BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: SB 286
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: Yee
VERSION: 3/18/13
Analysis by: Erin Riches FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: April 2, 2013
SUBJECT:
High-occupancy lane (HOV) lanes: low-emission vehicles
DESCRIPTION:
This bill extends the "green sticker" and "white sticker" Clean
Air Vehicle programs, which allow certain low-emission vehicles
to access HOV lanes with a single occupant, from January 1, 2015
to January 1, 2018.
ANALYSIS:
A high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane, also known as a carpool
lane or diamond lane, aims to promote and encourage ridesharing,
thereby alleviating traffic congestion and improving air
quality. Depending on the particular HOV lane, a vehicle must
have a minimum of either two or three occupants in order to
access the lane during operational hours. Existing law exempts
certain clean, alternative-fuel vehicles from these occupancy
requirements, so that a vehicle with just one occupant may use
an HOV lane if it displays a Clean Air Vehicle sticker. The
state has implemented three clean air vehicle HOV sticker
programs in recent years:
White HOV stickers. AB 71 (Cunneen), Chapter 330, Statutes of
1999, established the
"white sticker program," which allows vehicles that meet certain
strict emission standards to drive in carpool lanes with a
single occupant. These vehicles are typically pure battery
electric vehicles, dedicated compressed natural gas or liquid
petroleum gas vehicles, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, such
as the Nissan Leaf, the Tesla Roadster, and the Honda Civic
CNG. State law places no limit on the number of stickers that
can be issued; as of March 1, 2013, the Department of Motor
Vehicles (DMV) had issued 23,223 white stickers. This program
expires on January 1, 2015.
Yellow HOV stickers (expired). AB 2628 (Pavley), Chapter 725,
SB 286 (YEE) Page 2
Statutes of 2004 established the "yellow sticker program,"
which granted HOV lane access to certain single-occupant,
hybrid or alternatively fueled vehicles. Federal law allows
single-occupant vehicles in HOV lanes only if they have been
federally certified as low-emission vehicles; at that time, no
hybrid vehicles met federal emissions requirements. To
address this prohibition, AB 2628 conditioned its
implementation on the state receiving a federal waiver. In
April 2006, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) granted
conditional approval, enabling the yellow sticker program to
go into effect. Under this program, DMV issued yellow
stickers for the Toyota Prius and Honda Civic Hybrid. The
number of vehicles that might be issued these stickers was
ultimately capped at 85,000, a limit that was reached in 2007;
all yellow stickers expired on July 1, 2011.
Green HOV stickers. SB 535 (Yee), Chapter 215, Statutes of
2010, established the "green sticker program," which allows
certain single-occupant vehicles - generally, plug-in hybrid
vehicles that meet the Air Resources Board's strictest
emission standard - to drive in carpool lanes. The only
vehicles eligible to date for green stickers are the Chevrolet
Volt, Ford C-Max Energi, Ford Fusion Energi, Toyota Prius
Plug-In, and Honda Accord Plug-In Hybrid. State law limits
the number of green stickers that DMV may issue to 40,000.
This program began on January 1, 2012; as of March 1, 2013,
DMV had issued 10,881 green stickers. These stickers are
valid until January 1, 2015.
This bill extends both the white sticker and green sticker
programs by three years, to
January 1, 2018.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . According to the author, continuing access to these
alternative fuel vehicles has proven to be the strongest
non-monetary incentive California offers to consumers to
purchase the next generation of more technologically advanced
vehicles. By extending the life of the available stickers,
this bill will provide a much greater incentive for
individuals to purchase these clean cars.
2.Does HOV access incentivize clean car purchases ? The primary
argument for granting low- or zero-emission vehicles access to
HOV or HOT lanes is that it provides a non-monetary incentive
SB 286 (YEE) Page 3
to purchase these vehicles, thereby increasing the adoption of
new technologies. Studies do not overwhelmingly conclude that
HOV access does in fact incentivize this behavior. An April
2011 paper by Sharon Shewmake of Vanderbilt University Law
School and Lovell Jarvis of University of California, Davis
found that HOV lane access was so important to some drivers
that "many hybrid owners were willing to pay upwards of $3,200
per sticker" - suggesting that the stickers are indeed an
effective incentive to get people to buy clean cars. The
study also noted, however, that "Despite having a high value,
the stickers were less effective at stimulating the demand for
hybrid electric vehicles than an equivalent cash subsidy." It
could be argued that a cash rebate might be a more efficient
way to achieve the same goal.
