BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 173
Page 1
Date of Hearing: March 23, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Jim Frazier, Chair
AB 173
(Holden) - As Introduced January 22, 2015
SUBJECT: Golf carts: City of La Verne
SUMMARY: Deletes the sunset date of January 1, 2016, on
provisions that allow golf carts to be operated along with motor
vehicles on specified highways and highway segments in the City
of La Verne, thereby allowing the concurrent use indefinitely.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Defines a golf cart as a motor vehicle with an unladen weight
less than 1,300 pounds, designed to be and operated at not
more than 15 miles per hour (mph), and designed to carry golf
equipment and not more than two people.
2)Prohibits golf carts from being registered with the Department
of Motor Vehicles (DMV) as motor vehicles.
3)Defines a low-speed electric vehicle as having a gross vehicle
weight of less than 3,000 pounds and able to attain a speed of
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greater than 20 mph but not more than 35 mph. Low-speed
vehicles may be registered with the DMV and are permitted to
operate on public roadways with speed limits up to 35 mph.
4)Makes it illegal to operate golf carts on streets and highways
except when operated immediately adjacent to a golf course
(when specific criteria are met) or in separated lanes
developed based on a golf cart transportation plan.
5)Authorizes any city or county working in cooperation with the
California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to
establish a golf cart transportation plan that includes, among
other things, design criteria and construction of separated
golf cart lanes.
6)Provides that the requirement for the construction of
separated golf cart lanes does not apply to certain residence
districts and certain roadway segments in the City of La
Verne, provided that certain conditions are met.
7)Sunsets the exemption for golf cart use on certain roadways in
the City of La Verne on January 1, 2016.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS: The City of La Verne is a small municipality, with a
population of 31,000 residents, located in California's San
Gabriel Valley. Given the city's agricultural influence, its
transportation grid was developed with very narrow streets
surrounded by farm land. Although the agricultural land has
been developed, streets in the City La Verne remain narrow, some
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not large enough to accommodate two full lanes of traffic.
The City of La Verne is home to the University of La Verne as
well as several large retirement communities and associated golf
courses. Because the streets in the town are narrow, residents,
along with the university staff, began using golf carts as the
primary means of transportation in the 1970's. When the City of
La Verne learned that golf cart use on public roadways was
prohibited by state law, they sought an exemption through the
introduction of AB 1244 (Adams) of 2007, which would have
exempted the City of La Verne from the requirement to provide
separate lanes for golf carts. AB 1244 was passed by the
Legislature but vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger due to safety
concerns expressed by the California Highway Patrol (CHP)
regarding mixing faster motor vehicle traffic and slower golf
cart traffic in the same travel lanes.
The following year, Assembly Member Adams addressed the CHP's
concerned in subsequent legislation, AB 963 (Adams), Chapter 6,
Statutes of 2008, which allowed for the use of golf carts on
certain highways in the City of La Verne until January 1, 2016.
According to analyses prepared for AB 963, the limited exemption
was being sought to allow the City of La Verne time to
transition from using golf carts to using low-speed electric
vehicles, which are authorized for use on public roadways with
maximum speeds of 35mph or less.
Since the passage of AB 963 the author reports that golf cart
users in the City of La Verne have discovered that low-speed
electric vehicles are, in fact, not well suited to the City of
La Verne's narrow roadways. Specifically, the author points out
that the low-speed electric vehicles available on the market
today are too large to be accommodated on La Verne's roadways
despite the fact that the overall size and configuration of
low-speed electric vehicles has not changed substantially in
decades.
To address concerns that the sunset date is approaching and the
City of La Verne's golf cart users have not yet converted to
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low-speed electric vehicle use, the author has introduced this
bill which would allow the City of La Verne to continue to use
golf carts on highways indefinitely. The author claims that
allowing golf cart use on the specified highways in the City of
La Verne is appropriate given that the City of La Verne accident
records indicate that there have been no accidents or injuries
stemming from golf carts use on the specified highways since the
exemption went into effect in 2009.
Golf cart use on highways is prohibited primarily to minimize
variable speeds among vehicles using the same roadway since
speed variation is a leading cause of motor vehicle accidents.
By definition, golf carts travel at speeds of 20 mph or below
and they lack the basic safety equipment required by state and
federal law for street-legal motor vehicles. These features
include lights, reflectors, bumpers, crash-worthy construction,
seatbelts, and air bags. While existing law does require the
City of La Verne to call for some safety equipment on golf carts
using specified highways (windshield, taillights, headlights,
brake lights, and seatbelts), this equipment does not make these
vehicles safe should they collide with other larger and heavier
vehicles travelling at substantially higher rates of speed.
Additionally, despite the fact that the City of La Verne has not
experienced any accidents or injuries as a result of the
exemption, it is likely eliminating the sunset could encourage
other cities to seek a similar exemption thereby expanding this
potentially unsafe practice.
Previous legislation: AB 963 (Adams), Chapter 6, Statutes of
2008, allowed the City of La Verne, until January 1, 2016, to
designate a highway or portion thereof for use by both golf
carts and motor vehicles under specified conditions.
AB 1244 (Adams), of 2007, would have exempted the City of La
Verne, from the requirement to provide separate lanes for golf
carts. AB 1244 was passed by the Legislature but vetoed due to
concerns about the safety of mixing motor vehicle traffic and
golf carts in the same travel lanes.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
University of La Verne (Sponsor)
City of La Verne
City of La Verne Fire Department
City of La Verne Police Department
Hillcrest
LeadingAge California
San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership
University of La Verne, Office of the President
Opposition
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None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Victoria Alvarez / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093