BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 529
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 29, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
AB 529 (Lowenthal) - As Amended: March 19, 2013
SUBJECT : Commercial Trucks: Biennial Inspection of Terminals
SUMMARY : Revises the Biennial Inspection of Terminals (BIT)
Program as administered by the California Highway Patrol (CHP).
Specifically, this bill :
1)Transfers responsibility to collect carrier inspection fees
from CHP to the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
2)Restructures current BIT carrier inspection fees, which are
levied based on the number of terminals operated by a motor
carrier and collected by CHP, to instead have DMV collect
carrier inspection fees based upon the size of the commercial
motor vehicle fleet.
3)Imposes a new penalty on motor carriers for failure to pay
safety and carrier inspection fees based upon the following
schedule:
a) Failure to pay fees more than 30 days -- 60% of the
required fee;
b) Failure to pay fees more than 1 year - 80% of the
required fee; and,
c) Failure to pay fees more than 2 years - 160% of the
required fee.
1)Redefines "motor carrier" as the registered owner, lessee,
licensee, or bailee who operates or directs the operation of a
commercial vehicle.
2)Makes it unlawful for a motor carrier to operate any
commercial vehicle without identifying to the CHP all
terminals in the state where vehicles may be inspected.
3)Requires motor carriers to make vehicles and records available
for inspection by CHP. If a motor carrier fails to provide
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vehicles and records, an unsatisfactory terminal rating is
required to be issued by CHP.
4)Establishes inspection criteria based upon terminal fleet size
as specified.
5)Requires the lessor of a commercial vehicle to make the
vehicle available for inspection upon request of the CHP.
Establishes that this bill does not affect whether the lessor
or driver provided by the lessor is an employee of the
authorized carrier lessee and is in compliance with this
section and its attendant administrative requirements.
6)Authorizes CHP to conduct terminal inspections at any time.
7) Requires CHP, on or before January 1, 2016, to promulgate
regulations to implement a performance-based truck terminal
inspection priority system similar to that used by the Federal
Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Authorizes CHP to
incorporate other safety-related data into this system.
8)Requires CHP to place an inspection priority on motor carrier
terminals that have never been previously inspected, as well
as vehicles transporting hazardous materials. Provides that
nonpriority terminals would not be required to be inspected
less than six years since their last inspection.
9)Eliminates the responsibility of the motor carrier to schedule
a vehicle inspection with the CHP.
10)Eliminates the 25-month inspection term for each terminal
that receives a satisfactory inspection compliance rating.
Also, deletes the authority of the CHP to extend the 25-month
inspection period by an additional six months.
11)Requires motor carriers operating vehicles as specified in
this bill to carry out inspections every 90 days to ensure
safe operation. Records of inspection are to be kept at the
motor carrier's terminal as designated, are to be retained for
two years, and shall be made available for inspection upon
request by the CHP.
12)Authorizes a motor carrier that is issued a notification by
the CHP of an unsatisfactory terminal rating to request a
review of the rating within five business days and requires
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the CHP to conduct and evaluate the review prior to
recommending the suspension of a carrier's motor carrier
permit.
13)Renames the program from the Biennial Inspection of Terminals
Program to the Basic Inspection of Terminals Program.
14)Clarifies the definition of "motor carrier of property" to
include a trailer designed to transport watercraft, or utility
trailer, and that is never operated in commercial use.
15)Deletes the requirement of DMV to review the fee schedule and
to determine if the fees should be lowered to appropriately
reflect the administrative and enforcement costs for it and
the CHP.
16)Delays the operative date of the reconstituted BIT program to
January 1, 2016.
17)Makes related, clarifying amendments.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the California Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act
of 1988, which led to the creation of the BIT Program as
administered by the CHP, to ensure the safe operation of
certain vehicles by a motor carrier through the inspection of
those vehicles at motor carrier terminals. Requires any
person or organization directing the operation of certain
trucks and/or trailers to participate in the BIT Program.
