BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: ab 2752
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: asm trans
VERSION: 6/19/14
Analysis by: Erin Riches FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: June 26, 2014
SUBJECT:
Transportation omnibus bill
DESCRIPTION:
This bill makes non-controversial changes to sections of law
relating to transportation.
ANALYSIS:
According to the Legislative Analyst, the cost of producing a
bill in 2001-02 was $17,890. By combining multiple matters into
one bill, the Legislature can make minor changes to law in the
most cost-effective manner.
This bill includes the following provisions:
California State Transportation Agency (Sections 1 and 2).
Existing law, effective July 1, 2013, replaces the Business,
Transportation, and Housing Agency with the California State
Transportation Agency and the California Business, Consumer
Services, and Housing Agency. This bill replaces outdated
references to the Secretary of the Business, Transportation,
and Housing Agency with references to the Secretary of
Transportation. [Submitted by the Assembly Transportation
Committee]
Local public works contracts (Section 3). When local agencies
voluntarily adopt the standards and procedures of the Uniform
Public Construction Cost Accounting Act (UPCCA), they can use
higher limits for their contracts. Up until 2011, statute
authorized counties that adopted UPCCA to use an alternative
procurement procedure authorizing a county road commissioner,
or a registered civil engineer under the direction of the
county transportation director, to supervise or direct any
work upon county highways. AB 720 (Hall), Chapter 683,
Statutes of 2011, imposes a cap on the amount of work counties
AB 2752 (ASM TRANS) Page 2
can perform using alternative procurement procedures. In
implementing AB 720, stakeholders have identified four issues
for the Legislature to clarify. This bill clarifies that
counties shall calculate their eligible force account work on
a fiscal year basis; clarifies that counties shall use the
State Controller's Office Annual Streets and Roads Report as
of March 1 of each year to set the cap for the following
fiscal year; clarifies that counties may comply with the
requirement to "declare work" using the alternative procedure
in three ways, namely, listing anticipated projects in the
annual budget, listing anticipated projects for the fiscal
year, and/or on a project-by-project basis; and enacts
language provided by Assemblymember Hall in a letter to the
Daily Journal clarifying that force account work to facilitate
private contracts does not count toward the cap. [Submitted
by the California State Association of Counties Construction
Industry Force Account Council]
Orange County Transit District (OCTD) taxes (Section 4). The
California Constitution allows special districts to impose
only special taxes - defined as any tax imposed for specific
purposes - but not general taxes. The constitution requires a
local government to obtain two-thirds voter approval in order
to impose, extend, or increase any special tax. A statute
enacted prior to the constitutional two-thirds voter
requirement authorizes OCTD to impose transaction and use
taxes by adopting an ordinance approved by a majority vote of
the electorate. Because transit districts are special
districts, the constitutional requirement of two-thirds
approval for a special tax supersedes this majority vote
requirement. This bill updates the vote requirement to
two-thirds for OCTD's transaction and use taxes. [Submitted
by the Senate Governance and Finance Committee]
Vote requirement for special taxes (Section 5). The
California Constitution requires a local government to obtain
two-thirds voter approval in order to impose, extend, or
increase any special tax. State law authorizes some local
governments to adopt an ordinance imposing a motor vehicle
fuel tax. A statute enacted prior to the constitutional
two-thirds voter requirement authorizes a local government to
impose a fuel tax with majority vote approval. This bill
updates the vote requirement to two-thirds for local fuel
taxes and updates an outdated reference to the Los Angeles
County Transportation Commission, which is now named the Los
Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Commission. [Submitted by
the Senate Governance and Finance Committee]
AB 2752 (ASM TRANS) Page 3
Highway relinquishment cleanup (Sections 6, 7, 8, 9).
Existing law relinquishes numerous portions of the state
highway system to cities and counties. This bill updates the
statutory descriptions of Highway 5, Route 34, Route 55, and
Route 232 to reflect the fact that the state Department of
Transportation (Caltrans) has relinquished portions of these
highways to local agencies. [Submitted by Caltrans]
Technical correction to the Streets and Highways Code (Section
10). Section 721 of the Streets and Highways Code authorizes
Caltrans to remove certain highway encroachments. This bill
corrects a cross-referencing error in this section.
