AB 541, as amended, Daly. Buses: illuminated advertising: University of California, Irvine.
(1) Existing law authorizes a bus operated by a publicly owned transit system on regularly scheduled service to be equipped with illuminated signs that display information directly related to public service and include, among other things, destination signs, route-number signs, run-number signs, public service announcement signs, or a combination of those signs, visible from any direction of the vehicle, that emit any light color, other than the color red emitted from forward-facing signs, pursuant to specified conditions.
Existing law authorizes, until January 1, 2017, a pilot program allowing up to 25 buses operated by the City of Santa Monica’s publicly owned transit system for the first 2 years of the pilot program, and up to 30 buses thereafter, to be equipped with illuminated signs that display advertising subject to certain conditions. Existing law also requires the City of Santa Monica to submit a specified report by July 1, 2016, on roadway and pedestrian safety to the Legislature and the Department of the California Highway Patrol.
This bill would authorize, until January 1, 2019, the University of California, Irvine (university) to operate a pilot program similar to the one operated by the City of Santa Monica. The bill would request that the university submit a report by July 1, 2018, on thebegin delete viability of advertisement sales relating to illuminated signs on public busesend deletebegin insert incidence of adverse impacts on roadway and pedestrian safety due to the utilization of illuminated signs on transit buses displaying advertising, if any,end insert to the Legislature.
(2) This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the University of California, Irvine.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 25354 is added to the Vehicle Code, to
2read:
(a) Notwithstanding Sections 25400 and 25950, a bus
4operated by the University of California, Irvine’s public transport
5system on regularly scheduled service, in addition to the
6illuminated signs described in Section 25353, may also be equipped
7with illuminated signs that display advertising and that emit any
8light color, if all of the following conditions are met:
9(1) Each illuminated sign displaying advertising emits diffused
10nonglaring light.
11(2) Each illuminated sign displaying advertising is limited in
12size to a display area of not greater than 4,464 square inches.
13(3) Each illuminated sign displaying advertising does not
14resemble,begin delete norend deletebegin insert andend insert isbegin delete itend deletebegin insert notend insert installed in a position that interferes
15with the visibility or effectiveness of, a required lamp, reflector,
16or other device upon the vehicle.
17(4) Each illuminated sign displaying advertising is only placed
18on one or both sides of the vehicle, and is not placed in a
19forward-facing or rear-facing position, and no more than one such
20sign is placed on either side of any single vehicle.
21(5) The mixing of individually colored light emitting diode
22elements, including red, is allowed in each illuminated sign
23displaying advertising as long as the emitted color formed by the
24combination of light emitting diode elements is not red.
P3 1(b) (1) An illuminated sign displaying advertising may be
2operated as a dynamic message sign in a paging or streaming mode.
3However, the electronic message sign display shall remain static
4while a bus is operating on a freewaybegin insert,end insert asbegin insert that term isend insert defined in
5Section 257 of the Streets and Highways Code.
6(2) The following definitions shall govern the construction of
7paragraph (1):
8(A) “Paging,” meaning character elements or other information
9begin insert that is end insert presented for a period of time and thenbegin delete disappearingend delete
10begin insert disappearsend insert all at once before the same or new elements are
11presented, is permitted if the display time of each message is
12between 2.7 and 10 seconds. Blanking times between each message
13shall be between 0.5 and 25 seconds.
14(B) “Streaming,” meaning character
elements or other
15information moving smoothly and continuously across the display,
16is permitted if the character movement time, from one end of the
17display to the other, is at least 2.7 seconds, and the movement time
18of the entire message does not exceed 10 seconds.
19(c) By July 1, 2018, the Legislature requests that the University
20of California, Irvinebegin delete make aend delete report to the Legislature on the
21begin delete viability of advertisement sales relating to illuminated signs on
22public buses pursuant to Section 9795 of the Government Code.end delete
23begin insert incidence of adverse impacts on roadway and pedestrian safety
24due to the utilization of illuminated signs on
transit buses
25displaying advertising pursuant to this section, if any. The report
26shall be the product of a collaborative effort between university
27law enforcement and transit officials, other law enforcement
28officials whose jurisdictions the university’s transit vehicles
29operate, and the department.end insert
30(d) The University of California, Irvine’s public transport system
31may, pursuant to subdivision (a), operate up to 25 buses with
32illuminated signs displaying advertising for two years, after which
33time the city may increase the number of buses with the signs to
34up to 30.
35(e) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2019,
36and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that
37is enacted before January 1, 2019, deletes or extends that date.
The Legislature finds and declares that a special law
39is necessary and that a general law cannot be made applicable
40within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California
P4 1Constitution because the University of California, Irvine’s public
2transit system is operating a revenue deficit in light of budget
3reductions and is evaluating several strategies designed to enhance
4revenue to offset operational expenses, including the use of
5electronic illuminated signage affixed to the side of buses to sell
6advertising, and this act would allow the university to increase its
7revenues on a pilot program basis.
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