BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1888
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 1888 (Gatto)
As Amended August 13, 2012
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |75-0 |(May 29, 2012) |SENATE: |37-0 |(August 21, |
| | | | | |2012) |
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Original Committee Reference: TRANS .
SUMMARY : Allows commercial drivers to attend traffic driver
violator school (TVS) for violations that take place when they
are exercising Class C or Class M driving privileges and thus
avoid having a violation point assessed against their driving
record.
The Senate amendments :
1)Clarify that a commercial driver choosing to attend TVS must
first deposit with the court the standard TVS fee or the total
bail for his or her offense.
2)Provide that the bill's TVS privileges do not apply to various
two-point traffic violations such as driving with a suspended
license, evading a peace officer, driving on the wrong side of
the road, or driving in excess of 100 miles per hour.
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 12 months, six or
more points in 24 months, or eight or more points in 36
months. A negligent operator designation allows DMV to
suspend or restrict the licensee's driving privilege.
2)Allows holder of noncommercial Class C and Class M 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.
AB 1888
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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.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill:
1)Provided that the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) records
regarding a conviction of the holder of a Class A, Class B or
commercial Class C driver's license is not confidential and
must be disclosed for purposes of Title 49 of the Code of
Federal Regulations (CFR) and to insurers for their
underwriting and rating purposes if the driver's offense
occurred while operating a vehicle requiring only a Class C
license and the driver was allowed to attend TVS.
2)Allowed a court to order or permit a driver who holds a Class
A, Class B or commercial Class C driver's license to complete
a course of instruction at a TVS if the person was operating a
vehicle requiring only a Class C (passenger vehicle) or Class
M (motorcycle) license.
3)Prohibited the court from ordering the record of conviction to
be kept confidential.
4)Prohibited the violation from being added to DMV's negligent
operator violation point count.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, DMV will incur programming costs of approximately
$175,000 related to provisions that prohibit a conviction from
resulting in a violation point for commercial vehicle drivers
who attend a TVS.
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
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
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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 (Assembly Transportation Committee), 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 CFR, which implements that Act.
While one might reasonably ask whether the consequence of
allowing drivers who commit moving violations to attend TVS 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 TVS would reinforce the importance of
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.
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
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probation and 82 had their licenses suspended or revoked.
Analysis Prepared by : Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
FN: 0005098