[Submitted by the California Department of Transportation]
Technical corrections to the Vehicle Code (Sections 11, 14,
15). Section 2403.5 of the Vehicle Code authorizes the
Commissioner of the California Highway Patrol to enter into
interstate agreements with neighboring states. Section 15210
of the Vehicle Code provides definitions relating to
commercial driver's licenses. Section 27360 of the Vehicle
Code relates to child safety passenger restraints. This bill
corrects cross-referencing error in these sections.
[Submitted by the California Highway Patrol]
Legacy license plate cleanup (Section 12). Existing law (AB
1658 [Gatto], Chapter 720, Statutes of 2012) establishes a
legacy license plate program requiring the Department of Motor
Vehicles (DMV) to issue specialized license plates that
replicate the look of California's license plates from the
past. This bill clarifies that an applicant can either be
assigned a plate number by DMV or request a personalized
plate, and includes cleanup language related to fees for
personalized plates. [Submitted by the DMV]
State Controller's Office (SCO) report requirement (Section
13). Existing law (SB 71 [Leno], Chapter 728, Statutes of
2012) eliminates, consolidates, or streamlines various
reporting requirements for state agencies and departments,
including an SCO report summarizing the annual revenues and
expenditures of each county that has adopted a local vehicle
registration surcharge to fund fingerprint programs. The
deletion of this report requirement was accidentally chaptered
out by a bill that was subsequently signed by the Governor,
but then legislative staff indicated a desire to preserve the
report requirement. This bill allows SCO to post on its
AB 2752 (ASM TRANS) Page 4
website, instead of submitting to the Legislature, an annual
summary of revenues and expenditures for each county that has
adopted a local vehicle registration surcharge to fund
fingerprint programs. [Submitted by SCO]
Federal conformity relating to commercial vehicles (Section
16). Section 34500 of the Vehicle Code establishes safety
regulations for trucks and other commercial vehicles. In
order to be eligible for federal Motor Carrier Safety
Assistance Program grant funds, the state must enforce
statutes and regulations that are consistent with Title 49 of
the Code of Federal Regulations relating to commercial vehicle
enforcement. This bill amends Section 34500 of the Vehicle
Code to bring it into compliance with federal regulations,
pursuant to findings in an audit by the Federal Motor Carrier
Safety Administration. [Submitted by the California Highway
Patrol]
Utility service vehicles (Section 17). Title 49 of the Code
of Federal Regulations exempts utility service vehicles from
federal hours-of-service rules and defines a utility service
vehicle as any commercial vehicle used to repair, maintain, or
operate any structures or any other facilities necessary for
the delivery of public utility services, while engaging in any
activity necessarily related to the delivery of utility
services to customers. This definition includes any service
vehicles used for delivery of utility service, whether driven
by a utility employee or a contractor. Section 34501.2 of the
Vehicle Code exempts a driver employed by various public
utilities from hours-of-service rules, but does not clearly
exempt a licensed contractor working on behalf of the utility.
Utilities rely heavily on contractors to restore service
during an emergency. This bill exempts drivers employed by a
public utility, as well as contractors working on behalf of a
utility to restore service during an emergency, from state
hours-of-service rules. [Submitted by Western Line
Constructors]
Off-highway vehicle (OHV) registration stickers (Section 18).
Existing law requires an individual to obtain a green or red
registration sticker from DMV in order to operate an OHV on
public land. An OHV rider does not need a registration
sticker to operate on private property, but does need a
sticker in order to transport an OHV that is not in operation
(e.g., in a truck) over public roads. Thus, an individual
must obtain a registration sticker even to simply transport an
AB 2752 (ASM TRANS) Page 5
OHV from one private property to another. This bill deletes
the requirement to register an OHV in order to transport it
over public roads. [Submitted by Senator DeSaulnier]
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . The Assembly Transportation Committee is authoring
this bill as a means of combining multiple, non-controversial
changes to statutes into one bill so that the Legislature can
make minor amendments in a cost-effective manner. There is no
known opposition to any item in this bill, and if concerns
arise that cannot be resolved, the committee will delete the
provision of concern from this bill.
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 78-0
Appr: 17-0
Trans: 15-0
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Monday,
June 23, 2014.)
SUPPORT: None received.
OPPOSED: None received.