BILL NUMBER: AB 541 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 22, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Daly
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Wagner)
FEBRUARY 20, 2013
An act to add and repeal Section 25354 of the Vehicle Code,
relating to buses.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
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 the
viability of advertisement sales relating to illuminated
signs on public buses incidence of adverse impacts on
roadway and pedestrian safety due to the utilization of illuminated
signs on transit buses displaying advertising, if any, 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 1. Section 25354 is added to the Vehicle Code, to read:
25354. (a) Notwithstanding Sections 25400 and 25950, a bus
operated by the University of California, Irvine's public transport
system on regularly scheduled service, in addition to the illuminated
signs described in Section 25353, may also be equipped with
illuminated signs that display advertising and that emit any light
color, if all of the following conditions are met:
(1) Each illuminated sign displaying advertising emits diffused
nonglaring light.
(2) Each illuminated sign displaying advertising is limited in
size to a display area of not greater than 4,464 square inches.
(3) Each illuminated sign displaying advertising does not
resemble, nor and is it
not installed in a position that interferes with
the visibility or effectiveness of, a required lamp, reflector, or
other device upon the vehicle.
(4) Each illuminated sign displaying advertising is only placed on
one or both sides of the vehicle, and is not placed in a
forward-facing or rear-facing position, and no more than one such
sign is placed on either side of any single vehicle.
(5) The mixing of individually colored light emitting diode
elements, including red, is allowed in each illuminated sign
displaying advertising as long as the emitted color formed by the
combination of light emitting diode elements is not red.
(b) (1) An illuminated sign displaying advertising may be operated
as a dynamic message sign in a paging or streaming mode. However,
the electronic message sign display shall remain static while a bus
is operating on a freeway , as that term is
defined in Section 257 of the Streets and Highways Code.
(2) The following definitions shall govern the construction of
paragraph (1):
(A) "Paging," meaning character elements or other information
that is presented for a period of time and then
disappearing disappears all at once before the
same or new elements are presented, is permitted if the display time
of each message is between 2.7 and 10 seconds. Blanking times between
each message shall be between 0.5 and 25 seconds.
(B) "Streaming," meaning character elements or other information
moving smoothly and continuously across the display, is permitted if
the character movement time, from one end of the display to the
other, is at least 2.7 seconds, and the movement time of the entire
message does not exceed 10 seconds.
(c) By July 1, 2018, the Legislature requests that the University
of California, Irvine make a report to the
Legislature on the viability of advertisement sales relating
to illuminated signs on public buses pursuant to Section 9795 of the
Government Code. incidence of adverse impacts on
roadway and pedestrian safety due to the utilization of illuminated
signs on transit buses displaying advertising pursuant to
this section, if any. The report shall be the product of a
collaborative effort between university law enforcement and transit
officials, other law enforcement officials whose jurisdictions the
university's transit vehicles operate, and the department.
(d) The University of California, Irvine's public transport system
may, pursuant to subdivision (a), operate up to 25 buses with
illuminated signs displaying advertising for two years, after which
time the city may increase the number of buses with the signs to up
to 30.
(e) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2019, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2019, deletes or extends
that date.
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 the University of California, Irvine's public transit system
is operating a revenue deficit in light of budget reductions and is
evaluating several strategies designed to enhance revenue to offset
operational expenses, including the use of electronic illuminated
signage affixed to the side of buses to sell advertising, and this
act would allow the university to increase its revenues on a pilot
program basis.