BILL NUMBER: AB 1720	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 10, 2014

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Bloom

                        FEBRUARY 13, 2014

   An act to amend Section 35554 of the Vehicle Code, relating to
vehicles.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1720, as amended, Bloom. Vehicles: bus gross weight.
   Existing law generally prohibits a publicly owned or operated
transit system from procuring a transit bus whose weight on any
single axle exceeds 20,500 pounds. Existing law, until January 1,
2015, exempts from this prohibition a transit system that is
procuring a new bus that is of the same or lesser weight than the bus
it is replacing, or if it is incorporating a new fleet class into
its inventory and its governing board makes certain findings.
   This bill would extend the operation of those exceptions until
January 1,  2016.   2016, and would also, until
January 1, 2016, authorize a transit system to procure a transit bus
that exceeds 20,500 pounds if it is incorporating a new  
fleet class expansion. 
   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 35554 of the Vehicle Code, as amended by
Section 3 of Chapter 771 of the Statutes of 2012, is amended to read:

   35554.  (a) (1) Notwithstanding Section 35550, the gross weight on
any one axle of a bus shall not exceed 20,500 pounds.
   (2)  A transit bus procured through a solicitation process
pursuant to which a solicitation was issued before January 1, 2013,
or through a solicitation process pursuant to subdivision (d) is not
subject to this subdivision.
   (b) A transit bus is not subject to Section 35550.
   (c) A transit bus shall not operate on the Dwight D. Eisenhower
System of Interstate and Defense Highways in excess of the weight
limitation for transit buses specified in federal law.
   (d) (1) A publicly owned or operated transit system or an operator
of a transit system under contract with a publicly owned or operated
transit system shall not procure, through a solicitation process
pursuant to which a solicitation is issued on or after January 1,
2013, a transit bus whose gross weight on any single axle exceeds
20,500 pounds except as follows:
   (A) It may procure and operate a new bus whose gross weight
exceeds 20,500 pounds on any single axle that is of the same or
lesser gross weight per axle than the bus it is replacing.
   (B) It may procure and operate a new transit bus whose gross
weight exceeds 20,500 pounds on any single axle in order to
incorporate  a fleet class expansion or  a new fleet class
into its inventory if its governing board adopts a finding at a
public hearing that the fleet class expansion or change in fleet
classes is necessary to address a need to serve a new or existing
market pursuant to its most recently adopted short-range transit
plan, or to meet a federal, state, or regional statutory or
regulatory requirement, and includes a consideration of vehicle needs
and fleet size.
   (2) If the governing board of the publicly owned or operated
transit system holds a public hearing to consider a procurement made
pursuant to subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (1), the board shall
provide written notice to those cities and counties on whose roads
the bus would travel of the public hearing at which this procurement
is to be considered and shall place in the public record any comment
of concern the board receives about the procurement.
   (3) For purposes of this  subdivision  
subdivision,  "fleet class" means a group of transit buses
designated by a publicly owned or operated transit system or an
operator under contract with a publicly owned or operated transit
system that owns those transit buses, if the transit buses have a
combination of two or more of the following similar defining
characteristics:
   (A) Length.
   (B) Seating capacity.
   (C) Number of axles.
   (D) Fuel or power system.
   (E) Width.
   (F) Structure.
   (G) Equipment package.
   (e) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2016, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2016, deletes or extends
that date.
  SEC. 2.  Section 35554 of the Vehicle Code, as added by Section 4
of Chapter 771 of the Statutes of 2012, is amended to read:
   35554.  (a) (1) Notwithstanding Section 35550, the gross weight on
any one axle of a bus shall not exceed 20,500 pounds.
   (2) A transit bus procured through a solicitation process pursuant
to which a solicitation was issued before January 1, 2013, is not
subject to this subdivision.
   (b) A transit bus is not subject to Section 35550.
   (c) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2016.