3.Do single-occupant clean vehicles clog carpool lanes ? In
April 2006, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) granted
conditional approval to allow hybrid vehicles in HOV lanes,
enabling the yellow sticker program to go into effect. FHWA
required Caltrans to monitor and report on the performance of
HOV lanes and to take steps to address congestion if
necessary.
In July 2006, after the state had issued 50,000 yellow
stickers to eligible vehicles, Caltrans found that
approximately 46 percent of HOV lane segments operated under
degraded conditions. While Caltrans could not attribute the
increased congestion solely to single-occupant hybrid vehicles
accessing the lanes, FHWA asserted that these vehicles did not
have to be the cause of degradation in order for Caltrans to
take action to reduce HOV lane congestion. Accordingly, FHWA
requested that Caltrans develop a plan to improve the
performance of HOV lanes.
Caltrans submitted this report to FHWA in August 2007. The
plan outlined short- and long-term measures to improve HOV
lane performance, including increased enforcement, improved
system management, infrastructure improvements, public
education, and, if necessary, a prohibition of single-occupant
hybrid vehicles from accessing the most congested segments of
the HOV lane network.
Caltrans' most recent HOV lane degradation report, submitted
to FHWA in November 2011, concluded that HOV lane degradation
"may continue to be the result of high traffic demand and
congestion across the entire freeway facility rather than
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attributed to the single occupancy ILEV/hybrids alone."
While California's HOV lanes are indeed congested, this
congestion is not attributable solely to single-occupant clean
vehicles. Moreover, if Caltrans is able to attribute
unacceptable congestion levels to these cars, it has statutory
authority to ban them from HOV lanes and thereby override this
bill.
4.What's the hurry ? Both the white and green sticker programs
are in effect until January 1, 2015 - more than a year and a
half from now. The author notes, however, that many of the
cars that qualify for these stickers are leased rather than
purchased, generally through three-year leases. According to
General Motors, co-sponsor of the bill, "new potential
customers will be offered a greater purchase incentive if they
are confident that the HOV access that comes with their
investment in today's new automotive clean air technologies
will be extended through 2017. It is also important that SB
286 is enacted this year as further delay will only erode the
existing incentive's value."
5.Should these programs be extended ? As noted on the Air
Resources Board website regarding the yellow sticker program,
"The California legislature limited the time of this early
hybrid vehicle program to help promote and encourage
development of newer plug-in hybrid and other zero emissions
technologies." Automakers are already working to develop
these technologies in response to the federal Corporate
Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) and Greenhouse Gas Emissions
standards, which aim to increase fuel economy to the
equivalent of 54.5 miles per gallon for cars and light-duty
trucks by 2025. Automakers argue, however, that producing the
cars does no good if consumers are not motivated to buy them;
the green and white sticker programs provide consumer
incentives to do so.
6.Social equity concerns . For a variety of reasons,
low-emission vehicles often have higher purchase prices than
comparable gasoline-powered vehicles. These higher purchase
prices generally make low-emission vehicles that qualify for
HOV lane access unaffordable for lower-income drivers.
Legislation passed last year, AB 2405 (Blumenfield), Chapter
674, Statutes of 2012, exempts low-emission vehicles with
green and white stickers from toll charges imposed on
single-occupant vehicles in high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes.
SB 286 (YEE) Page 5
Thus, single-occupant vehicles with green and white stickers
now not only have access to HOV lanes, but can drive in HOT
lanes for free. Some may question if it is appropriate to be
able to "buy" single-occupant access to lanes that were
originally intended to promote ridesharing.
RELATED LEGISLATION
AB 266 (Blumenfield) extends the white and green sticker
programs until 2025. Pending in the Assembly Transportation
Committee.
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday, March 27,
2013.)
SUPPORT: California Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition
(sponsor)
General Motors (sponsor)
Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers
California Electric Transportation Coalition
CALSTART
Clean Energy
Ford Motor Company
G&S Transit Management, Inc. dba City Cab
LA City Cab, LLC
Nissan North America
Tri City Transportation Systems, Inc. dba Checker
Cab and dba Yellow Cab Company
OPPOSED: None received.