BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 604
Page 1
Date of Hearing: August 12, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
SB 604 (Anderson) - As Amended: August 7, 2013
SENATE VOTE : 38-1
SUBJECT : Intersections: vending prohibition
SUMMARY : Authorizes a local jurisdiction to enact an ordinance
prohibiting soliciting or vending from the center median of a
roadway within 300 feet of an intersection controlled by a
traffic signal.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Prohibits persons from soliciting, displaying, offering for
sale, or vending or attempting to vend any merchandise in the
following locations:
a) Within the right-of-way of any freeway including any
on-ramp, off-ramp, or roadway shoulder,
b) On any roadway or adjacent shoulder within 500 feet of a
freeway off-ramp or on-ramp, and,
c) On any sidewalk within 500 feet of a freeway off-ramp or
on-ramp when attempting to vent to vehicular traffic.
2)Exempts tow trucks from the prohibition against vending within
the freeway right-of-way if the tow truck or service vehicle
is rendering assistance to a disabled vehicle.
3)Prohibits vending in roadside rest areas and vista points,
except as specified.
4)Authorizes the California Department of Transportation
(Caltrans) to issue a permit to vend within the freeway
right-of-way to counties and cities and to community-based
nonprofit corporations for special events, as specified.
5)Authorizes charitable organizations, including public safety
personnel, to solicit contributions in a public roadway from
passing motorists as long as the charity receives prior
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approval from the local jurisdiction.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, this bill may result in costs to the local
jurisdictions as they relate to the creation of new crimes.
COMMENTS : According to the author, persons who solicit or vend
from a roadway median, within close proximity to signalized
intersection, place their own safety in danger and pose a threat
to the safety of the travelling public. To address this
problem, the author has introduced this bill, modeled after
existing prohibitions against soliciting or vending within the
freeway right-of-way, which would authorize local jurisdictions
to pass and ordinance prohibiting vending in the center median
of any roadway within 300 feet of a signalized intersection.
The author believes this prohibition would prevent drivers from
becoming distracted while operating their vehicles thereby
increasing pedestrian and motorist safety.
Despite the author's claims about the safety risk presented by
persons in roadway medians, there appears to be no data
available on the frequency with which vendors or solicitors are
involved in accidents at intersections. The California Highway
Patrol collects accident statistics in general categories, such
as pedestrians struck by vehicles, and the standardized
reporting form does not ask whether the pedestrian was vending
or soliciting and narratives that may contain such details are
not reported. As a result, it is unknown how much of a public
safety risk currently exists.
While this bill would address pedestrian and motorist safety, it
would also limit the ability of certain public safety employees
to collect charitable donations in the center median of certain
roadways, as provided in SB 582 (Corbett) Chapter 446 Statutes
of 2007. In response to this concern, the sponsor notes that if
such ordinances are passed by local jurisdictions, public safety
personnel would still be able to solicit charitable donations
from sidewalks and other areas in the roadway and that only
access to certain center median areas would be restricted.
California Professional Firefighters (CPF), writing in
opposition to this bill, notes that allowing local jurisdictions
to prohibit solicitations by public safety personnel, as enacted
by SB 582 (Corbett), would limit the ability of firefighters to
engage in charitable in-street donation drives such as
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"fill-the-boot" campaigns that raise hundreds of thousands of
dollars for a myriad of worthy charities each year. CPF notes
that monies raised in these charitable donation driver goes back
into California's economy, funding research grants, clinics,
medical equipment, and services for needy adults and children.
Also writing in opposition to this bill, the Mexican American
Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF) also opposes the bill on the ground
that it violates the free speech rights of day laborers and
street vendors in California. MALDEF notes that if enacted,
such ordinances prohibiting soliciting or vending from certain
center medians would attempt to limit the First Amendment rights
of a vendor or an individual.
Previous legislation : SB 582 (Corbett) Chapter 446 Statutes of
2007, created a procedure for law enforcement personnel,
firefighters, and other public safety employees of a local
agency to obtain approval form the city or county to engage in
charitable solicitation activities on public roadways,
notwithstanding any local ordinance that restricts such
activity.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Ed Aceves, Chief of Police for the La Mesa Police Department
(sponsor)
Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs
Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs
California Police Chiefs Association
California Fraternal Order of Police
Long Beach Police Officers Association
Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Association
Los Angeles Police Protective League
Riverside Sheriffs Association
Sacramento County Deputy Sheriffs Association
Santa Ana Police Officers Association
Opposition
California Professional Firefighters
Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
SB 604
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Analysis Prepared by : Victoria Alvarez / TRANS. / (916) 319-
2093