2)Establishes a carrier inspection fee schedule, along with
non-payment penalty provisions, on commercial motor carrier
terminals for the BIT inspections. Requires the application
and inspection fees to be processed by the CHP.
3)Defines a "motor carrier" as the registered owner of, and in
some cases the lessee or person exclusively authorizing and
directing the operation of, specified vehicles.
4)Requires motor carriers to provide CHP with a representative
sample of its total vehicle fleet to be used when carrying out
required inspections as specified.
5)Requires CHP to inspect every terminal at least once every 25
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months and defines a terminal as the location or locations
designated by the motor carrier where subject vehicles and
specific records are available for inspection.
6)Requires CHP to perform priority inspections on vehicles
transporting hazardous materials.
7)Establishes a fee schedule for the inspection of fleet
terminals.
8)Requires fees collected by CHP to be deposited into the Motor
Vehicle Account and appropriated to CHP for purposes of
conducting truck terminal inspections and for roadside safety
inspections.
9)Establishes re-inspection procedures of terminals receiving
non-satisfactory ratings.
10)Requires, within 30 days of establishing a terminal, a motor
carrier to schedule an inspection by submitting to CHP an
application for a terminal inspection accompanied by the
payment of a fee the amount of which is based on the number of
vehicles in a terminal or the "terminal fleet size."
11)In lieu of CHP on-site inspections of compliant terminals
that receive two consecutive satisfactory inspection ratings,
specifies provisions for administrative review for two
additional 25-month periods. Prohibits the authorization of
more than two consecutive 25-month administrative review
periods.
12)Authorizes DMV to issue motor carrier permits.
13)Under federal law, requires motor carriers to inspect,
repair, and maintain all commercial motor vehicles under its
control annually. Authorizes motor carriers to perform
self-inspections by a qualified employee or through a
third-party inspection by a qualified individual. Authorizes
vehicles passing roadside or mandatory periodic inspections
performed by a state to be considered to have met the
requirements of the annual self-inspection. Requires records
of inspections to be retained for 14 months.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
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COMMENTS : The BIT Program was implemented to ensure the safe
operation of commercial vehicles by a motor carrier through the
inspection of those vehicles at motor carrier terminals. The
law requires that the CHP perform safety inspections every 25
months on every commercial motor carrier terminal operating
within the state. The BIT program also allows for
administrative approval for additional 25 month periods for
those terminals with ongoing satisfactory safety inspections.
Under the BIT Program, a motor carrier is the registered owner
(with some exceptions) of any of the following vehicles, whether
or not for hire:
1)Any motor truck with three or more axles having a gross
vehicle weight rating of more than 10,000 pounds.
2)Truck tractors.
3)Trailers or semitrailers used in combination with the vehicles
listed above.
4)Any truck or combination of a truck, and any other vehicle,
transporting hazardous materials that require placards, a
hazardous materials transportation license, or hazardous waste
transporter registration, including pickups used for this
purpose.
5)Any motor truck with a gross vehicle weight rating of more
than 10,000 pounds (excluding a pickup truck as specifically
defined, while towing any trailer or semitrailer that results
in a combination length over 40 feet (excluding trailer
coaches, camp trailers, and utility trailers).
Further, under the program, "terminal" is defined as any place
where a vehicle described above is regularly garaged,
maintained, operated or dispatched from, including a dispatch
office, cross-dock facility, maintenance shop, business, store,
or even a private residence. Essentially, terminal means the
location or locations in the state that are designated by a
motor carrier, where vehicles subject to the BIT Program may be
inspected by the CHP and where vehicle maintenance records and
drivers' records will be made available for inspection.
Separately from the BIT Program, to ensure the safe operations
of motor carriers, the CHP conducts routine roadside inspections
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of commercial vehicles operating on the state's highways.
