BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 341|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 341
Author: Lowenthal (D)
Amended: 3/21/11
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 8-1, 3/29/11
AYES: DeSaulnier, Gaines, Huff, Kehoe, Lowenthal, Pavley,
Rubio, Simitian
NOES: Harman
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SUBJECT : Commercial vehicles: backup alarms
SOURCE : California Construction and Industrial
Materials Association
DIGEST : This bill requires that specified commercial
vehicles operated in construction and mining sites be
equipped with an automatic alarm that sounds when the
vehicle backs up.
ANALYSIS : Existing law requires that vehicles be
equipped with specified equipment for safety reasons, such
as a horn, various lights and mirrors, and a windshield
defroster. Among the equipment requirements in state law,
each garbage truck must be equipped with an automatic
backup alarm that sounds when the garbage truck is backing,
whether that occurs because it is operating in reverse or
it is in another gear but rolls backwards. This alarm must
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be audible at a distance of 100 feet.
The Department of Industrial Relations Division of
Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) safety orders
(i.e., state regulations) governing construction employment
sites require that vehicles at these sites capable of
hauling 2.5 or more cubic yards of dirt, rock, concrete, or
other construction material must be equipped with an
automatic backup alarm that is audible from 200 feet or a
functional equivalent to backup alarm.
This bill requires that commercial vehicles having a gross
vehicle weight rating of 14,000 pounds or more that work in
construction or mining sites must be equipped with an alarm
that sounds automatically on backing and can be heard from
a distance of 200 feet.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 4/12/11)
California Construction and Industrial Materials
Association (source)
Associated General Contractors
Basic Resources, Inc.
California Dump Truck Owners Association
California Teamsters Public Affairs Council
Elements Specialties
Graniterock
Holliday Rock Company
Knife River Corporation
LeHigh Hanson
Operating Engineers Local Union No. 3
Specialty Minerals Inc.
Vulcan Materials Company
West Coast Aggregates, Inc.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author's office notes that
trucks traveling through aggregate plants or construction
sites pose occupational safety challenges due to their
numbers, mobility, and traffic patterns, changes in driver
and tractor-trailer combinations, and separate ownership
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and operation. While most dump trucks have working backup
alarms and aggregate and construction sites enforce
Cal/OSHA alarm requirements, the author asserts that it
remains a challenge to ensure that every truck has a
working alarm, given the number of trucks and frequency of
changes.
The author's office further points to the additional
public safety concern that while operating on public roads
or in areas outside of those covered by the Cal/OSHA safety
order, dump trucks and other construction site vehicles are
not required to have backup alarms. According to the
author's office, this bill was introduced to close a safety
gap the proponents perceive in current law regarding backup
alarms.
RJG:mw 4/12/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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