BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2405
Author: Blumenfield (D)
Amended: 6/27/12 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMM : 5-4, 6/12/12
AYES: DeSaulnier, Kehoe, Lowenthal, Pavley, Simitian
NOES: Gaines, Harman, Rubio, Wyland
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 49-25, 4/26/12 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Vehicles: high-occupancy toll lanes
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill exempts low-emission vehicles with
valid stickers from toll charges imposed on single-occupant
vehicles in high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes.
Senate Floor Amendments of 6/27/12 align the date on which
the exemption becomes available on State Highway Routes 10
and 110 in Los Angeles County, and specify that
low-emission vehicles with valid stickers are not exempt
from the tolls charged for crossing state-owned bridges.
ANALYSIS : In 1999, the Legislature passed and the
Governor signed
AB 71 (Cunneen), Chapter 330, to grant certain low-emission
vehicles access to high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes,
regardless of vehicle occupancy. These vehicles include
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all-electric vehicles such as the Tesla Roadster or the RAV
4 EV and natural gas vehicles such as the Honda Civic CNG.
To differentiate these vehicles, the Department of Motor
Vehicles (DMV) issues white stickers to be affixed on the
vehicle. There is no limit on the number of these vehicles
that may be issued white stickers. As of May of this year,
DMV has issued nearly 19,000 sets of white stickers.
In 2004, AB 2628 (Pavley), Chapter 725, allowed certain
high-mileage hybrid vehicles to access HOV lanes regardless
of occupancy. The DMV issued yellow stickers to owners of
these vehicles. The Legislature ultimately capped the
number of vehicles that may be issued yellow stickers at
85,000, a limit reached in 2007.
SB 535 (Yee), Chapter 215, Statutes of 2010, grants access
to HOV lanes to a new class of vehicles, including
"plug-in" hybrids such as the Toyota Prius Plug-in and the
Chevy Volt, beginning January 1, 2012. SB 535 capped the
number of green stickers the DMV may issue to vehicle
owners at 40,000.
While the authority to access HOV lanes expired for
vehicles with yellow stickers on June 30, 2011, vehicles
with white and green stickers maintain access to HOV lanes
until January 1, 2015.
SB 535 also specified that low-emission vehicles with valid
stickers are not exempt from paying tolls on HOT lanes on
State Highways 10 and 110 in Los Angeles. At the time, Los
Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
expressed concern that granting access to drivers of these
vehicles could congest the lanes enough to jeopardize
federal funding for the projects.
This bill exempts vehicles with green and white stickers
from toll charges that single-occupant vehicles pay to
access HOT lanes. This exemption does not apply to HOT
lanes on State Highway 110 and State Highway 10 in Los
Angeles until after March 1, 2014. In addition, this bill
specifies that low-emission vehicles with valid stickers
are not exempt from the tolls charged for crossing
state-owned bridges.
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Comments
The role of HOV and HOT lanes . In allowing for the
development of HOV lanes, the Legislature hoped to
accomplish two objectives. First, these lanes were to
incentivize drivers to participate in carpools or otherwise
share rides with drivers travelling to similar
destinations. Then, because fewer single-occupancy
vehicles would be on the highway, HOV lanes were expected
to reduce congestion for those who did not carpool.
HOV lanes in California have been more or less successful
in accomplishing these two objectives. When carpool lanes
are not used to full capacity by high-occupancy vehicles,
there is room for additional vehicles to travel and not
overly diminish the throughput of the lanes. In these
cases, many options are available to the managing
transportation entities. For example, as previously
mentioned, the state has opened these lanes to low-emission
vehicles attempting to provide incentives for the purchase
of these vehicles to consumers who might otherwise not buy
them. Alternatively, some agencies have chosen to sell HOV
capacity to single-occupant vehicles through the use of
tolls, which provides a number of benefits. Besides
raising much-needed transportation revenues for things such
as road maintenance, increased capacity, or other mobility
solutions, HOT lanes can also contribute to reducing
congestion as they reduce the number of vehicles in
non-toll lanes.
It is important that throughput remains significantly
higher in high-occupancy lanes than others along the same
portion of highway or the value of these lanes is
diminished. Therefore, these lanes must be monitored and
managed effectively. If an HOV lane begins exhibiting too
much congestion, agencies can increase the threshold to
gain access by requiring more people per car to qualify for
their use. Similarly, if HOT lanes become oversubscribed,
raising tolls can help reduce demand and keep the lanes
moving adequately.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
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SUPPORT : (Verified 6/22/12)
Antelope Valley Clean Cities Coalition
Breathe California
California Electric Transportation Coalition
California Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition
California Yellow Cab
CALSTART
City Cab - Los Angeles Division
Clean Energy
Coalition for Clean Air
CODA Holdings
Honda
Silicon Valley Clean Cities Coalition
South Coast Air Quality Management District
Yellow Cab of Greater Orange County
OPPOSITION : (Verified 6/14/12)
American Council of Engineering Companies of California
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
allowing certain single-occupant vehicles to use HOV lanes
has been an important tool for promoting the purchase of
low-emitting cars, such as electric vehicles and plug-in
hybrids. To meet current and future traffic demands, many
HOV lanes across the state are being converted to HOT
lanes. The author contends that it is important for
incentives provided to low-emission cars today to carry
over as HOV lanes are converted to HOT lanes. This bill
gives current and future clean car owners certainty about
high-occupancy lane access and will continue to provide a
valuable incentive for purchasing clean air vehicles.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The American Council of
Engineering Companies of California (ACEC) wrote a letter
in opposition to this bill, principally objecting on the
grounds that it could undermine funding capacity for
delivering transportation infrastructure. Alternative fuel
vehicles using limited or no gasoline contribute very
little toward funding infrastructure and road maintenance
because the primary state funding mechanism for these
expenditures is the gasoline excise tax. ACEC suggests
that tolls are one way to capture some funds from drivers
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of these vehicles who benefit from public infrastructure
but do not contribute to its upkeep or expansion. Further,
ACEC points out that while the pool of vehicles that would
benefit from this bill is currently relatively small, state
mandates are expected to greatly increase the number of
low/zero emissions vehicles over the next decade. This
expansion could exacerbate the funding problem, with more
cars using the road system and fewer drivers contributing
to funding the repair and maintenance of the roads.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 49-25, 4/26/12
AYES: Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Block,
Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan,
Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter, Chesbro, Davis,
Dickinson, Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Galgiani,
Gatto, Gordon, Hall, Hayashi, Roger Hernández, Hill,
Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Lara, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma,
Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez,
Portantino, Swanson, Torres, Wieckowski, Williams,
Yamada, John A. Pérez
NOES: Achadjian, Bill Berryhill, Conway, Cook, Donnelly,
Beth Gaines, Garrick, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Jeffries,
Knight, Logue, Mansoor, Miller, Morrell, Nestande,
Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Silva, Smyth, Solorio, Valadao,
Wagner
NO VOTE RECORDED: Cedillo, Furutani, Gorell, Harkey,
Jones, Skinner
JJA:n 6/28/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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