BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: AB 2660
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: solorio
VERSION: 4/9/12
Analysis by: Carrie Cornwell FISCAL: no
Hearing date: June 26, 2012
SUBJECT:
Vehicles: side window tinting
DESCRIPTION:
This bill allows a public agency to own and operate a law
enforcement vehicle on which tinting or glazing materials covers
the front side windows.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law prohibits a person from driving any motor vehicle
with any object or material placed, displayed, installed,
affixed, or applied upon the windshield or the side windows
adjacent to the driver. (This prohibition also applies to the
rear window of any vehicle that is not equipped with both left
and right side mirrors.) Existing law makes exceptions for the
following:
Rearview mirrors;
Sunvisors that are not mounted on the windshield glass;
Electronic toll communication devices (e.g., FasTrak
transponders) or video event recorders affixed to the center
uppermost portion of the interior of the windshield within
an area that is not greater than five inches square;
Transparent material applied to the top most portion of
the windshield (i.e., tinting);
Stickers (e.g., parking decals), global positioning
systems (GPS), and video event recorders that are placed or
mounted on the windshield in the seven-inch square in the
lower corner farthest removed from the driver or in the
five-inch square in the lower corner nearest the driver but
outside of the airbag deployment zone.
AB 2660 (SOLORIO) Page 2
This bill permits a federal, state, or local agency that employs
peace officers to tint, cover, or otherwise block the side or
rear windows of a vehicle it owns and operates for use by peace
officers it employs.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . This author introduced this bill to allow law
enforcement vehicles to use window tinting on their front side
windows. He notes that difficulties now arise when a police
officer pulls over someone for illegal window tinting and that
someone is identified as an undercover police officer. The
arresting police officer may be required to give the other
officer a ticket because the law does not exempt police
officers from the tinting prohibition. The police department
then has to spend time and money going to the prosecutor or
the court to get the traffic ticket dismissed or the agency
has to pay the fine. This process wastes critical and limited
public safety resources on a technicality leading to a traffic
ticket that could be avoided with a change in the law, which
this bill makes.
2.Traffic safety concerns . Existing law's prohibition on
affixing any object or material to a vehicle's side front
windows exists because of the importance good visibility plays
in ensuring traffic safety. Visibility is important both for
the driver and for those outside of the vehicle. Diminished
visibility for the driver, especially during the hours of
darkness, makes collisions more likely. Diminished visibility
through a vehicle's side windows eliminates the ability for
other drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists to have eye contact
confirmation that the driver sees them, especially at
intersections and crosswalks. For these reasons, the
exemption in this bill will increase the likelihood of
collisions due to loss of visibility.
3.Undercover ? Making window tinting of front side windows legal
only for law enforcement vehicles would distinguish those
vehicles so that people would know they are undercover law
enforcement vehicles. This seems contrary to the intent of
the proponents.
4.Requests for examples . Committee staff received no examples
of instances in which one law enforcement agency cited
another's officers for violations due to tinting or covering
AB 2660 (SOLORIO) Page 3
the front side windows of their vehicles. It may be that
there have been some very isolated instances of this
occurring, but if so, proponents could provide none.
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 75 - 0
Trans: 12 - 0
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday, June 20,
2012)
SUPPORT: Peace Officers Research Association of California
(sponsor)
Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs
Los Angeles Police Protective League
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
Riverside Sheriffs' Association
San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department
OPPOSED: None received.