BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 173
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
173 (Holden)
As Introduced January 22, 2015
Majority vote
----------------------------------------------------------------------
|Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+-------------------------+--------------------|
|Transportation |16-0 |Frazier, Achadjian, | |
| | |Baker, Bloom, Campos, | |
| | |Chu, Daly, Dodd, Eduardo | |
| | |Garcia, Gomez, Kim, | |
| | |Linder, Medina, | |
| | |Melendez, Nazarian, | |
| | |O'Donnell | |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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
AB 173
Page 2
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)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.
3)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; sunsets the exemption for golf
cart use on certain roadways in the City of La Verne on January
1, 2016.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
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 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
AB 173
Page 3
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
35 mph 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 the City of 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
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.
AB 173
Page 4
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.
Analysis Prepared by:
Victoria Alvarez / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093 FN:
AB 173
Page 5
0000077