BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 529
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 529 (Lowenthal)
As Amended March 19, 2013
Majority vote
TRANSPORTATION 15-0 APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Ayes:|Lowenthal, Linder, |Ayes:|Gatto, Harkey, Bigelow, |
| |Achadjian, Ammiano, | |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian |
| |Blumenfield, Bonta, | |Calderon, Campos, |
| |Buchanan, Daly, Frazier, | |Donnelly, Eggman, Gomez, |
| |Gatto, Holden, Morrell, | |Hall, Rendon, Linder, |
| |Nazarian, Patterson, | |Pan, Quirk, Wagner, Weber |
| |Quirk-Silva | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
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 schedule on motor carriers for failure
to pay safety and carrier inspection fees.
4)Redefines "motor carrier" as the registered owner, lessee,
licensee, or bailee who operates or directs the operation of a
commercial vehicle.
5)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.
6)Requires motor carriers to make vehicles and records available
AB 529
Page 2
for inspection by CHP. If a motor carrier fails to provide
vehicles and records, an unsatisfactory terminal rating is
required to be issued by CHP.
7)Establishes inspection criteria based upon terminal fleet size
as specified.
8)Requires the lessor of a commercial vehicle to make the
vehicle available for inspection upon request of the CHP.
9)Authorizes CHP to conduct terminal inspections at any time.
10)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.
11)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.
12)Eliminates the responsibility of the motor carrier to
schedule a vehicle inspection with the CHP.
13)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.
14)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.
15)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
the CHP to conduct and evaluate the review prior to
recommending the suspension of a carrier's motor carrier
AB 529
Page 3
permit.
16)Renames the program from the BIT Program to the Basic
Inspection of Terminals Program.
17)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.
18)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.
19)Delays the operative date of the reconstituted BIT Program to
January 1, 2016.
20)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
months and defines a terminal as the location or locations
AB 529
Page 4
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)Specifies, in lieu of CHP on-site inspections of compliant
terminals that receive two consecutive satisfactory inspection
ratings, 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)Requires, under federal law, 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 : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
AB 529
Page 5
1) DMV indicates one-time implementation costs of $125,000 to
transition the fee collection from CHP and incorporate into
the Motor Carrier Permit (MCP) process. All other costs are
minor and absorbable. (Motor Vehicle Account)
2)CHP will incur minor absorbable costs to prepare information
bulletins and revisions to its operational manuals. CHP
indicates that adopting a performance-based approach will
permit the department to more efficiently focus its resources
on new carriers, those who have a declining or unsafe level of
compliance, and those who are repeatedly out of compliance.
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.
Additionally, to ensure the safe operations of motor carriers,
the CHP conducts routine roadside inspections 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 : In 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.
This bill will allow CHP to implement a performance-based
inspection program patterned after the FMCSA model. By using
AB 529
Page 6
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
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 six 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 MCP
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.
AB 529
Page 7
Analysis Prepared by : Manny Leon / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
FN: 0000574