BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 266
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Date of Hearing: April 15, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
AB 266 (Blumenfield) - As Amended: April 9, 2013
SUBJECT : High-occupancy vehicle lanes: clean air vehicles
SUMMARY : Extends the sunset date on provisions that grant
high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane driving privileges to clean
air vehicles. Specifically, this bill :
1)Extends, from January 1, 2015, to January 1, 2020, the sunset
date on a program granting HOV lane driving privileges to
electric vehicles and natural gas vehicles (the white sticker
program).
2)Extends from January 1, 2015, to January 1, 2018, the sunset
date on a similar program for advanced partial zero-emission
vehicles (AT PZEV) (the green sticker program).
3)Deletes obsolete and redundant provisions.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Allows Caltrans and local authorities to reserve highway lanes
within their respective jurisdictions for the exclusive use of
HOVs.
2)Prohibits the operation of single occupant vehicles in HOV
lanes, with the exception of motorcycles and clean air
vehicles.
3)Directs the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to issue
stickers for the following clean air vehicles, until January
1, 2015, as follows:
a) White clean air vehicle stickers are available to an
unlimited number of qualifying vehicles that meet
California's super ultra-low emission vehicle standard for
exhaust emissions and the federal inherently low-emission
vehicle (ILEV) evaporative emission standard. This
includes certain zero-emission vehicles. Cars that meet
these requirements are typically certified pure
zero-emission vehicles (100% battery electric and hydrogen
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fuel cell) and compressed natural gas vehicles; and,
b) Green clean air vehicle stickers are available to the
first 40,000 applicants that purchase or lease cars meeting
California's enhanced AT PZEV requirement.
1)Allows single-occupant clean air vehicles to operate in HOV
lanes until such time as Caltrans determines that federal law
does not authorize the state to allow such vehicles to use
those lanes. Requires Caltrans to submit a notice of such a
determination to the Secretary of State, at which time HOV
lane access privileges for single-occupant, clean air vehicles
will be terminated.
2)Requires Caltrans to remove individual HOV lanes, or HOV lane
segments, during periods of peak congestion from these access
provisions if it finds that the lane exceeds a level of
service C (generally meaning at or near free-flowing traffic
with minimal delays), and that the operation or projected
operation of clean air vehicles will significantly increase
HOV lane congestion.
3)Exempts qualifying clean air vehicles from toll charges
imposed on single-occupant vehicles in high-occupancy toll
(HOT) lanes, with exceptions.
4)The federal Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act
(MAP-21), authorizes, until September 30, 2017, states to
allow low-emission, energy-efficient vehicles to use HOV lanes
regardless of occupancy levels.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : An HOV lane, commonly referred to as a "carpool" or
"diamond" lane, is part of a traffic management strategy
designed to provide an incentive for commuters to form carpools
by offering reduced travel times. The declared legislative
intent in establishing these lanes is to relieve traffic
congestion, conserve fuel, and reduce vehicular emissions. Over
the years, advocates for many groups have suggested using HOV
lane access to reward certain behaviors or to ease the commute
for one class of motorists or another.
HOV lane access to single-occupant clean air vehicles was first
authorized in 1999 with the passage of AB 71 (Cunneen), Chapter
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330, Statutes of 1999, for super ultra-low emission vehicles and
inherently low-emission vehicles (white sticker vehicles). That
access was later expanded by AB 2628 (Pavley), Chapter 725,
Statutes of 2006, to allow hybrid vehicles. Since allowing
large numbers of hybrids into HOV lanes would reduce the
effectiveness of the lanes by compromising their ability to
offer a quicker commute than adjacent mixed-flow lanes, AB 2628
limited the aggregate number of stickers for hybrids to 75,000
and allowed Caltrans to suspend HOV lane privileges for hybrids
on any particular lane that reaches a specified level of
congestion. AB 2600 (Lieu), Chapter 614, Statutes of 2006,
increased the limit on hybrid stickers to 85,000 and extended AB
2628's 2008 sunset date to 2011. (DMV reached the 85,000
sticker cap for hybrids in February 2007 and stopped issuing new
hybrid stickers at that point.)
In June of 2007, the Federal Highway Administration requested
Caltrans to submit a plan to address "HOV lane degradation" on
California freeways. Caltrans' analysis had indicated that 54%
of its HOV lanes had experienced such degradation. Recognizing
that one component of HOV lane congestion may be the presence of
hybrid vehicles, the authorization for hybrids to use HOV lanes
was allowed to sunset. The authorization for natural gas and
electric vehicles, however, was extended for five years, until
January 1, 2015, by AB 1500 (Lieu), Chapter 1500, Statutes of
2010. As of May 2012, DMV had issued less than 20,000 white
stickers and approximately 9,000 green stickers.
This bill would extend the white sticker program until 2020 and
the green sticker program to 2018.
According to the author, the timing of this bill is essential.
Extending HOV incentives for clean air vehicles will complement
recently adopted Air Resources Board regulations that will
require one in seven new cars sold in California in 2025 to be
an electric or other zero-emission vehicle. According to the
author, "As more manufacturers are entering the market
presenting consumers with more clean and/or zero emission cars
than ever before, this important program is set to expire in
2015. By providing long-term incentives to consumers for making
green vehicle choices, we can leverage California's position as
the clean technology capital of the world, create good jobs, and
meet our emissions reduction goals that will not be met without
widespread adoption of clean car technology."
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Writing in support of AB 266, Honda North America, Inc.,
asserts, "HOV lane access for single-occupant vehicles is a
non-financial incentive that has become one of the top reasons
cited by consumers for buying the Civil Natural Gas. For
example, in California the largest market for the Civil Natural
Gas, sales to consumers have steadily increased since 2000, the
year that single-occupant ILEV certified alternative fuel
vehicles were granted access to HOV lanes."
Related legislation : AB 220 (Ting) provides a variety of
incentives to encourage the purchase and use of low-emission
vehicles in California. The bill is scheduled to be heard in
this committee on April 15, 2013.
SB 286 (Yee) similarly extends the white and green sticker
programs, both until January 1, 2018. The bill passed out of
Senate Transportation and Housing Committee on April 9, 2013.
Previous legislation : SB 535 (Yee), Chapter 215, Statutes of
2010, allows enhanced AT PEZ vehicles (i.e., those eligible for
green stickers) access to HOV lanes regardless of vehicle
occupancy, until January 1, 2015.
AB 1500 (Lieu), Chapter 1500, Statutes of 2010, extended HOV
lane privileges natural gas and electric vehicles for five
years, until January 1, 2015.
AB 2600 (Lieu), Chapter 614, Statutes of 2006, allowed an
additional 10,000 high-mileage hybrid vehicles to obtain
stickers allowing them to drive in HOV lanes regardless of the
number of occupants; extends the sunset date on the
authorization for these and other "Clean Air" vehicles to
operate in HOV lanes.
AB 2628 (Pavley), Chapter 725 Statutes of 2004, allowed AT PZEVs
to use HOV lanes.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Electric Transportation Coalition
CALSTART
Honda North America, Inc.
Plug In America
AB 266
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Opposition
Orange County Transportation Authority
Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson/ TRANS. / (916) 319-2093