Vehicles passing the roadside inspection are deemed meeting the
annual federal self-inspection requirement. Further, vehicles
passing the inspection enable a fleet operator to receive
approval for one vehicle in their fleet sample. Vehicles not
passing may trigger an on-site review of the terminal for their
fleet inspection.
Federal commercial truck safety requirements : Federal law
requires motor carriers to inspect, repair, and maintain all
commercial motor vehicles under its control on an annual basis.
The records of inspections are to be retained for 14 months.
Further, the law authorizes motor carriers to perform
self-inspections by a qualified employee or through a
third-party inspection by a qualified individual. As a note,
federal law does not mandate the on-site inspection of terminals
by either state or federal inspectors.
On December, 2010, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration (FMCSA) established a new program designed to
improve the safety of large commercial vehicles in terms of
reduced crashes, injuries, and fatalities. The program uses a
performance-based model and parameters to evaluate and target
on-site inspections of interstate motor carriers. This approach
allows FMCSA and those states choosing to use the model to
channel enforcement and compliance efforts to carriers that are
profiled with potential safety problems. States other than
California have been involved in implementing and evaluating
this new program. This program could benefit California to
target CHP inspection and enforcement efforts towards priority
motor carriers.
AB 529 will allow CHP to implement a performance-based
inspection program patterned after the FMCSA model. By using
performance-based inspection prioritization, CHP will focus
staff inspection resources where they are most needed: targeting
new motor carriers and as well as those that are non-compliant.
This performance-based model will also make public motor carrier
inspection data available via the Internet, thus creating
incentives for motor carriers to meet or exceed CHP inspection
requirements. Additionally, this bill seeks to improve the
efficiency of the program by having DMV assume the inspection
fee collection process.
This bill makes a number of significant changes to the existing
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BIT program including:
1)Establishing a performance-based model for inspections, moving
away from motor carrier terminal inspections occurring once
every 25 months to a model where ongoing compliant motor
carriers may be inspected once every 6 years.
2)Changing the focus of the CHP inspection program from terminal
inspections to new motor carriers entering the market in
California as well as individual motor carriers that are
targeted through the performance-based inspection program
model.
3)Consolidating fee collections by DMV using the existing Motor
Carrier Permit fee collection process. Accordingly, funds
appropriated to CHP for accounting for the inspection fees can
be redirected to actual inspections.
4)Shifting BIT program fees from being assessed to each terminal
to being assessed based on the entire fleet of the motor
carrier.
5)Expanding the categories of commercial vehicles that will be
subject to BIT program inspections and fees. Under this new
fee structure, smaller motor carriers will benefit due to
their smaller fleet sizes while the offset in fee revenues
will be smoothed out through expanding BIT program
requirements to new commercial vehicle categories.
6)Allowing the CHP to collect inspection data and post motor
carrier performance data on the Internet in turn incentivizing
motor carriers to meet or exceed state safety requirements.
Previous legislation : AB 2706 (Katz), Chapter 1586, Statutes of
1988, establishes the BIT Program, otherwise known as the
California Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1988. The
program requires all trucking companies to have each terminal
location inspected by CHP every 25 months.
AB 957 (Scott), Chapter 1006, Statutes of 2000, imposes
sanctions on motor carriers for failure to pay BIT Program fees
or otherwise comply with the program requirements.
AB 1238 (Firebaugh), Chapter 729, Statutes of 2003, requires
motor carriers to certify enrollment in the BIT Program prior to
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obtaining a Motor Carrier Permit. Also makes it a crime for a
motor carrier to operate a vehicle regulated under the BIT
Program prior to having an inspection completed. Furthermore,
AB 1238 increased fees for an initial inspection.
SB 79 (Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee), Chapter 173,
Statutes of 2007, restructures the fee schedule for the
inspection of motor carrier terminals based on terminal fleet
size versus the set base rate for each terminal inspected.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Construction Trucking Association
California Tow Truck Association
California Trucking Association
Pacific Merchant Shipping Association
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Manny Leon / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093