BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 286
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 17, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
SB 286 (Yee) - As Amended: June 24, 2013
SENATE VOTE : 34-0
SUBJECT : High-occupancy vehicle lanes: clean air vehicles
SUMMARY : Extends, from January 1, 2015, to January 1, 2018, the
sunset date on provisions of existing law that allows certain
clean air vehicles to use high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes
regardless of vehicle occupancy levels; deletes obsolete and
redundant provisions.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Allows the Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and local
authorities to reserve highway lanes within their respective
jurisdictions for the exclusive use of HOVs.
2)Prohibits the operation of single-occupant vehicles in HOV
lanes, with the exception of motorcycles and clean air
vehicles.
3)Directs the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to issue
stickers for the following clean air vehicles, until January
1, 2015, as follows:
a) White clean air vehicle stickers are available to an
unlimited number of qualifying vehicles that meet
California's super ultra-low emission vehicle standard for
exhaust emissions and the federal inherently low-emission
vehicle (ILEV) evaporative emission standard. This
includes certain zero-emission vehicles. Cars that meet
these requirements are typically certified pure
zero-emission vehicles (100% battery electric and hydrogen
fuel cell) and compressed natural gas vehicles; and,
b) Green clean air vehicle stickers are available to the
first 40,000 applicants with vehicles meeting California's
enhanced advanced technology partial zero-emission vehicles
(AT PZEV) standard. These vehicles are also referred to as
"transitional zero emission vehicles (TZEVs). Roughly
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11,000 green stickers have been issued to date.
1)Allows single-occupant clean air vehicles to operate in HOV
lanes until such time as Caltrans determines that federal law
does not authorize the state to allow such vehicles to use
those lanes. Requires Caltrans to submit a notice of such a
determination to the Secretary of State, at which time HOV
lane access privileges for single-occupant, clean air vehicles
will be terminated.
2)Requires Caltrans to remove individual HOV lanes, or HOV lane
segments, during periods of peak congestion from these access
provisions if it finds that a lane performs below a level of
service C (which generally means at or near free-flowing
traffic with minimal delays) and that the operation or
projected operation of clean air vehicles in the HOV lane will
significantly increase HOV lane congestion.
3)Requires, if the Metropolitan Transportation Commission,
serving as the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) grants toll-free
or reduced-rate passage on the Bay Area toll bridges, to also
grant the same toll-free or reduced-rate passage to a white
sticker vehicle; obsolete but related provisions also required
BATA to grant the same toll-free or reduced-rate passage to
yellow sticker vehicles (hybrids) but only if the hybrid
vehicle was registered to an address outside the region.
4)The federal Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act
(MAP-21), authorizes, until September 30, 2017, states to
allow low-emission, energy-efficient vehicles to use HOV lanes
regardless of occupancy levels.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee analysis of AB 266 (Blumenfield), a nearly identical
bill, the equivalent of one-half position at Caltrans associated
with federally-required analysis and reporting regarding HOV
lanes allowing single-occupant vehicles. With extension of the
sunsets, the one-time $700,000 cost for removing freeway signs
that inform clean air vehicle motorists of HOV lane privileges
would be deferred.
COMMENTS : An HOV lane, commonly referred to as a "carpool" or
"diamond" lane, is part of a traffic management strategy
designed to provide an incentive for commuters to form carpools
by offering reduced travel times. The declared legislative
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intent in establishing these lanes is to relieve traffic
congestion, conserve fuel, and reduce vehicular emissions. Over
the years, advocates for many groups have suggested using HOV
lane access to reward certain behaviors or to ease the commute
for one class of motorists or another.
This bill would extend both the white sticker and green sticker
clean air vehicle programs from 2015 to 2018.
The author has introduced this bill because he believes that
extending the HOV lane access to clean air vehicles is an
effective way to encourage the purchase and lease of low
polluting, alternative fuel vehicles. According to the author,
"The state thus achieves three important and complementary
goals: reduce vehicular air pollution, reduce petroleum
consumption, and increase economic activity through the sale of
technologically advanced cars."
Writing in support of SB 286, Honda North America, Inc.,
asserts, "HOV lane access for single-occupant vehicles is a
non-financial incentive that has become one of the top reasons
cited by consumers for buying the Civic Natural Gas. For
example, in California, the largest market for the Civic Natural
Gas, sales to consumers have steadily increased since 2000, the
year that single-occupant ILEV certified alternative fuel
vehicles were granted access to HOV lanes."
Technical amendment: SB 286 deletes obsolete and redundant
provisions, including those related to the obsolete hybrid
(yellow sticker) program. However, the bill inadvertently
limits the requirement for toll-free and reduced-rate passages
to white sticker vehicles only if the vehicle is registered to
an address outside of the Bay Area region. This qualification
was not meant to apply to the white sticker program. This
drafting error should be corrected by striking lines 37 through
39 on Page 7 of the bill. The author has agreed to take this
technical amendment in committee as an author's amendment.
Related legislation : AB 266 (Blumenfield) similarly extends the
white and green sticker programs: the white sticker program
until January 1, 2018, and the green sticker program until
January 1, 2020. That bill is currently in the Senate
Transportation and Housing Committee.
Previous legislation : SB 535 (Yee), Chapter 215, Statutes of
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2010, allows enhanced AT PEZ vehicles (i.e., those eligible for
green stickers) access to HOV lanes regardless of vehicle
occupancy, until January 1, 2015.
AB 1500 (Lieu), Chapter 1500, Statutes of 2010, extended HOV
lane privileges for natural gas and electric vehicles for five
years, until January 1, 2015.
AB 2600 (Lieu), Chapter 614, Statutes of 2006, allowed an
additional 10,000 high-mileage hybrid vehicles to obtain
stickers allowing them to drive in HOV lanes regardless of the
number of occupants and extended the sunset date on the
authorization for these and other "Clean Air" vehicles to
operate in HOV lanes.
AB 2628 (Pavley), Chapter 725 Statutes of 2004, allowed AT PZEVs
to use HOV lanes.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers
American Lung Association
AutoNation Honda of Fremont
BAF Technologies
California Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition
California Electric Transportation Coalition
CALSTART
Clean Energy
Diamond Honda
EMCOR Services Mesa Energy Systems
Ford Motor Company
Freeway Honda
G&S Transit Management, Inc.
Galpin Honda
General Motor
Honda of Hollywood
Honda of Thousand Oaks
Honda North America, Inc.
LA City Cab LLC DBA City Cab
Nissan North America
Pacific Honda
Plug In America
Sierra Honda
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Southern California Gas Company
San Diego Gas & Electric
Tesla Motors
Tri City Transportation Systems, Inc. DBA Yellow Cab and DBA
Checker Cab
Unicars Honda
4 Individuals
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093