BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                      



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                              UNFINISHED BUSINESS


          Bill No:  SB 341
          Author:   Lowenthal (D)
          Amended:  6/21/11
          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

           SENATE FLOOR  :  37-2, 4/25/11
          AYES:  Alquist, Berryhill, Blakeslee, Calderon, Cannella, 
            Corbett, Correa, De León, DeSaulnier, Dutton, Emmerson, 
            Evans, Fuller, Gaines, Hancock, Harman, Hernandez, Huff, 
            Kehoe, Leno, Lieu, Liu, Lowenthal, Negrete McLeod, 
            Padilla, Pavley, Price, Rubio, Runner, Simitian, 
            Steinberg, Strickland, Vargas, Wolk, Wright, Wyland, Yee
          NOES:  Anderson, La Malfa
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Walters

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  72-5, 7/14/11 - See last page for vote


           SUBJECT  :    Construction vehicles:  backup alarms

           SOURCE  :     California Construction and Industrial 
          Materials Association


           DIGEST  :    This bill requires that specified construction 
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          vehicles, as defined, operated in construction and mining 
          sites be equipped with an automatic alarm that sounds when 
          the vehicle backs up.

           Assembly Amendments  change the type of vehicles this bill 
          applies to from commercial vehicles to construction 
          vehicles, and provide a definition of construction 
          vehicles.

           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 
          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:

          1. Requires that construction 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.

          2. Defines "construction vehicle" to include, but is not 
             limited to, all of the following:

             A.    A vehicle designed to transport concrete, cement, 
                clay, limestone, aggregate material, or other similar 
                construction or industrial material, including a 
                transfer truck or a tractor trailer combination used 
                exclusively to pull bottom dump, end dump, or side 

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                dump trailers.

             B.    A vehicle that is a concrete mixer truck, a truck 
                with a concrete placing boom, a water tank truck, a 
                single engine crane with a load rating of 35 tons or 
                more, or a tractor that exclusively pulls a low-boy 
                trailer.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  Yes   
          Local:  Yes

           SUPPORT  :   (Verified  8/8/11)

          California Construction and Industrial Materials 
          Association (source)
          Associated General Contractors
          Basic Resources, Inc.
          California Dump Truck Owners Association
          California Teamsters Public Affairs Council
          Cemex
          Diversified Minerals Inc.
          Elements Specialties
          Graniterock
          Holliday Rock Company
          Knife River Corporation
          LeHigh Hanson
          Operating Engineers Local Union No. 3
          Specialty Minerals Inc.
          Vulcan Materials Company
          Werner Corporation
          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 
          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.  


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          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.
          

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  72-5, 7/14/11
          AYES:  Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, 
            Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, 
            Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, 
            Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson, 
            Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, 
            Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Hagman, Halderman, 
            Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger Hernández, Hill, Huber, 
            Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Lara, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, 
            Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nestande, Nielsen, 
            Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Portantino, 
            Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Valadao, 
            Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez
          NOES:  Grove, Jones, Knight, Logue, Morrell
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Beth Gaines, Gorell, Mitchell


          RJG:mw  8/8/11   Senate Floor Analyses 

                         SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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