Amended in Senate June 18, 2013

Amended in Assembly April 22, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly BillNo. 541


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 reportbegin delete by July 1, 2016, on roadway and pedestrian safetyend delete to the Legislature and the Department of the California Highwaybegin delete Patrol.end deletebegin insert Patrol by July 1, 2016, on the incidence of adverse impacts.end insert

This bill would authorize, until January 1, 2019, the University of California, Irvine (university) tobegin delete operateend deletebegin insert implementend insert a pilot program similar to thebegin delete oneend deletebegin insert programend insert operated by the City of Santa Monica.begin insert If the university elects to implement a pilot program, the bill would require, on or before March 1, 2014, the university to determine whether the City of Santa Monica has at least 12 transit buses equipped with specified illuminated signs. The bill would permit the university to implement the pilot program only if it determines that the City of Santa Monica has less than 12 transit buses equipped, as specified.end insert The bill wouldbegin delete requestend deletebegin insert also require, if the university implements the pilot program,end insert that the university submit abegin delete reportend deletebegin insert report, in collaboration with the Department of the California Highway Patrol and other officials,end insert by July 1, 2018, on the incidence of adverse impactsbegin delete on roadway and pedestrian safety due to the utilization of illuminated signs on transit buses displaying advertising, if anyend delete, to thebegin insert department end insertbegin insertand theend insert 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: begin deleteno end deletebegin insertyesend insert. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

P2    1

SECTION 1.  

Section 25354 is added to the Vehicle Code, to
2read:

3

25354.  

(a) Notwithstanding Sections 25400 and 25950,begin insert and
4except as provided in subdivision (c),end insert
a bus operated by the
5University of California, Irvine’s public transport system on
6regularly scheduled service, in addition to the illuminated signs
7described in Section 25353, may also be equipped with illuminated
8signs that display advertising and that emit any light color, if all
9of the following conditions are met:

10(1) Each illuminated sign displaying advertising emits diffused
11nonglaring light.

12(2) Each illuminated sign displaying advertising is limited in
13size to a display area of not greater than 4,464 square inches.

14(3) Each illuminated sign displaying advertising does not
15resemble, and is not installed in a position that interferes with the
P3    1visibility or effectiveness of, a required lamp, reflector, or other
2device upon the vehicle.

3(4) Each illuminated sign displaying advertising is only placed
4on one or both sides of the vehicle, and is not placed in a
5forward-facing or rear-facing position, and no more than one such
6sign is placed on either side of any single vehicle.

7(5) The mixing of individually colored light emitting diode
8elements, including red, is allowed in each illuminated sign
9displaying advertising as long as the emitted color formed by the
10combination of light emitting diode elements is not red.

11(b) (1) An illuminated sign displaying advertising may be
12operated as a dynamic message sign in a paging or streaming mode.
13However, the electronic message sign display shall remain static
14while a bus is operating on a freeway, as that term is defined in
15Section 257 of the Streets and Highways Code.

16(2) The following definitions shall govern the construction of
17paragraph (1):

18(A) “Paging,” meaning character elements or other information
19that is presented for a period of time and then disappears all at
20once before the same or new elements are presented, is permitted
21if the display time of each message is between 2.7 and 10 seconds.
22Blanking times between each message shall be between 0.5 and
2325 seconds.

24(B) “Streaming,” meaning character elements or other
25information moving smoothly and continuously across the display,
26is permitted if the character movement time, from one end of the
27display to the other, is at least 2.7 seconds, and the movement time
28of the entire message does not exceed 10 seconds.

begin insert

29(c) On or before March 1, 2014, the University of California,
30Irvine, if it elects to implement a pilot program pursuant to this
31section, shall determine whether the City of Santa Monica has at
32least 12 transit buses equipped with illuminated signs that are
33operational pursuant to Section 25353.1. The University of
34California, Irvine, may implement the pilot program authorized
35by this section only if it determines that the City of Santa Monica
36has less than 12 transit buses equipped with illuminated signs that
37are operational pursuant to Section 25353.1.

end insert
begin delete

38(c) By July 1, 2018, the Legislature requests that the

end delete

39begin insert(d)end insertbegin insertend insertbegin insertIf theend insert University of California, Irvinebegin delete reportend deletebegin insert implementend insertbegin inserts the
40pilot program pursuant to this section, it shall submitend insert
begin insert a reportend insert to
P4    1the Legislaturebegin insert and the departmentend insert on the incidence of adverse
2impacts on roadway and pedestrian safety due to the utilization of
3illuminated signs on transit buses displaying advertising pursuant
4to this section, ifbegin delete any.end deletebegin insert any, by July 1, 2018.end insert The report shall be the
5product of a collaborative effort between university law
6enforcement and transit officials, other law enforcement officials
7begin insert inend insert whose jurisdictions the university’s transit vehicles operate, and
8the department.begin insert The report shall be submitted in compliance with
9Section 9795 of the Government Code.end insert

begin delete

10(d)

end delete

11begin insert(e)end insert The University of California, Irvine’s public transport system
12may, pursuant to subdivision (a), operate up to 25 buses with
13illuminated signs displaying advertising for two years, after which
14time the city may increase the number of buses with the signs to
15up to 30.

begin delete

16(e)

end delete

17begin insert(f)end insert This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2019,
18and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that
19is enacted before January 1, 2019, deletes or extends that date.

20

SEC. 2.  

The Legislature finds and declares that a special law
21is necessary and that a general law cannot be made applicable
22within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California
23Constitution because the University of California, Irvine’s public
24transit system is operating a revenue deficit in light of budget
25reductions and is evaluating several strategies designed to enhance
26revenue to offset operational expenses, including the use of
27electronic illuminated signage affixed to the side of buses to sell
28advertising, and this act would allow the university to increase its
29revenues on a pilot program basis.



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