BILL NUMBER: AB 206	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Dickinson

                        JANUARY 30, 2013

   An act to add Section 35400.8 to the Vehicle Code, relating to
vehicles.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 206, as introduced, Dickinson. Vehicles: length limitations:
buses: bicycle transportation devices.
   Existing law imposes a 40-foot limitation on the length of
vehicles that may be operated on the highways, with specified
exemptions. Existing law exempts from this limitation an articulated
bus or trolley and a bus, except a schoolbus, that is operated by a
public agency or passenger stage corporation that is used in a
transit system if it is equipped with a folding device attached to
the front of the vehicle that is designed and used exclusively for
transporting bicycles, does not materially affect efficiency or
visibility of vehicle safety equipment, and does not extend more than
36 inches from the front of the body of the bus or trolley when
fully deployed. In addition, existing law prohibits a bicycle that is
transported on the above-described device from having the bicycle
handlebars extend more than 42 inches from the front of the vehicle.
   This bill would authorize the Sacramento Regional Transit District
to install folding devices attached to the front of its buses that
are designed and used exclusively for transporting bicycles if the
use of the device meets certain requirements, including, but not
limited to, that the device does not extend more than 40 inches from
the front of the bus when fully deployed, and that the handlebars of
the bicycles being transported do not extend more than 46 inches from
the front of the bus. The bill would require the district to submit
a report, containing specified requirements, to the Assembly
Committee on Transportation and the Senate Committee on
Transportation and Housing on or before December 31, 2018.
   This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to
the necessity of a special statute for the Sacramento Regional
Transit District.
   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 35400.8 is added to the Vehicle Code, to read:
   35400.8.  (a) Notwithstanding Section 35400, the Sacramento
Regional Transit District, created pursuant to Article 1 (commencing
with Section 6500) of Chapter 5 of Division 7 of Title 1 of the
Government Code as a joint powers agency, may install a folding
device attached to the front of a bus that is designed and used
exclusively for transporting bicycles if the following conditions are
met:
   (1) The device does not extend more than 40 inches from the front
body of the bus when fully deployed.
   (2) The device, including all bicycles transported on the device,
is mounted in a manner that does not materially affect efficiency or
visibility of vehicle safety equipment.
   (3) The handlebars of a bicycle that is transported on a device
described in this subdivision do not extend more than 46 inches from
the front of the bus.
   (b) For purposes of this section, "district" means the Sacramento
Regional Transit District.
   (c) If a folding device is installed pursuant to subdivision (a),
the district shall submit a report in compliance with Section 9795 of
the Government Code to the Assembly Committee on Transportation and
the Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing on or before
December 31, 2018. The report shall include a summary of any
vehicular or traffic incidents where the size of the folding device
was a factor, and a summary of the mobility improvements that these
folding devices provide.
  SEC. 2.  The Legislature finds and declares that a special law is
necessary and that a general law cannot be made applicable within the
meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution
because of the unique circumstances of a large number of bicycle
riders using buses operated by the Sacramento Regional Transit
District and the need to determine whether there are safety
considerations in having 40-inch bicycle racks on the front of the
district's buses.