BILL NUMBER: SB 582 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 29, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Senator Emmerson
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Huffman)
FEBRUARY 17, 2011
An act to add Section 65081 to the Government Code, relating to
transportation.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 582, as amended, Emmerson. Commute benefit policies.
Existing law requires transportation planning agencies to
undertake various transportation planning activities, including
preparation of a regional transportation plan. Existing law requires
transportation planning agencies that are designated under federal
law as metropolitan planning organizations to include a sustainable
communities strategy as part of the regional transportation plan for
their region. Existing law creates air quality management districts
with various responsibilities relative to reduction of air pollution.
This bill, beginning on January 1, 2013, would authorize a
metropolitan planning organization , in partnership
jointly with the local air quality management
district , to adopt a commute benefit ordinance
that requires covered employers operating within the common
jurisdiction area of the organization and
district with 20 or more a specified number
of covered employees to offer those employees certain commute
benefits. The bill would require that the ordinance specify certain
matters, including any consequences for noncompliance. The bill
would provide for the ordinance to be adopted by the county
transportation commission rather than the me tropolitan
planning organization in those counties where the Southern
California Association of Governments is the designated metropolitan
planning organization.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 65081 is added to the Government Code, to read:
65081. (a) It is the intent of the Legislature to encourage
metropolitan planning organizations and local air quality management
districts to work with local employers to adopt policies that
encourage commuting by means other than the single-occupancy
vehicle driving alone .
(b) On Notwithstanding Section 40717.9 of
the Health and Safety Code, and except as
otherwise provided in subdivision (e), on or after January 1,
2013, a metropolitan planning organization , in partnership
with the and a local air quality management
district , may with respect to the common
area within their respective jurisdictions may jointly adopt a
commute benefit ordinance that requires covered employers
with 20 or more covered employees operating within the
common jurisdiction area of the
organization and district to offer all covered employees one of the
following choices:
(1) A pretax option: a program, consistent with Section 132(f) of
the Internal Revenue Code, allowing covered employees to elect to
exclude from taxable wages employee commuting costs incurred for
transit passes or vanpool charges, or bicycle commuting, up to the
maximum amount allowed by federal tax law.
(2) Employer-paid benefit: a program whereby the covered employer
covers offers employees a subsidy to offset
the monthly cost of commuting via a public
transit system requested by each covered employee or
reimburses each covered employee's qualified vanpool charges.
or by vanpool. In 2013, the subsidy shall be equal to
either the monthly cost of commuting via transit or vanpool, or
seventy-five dollars ($75), whichever is lower. This amount shall be
adjusted annually consistent with the California Consumer Price
Index.
(3) Employer-provided transit: transportation furnished by the
covered employer at no cost , or low cost as determined by the
metropolitan planning organization, to the covered employee in
a vanpool or bus, or similar multipassenger vehicle operated by or
for the employer.
(c) An employer offering, or proposing to offer, an
alternative commuter benefit on the employer's own initiative, or an
employer otherwise required to offer an alternative commuter benefit
as a condition of a lease, original building permit, or other similar
requirement, if the alternative is not one of the options identified
in subdivision (b), may seek approval of the alternative from the
metropolitan planning organization. The metropolitan planning
organization may approve an alternative if it determines that the
alternative provides at least the same benefit in terms of reducing
single-occupant vehicle trips as any of the options in subdivision
(b). An employer that offers an approved alternative to covered
employees in a manner otherwise consistent with this section is not
required to offer one of the options in subdivision (b).
The commute benefit ordinance shall provide covered employers with
at least six months to comply after the ordinance is adopted.
(c)
(d) A commute benefit ordinance adopted pursuant to
this section shall specify all of the following: (1) how the
implementing agencies will inform covered employers about the
ordinance, (2) how compliance with the ordinance will be
demonstrated, and (3) (3) the procedures for
proposing and the criteria that will be used to evaluate an
alternative commuter benefit pursuant to subdivision (c), and (4)
any consequences for noncompliance.
(e) In the region served by the multicounty transportation
planning agency described in Section 130004 of the Public Utilities
Code, the county transportation commission created in each county
within that region, rather than the multicounty transportation
planning agency, shall be the agency authorized to adopt the commute
benefit ordinance pursuant to subdivision (b) in conjunction with the
local air quality management district.
(f) Nothing in this section shall limit or restrict the
statutory or regulatory authority of a metropolitan planning
organization or air quality management district.
(d)
(g) As used in this section, the following terms have
the following meanings:
(1) "Covered employer" means any employer for which an average of
20 or more employees per week perform work for compensation within
the jurisdiction area where the
ordinance adopted pursuant to this section operates , except
that a metropolitan planning organization, at its option, may provide
for the ordinance to apply solely to employers with 50 or more
employees otherwise meeting the requirements of this paragraph
. In determining the number of employees performing work for an
employer during a given week, only employees performing work on a
full-time basis shall be counted.
(2) "Covered employee" means an employee who performed at least
10 20 hours of work per week within the
previous calendar month within the jurisdiction
area where the ordinance adopted pursuant to this section
operates.