Amended in Assembly June 15, 2014

Amended in Senate May 6, 2014

Senate Bill No. 1134

Introduced by Senator Knight

February 20, 2014

An act to add and repeal Section 25353.2 of the Vehicle Code, relating to vehicles.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 1134, as amended, Knight. Vehicles: public transit buses: illuminated signs.

Existing law authorizes a bus operated by a publicly owned transit system on regularly scheduled service to be equipped with illuminated signs that display information directly related to public service and include, among other things, destination signs, route-number signs, run-number signs, public service announcement signs, or a combination of those signs, visible from any direction of the vehicle, that emit any light color, other than the color red emitted from forward-facing signs, pursuant to specified conditions.

Existing law authorizes, until January 1, 2017, a pilot program that allows up to 25 buses operated by the City of Santa Monica’s publicly owned transit system for the first 2 years of the pilot program, and up to 30 buses thereafter, to be equipped with illuminated signs that display advertising subject to certain conditions, including a display area of not greater than 4,464 square inches. Existing law also authorizes, until January 1, 2019, the University of California, Irvine (university), to implement a similar pilot program if the university determines, on or before March 1, 2014, that the City of Santa Monica has less than 12 transit buses equipped with illuminated signs that are operational pursuant to the city’s pilot program.

This bill would authorize, until begin delete January 1, 2020, end delete begin insert July 1, 2020, end insert the Antelope Valley Transit Authority to implement a similar pilot program if the authority determines, on or before begin delete March, end delete begin insert March end insert 1, 2015, that the university has less than 12 transit buses equipped with illuminated signs that are operational pursuant to the university’s pilot program. The bill would require the authority, if the pilot program is implemented, to submit a specified report to the Legislature and the Department of the California Highway Patrol by begin delete July 1, 2019, end delete begin insert January 1, 2020, end insert on the incidence of adverse impacts, if any.

The bill would make legislative findings and declarations concerning the need for special legislation.

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 25353.2 is added to the Vehicle Code,
to read:

25353.2.  

(a) Notwithstanding Sections 25400 and 25950,
except as provided in subdivision (c), a bus operated by the
Antelope Valley Transit Authority’s publicly owned transit system,
on regularly scheduled service, in addition to the illuminated signs
described in Section 25353, may also be equipped with illuminated
signs that display advertising and that emit any light color, if all
of the following conditions are met:

(1) Each illuminated sign displaying advertising shall emit
diffused nonglaring light.

(2) Each illuminated sign displaying advertising shall be limited
in size to a display area of not greater than 4,464 square inches.

(3) Each illuminated sign displaying advertising shall not
resemble nor be installed in a position that interferes with the
visibility or effectiveness of a required lamp, reflector, or other
device upon the vehicle.

(4) Each illuminated sign displaying advertising shall only be
placed on one or both sides of the vehicle, and shall not be placed
in a forward-facing or rear-facing position, and no more than one
sign shall be placed on either side of any single vehicle.

(5) The mixing of individually colored light-emitting diode
elements, including red, is allowed in each illuminated sign
displaying advertising as long as the emitted color formed by the
combination of light-emitting diode elements is not red.

(b) (1) An illuminated sign displaying advertising may be
operated as a dynamic message sign in a paging or streaming mode.
However, the electronic message sign display shall remain static
while a bus is operating on a freeway as defined in Section 257 of
the Streets and Highways Code.

(2) The following definitions shall govern the construction of
paragraph (1):

(A) “Paging,” meaning character elements or other information
presented for a period of time and then disappearing all at once
before the same or new elements are presented, is permitted if the
display time of each message is between 2.7 and 10 seconds.
Blanking times between each message shall be between 0.5 and
25 seconds.

(B) “Streaming,” meaning character elements or other
information moving smoothly and continuously across the display,
is permitted if the character movement time, from one end of the
display to the other, is at least 2.7 seconds, and the movement time
of the entire message does not exceed 10 seconds.

(c) (1) On or before March 1, 2015, the Antelope Valley Transit
Authority, if it elects to implement a pilot program pursuant to this
section, shall determine whether the University of California,
Irvine, has at least 12 transit buses equipped with illuminated signs
that are operational pursuant to Section 25354. The Antelope
Valley Transit Authority may implement the pilot program
authorized by this section only if it determines that the University
of California, Irvine, has less than 12 transit buses equipped with
illuminated signs that are operational pursuant to Section 25354.

(d) If the Antelope Valley Transit Authority implements the
pilot program pursuant to this section, it shall, by begin delete July 1, 2019, end delete
begin insert January 1, 2020, end insert submit to the Legislature pursuant to Section
9795 of the Government Code, and to the department, a report on
the incidence of adverse impacts on roadway and pedestrian safety
due to the utilization of illuminated signs on transit buses
displaying advertising pursuant to this section, if any. The report
shall be the product of a collaborative effort by Antelope Valley
law enforcement and transit officials, and other local law
enforcement officials in whose jurisdictions Antelope Valley transit
vehicles operate.

(e) The Antelope Valley Transit Authority’s publicly owned
transit system may, pursuant to subdivision (a), operate up to 25
buses with illuminated signs displaying advertising for two years,
after which time the authority may increase the number of buses
with the signs to up to 30.

(f) This section shall remain in effect only until begin delete January 1, 2020, end delete
begin insert July 1, 2020, end insert and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before begin delete January 1, 2020, end delete begin insert July 1, 2020, end insert deletes
or extends that date.

SEC. 2.  

The Legislature finds and declares that a special law
is necessary and that a general law cannot be made applicable
within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California
Constitution because the Antelope Valley Transit Authority is
facing an operating revenue deficit in its public transit system and
is evaluating several strategies designed to enhance revenue over
the next several years, including the use of electronic illuminated
signage that displays advertising on local transit buses, which is
not authorized under state law. It is, therefore, declared that a
statute of general applicability cannot be enacted within the
meaning of subdivision (b) of Section 16 of Article IV of the
California Constitution. Therefore, this special statute is necessary.