BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2405| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ 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 CONTINUED AB 2405 Page 2 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. CONTINUED AB 2405 Page 3 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 CONTINUED AB 2405 Page 4 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 CONTINUED AB 2405 Page 5 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 **** END **** CONTINUED