVS and avoid receiving a negligent operator point, 
            this bill postpones the consequences the violator would 
            otherwise face, even though the system has proven to be 
            effective in changing hazardous driving behavior. 

           4.Is this the solution to the stated problem  ?  The problem this 
            bill is addressing, according to the author, is maintaining 
            the number of high quality commercial drivers in the state 
            necessary to address our needs.  There appears to be two 
            issues undermining this solution to the stated problem.  
            First, a review of DMV records indicates that within a 
            population of about 700,000 commercial driver's license 
            holders, less than 1,100, or 0.16 percent, were actually 
            subject to negligent operator hearings last year.  Of those, 
            only 82 had their licenses suspended or revoked.  These 
            numbers seem to indicate that the accumulation of points 
            against these drivers' records is not a significant threat to 
            the population of licensed commercial drivers.

            A second issue with this bill's proposed solution involves the 
            drivers who would benefit from this bill.  It seems that, if 
            maintaining a cadre of high-quality commercial drivers was the 
            goal, then minimizing the consequences of poor driving 
            behavior, whether or not on the job, would be antithetical to 
            that aim.  If this bill becomes law, the poorly-behaving 




          AB 1888 (GATTO)                                        Page 4

                                                                       


            drivers would be able to maintain the same rights and 
            privileges as the best commercial drivers on the road.  While 
            this bill may help keep more commercial drivers licensed, it 
            would likely lead to a lower level of overall driver quality 
            as the traffic offenders that otherwise would lose their 
            commercial drivers licenses may be able to continue to operate 
            their vehicles.
          
          Assembly Votes:
               Floor:    75 - 0
               Appr: 17 - 0
               Trans:    13 - 0

          POSITIONS:  (Communicated to the committee before noon on 
          Wednesday,                                             June 20, 
          2012)

               SUPPORT:  American Federation of State, County, and 
          Municipal Employees
                         American Federation of State, County, and 
          Municipal Employees - 
                                   Local 1902
                         California Conference Board of the Amalgamated 
          Transit Union
                         California Conference of Machinists
                         California Farm Bureau Federation
                         California Grocers Association
                         California Teamsters
                         California Tow Truck Association
                         California Trucking Association
                         United Transportation Union
          
               OPPOSED:  None received.

















          AB 1888 (GATTO)                                        Page 5