BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND HOUSING
Senator Jim Beall, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 173 Hearing Date: 6/9/2015
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|Author: |Holden |
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|Version: |1/22/2015 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |No |
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|Consultant|Randy Chinn |
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SUBJECT: Golf carts: City of La Verne
DIGEST: This bill deletes the sunset on the authority of the
City of La Verne to permit golf carts to be used on city
streets.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Defines "golf carts" as motor vehicles weighing less than
1,300 pounds, designed to operate at not more than 25 miles
per hour, and designed to carry not more than two persons.
2)Authorizes cities or counties to adopt golf cart
transportation plans that do not include the use of any state
highway. A crossing of, or a golf cart lane along, a state
highway may be included in the plan if authorized by the law
enforcement agency having primary traffic enforcement
responsibility.
3)Specifies certain required elements in the golf cart
transportation plan, including minimum general design criteria
for the development, planning, and construction of separated
golf cart lanes.
4)Exempts the City of La Verne from the requirement for
separated golf cart lanes, under specified conditions, until
January 1, 2016.
AB 173 (Holden) Page 2 of ?
This bill removes the January 1, 2016, sunset.
COMMENTS:
Description of La Verne. Founded in 1887, La Verne is in the
foothills of the San Gabriel-Pomona Valleys. La Verne is
approximately 35 miles east of Los Angeles in Los Angeles
County. La Verne is a small city of 33,000 covering 8.5 square
miles. It has eight mobilehome parks, three large retirement
communities, and a university of about 2,500 students.
Author's statement. The author notes that La Verne is home to
the University of La Verne as well as a large retirement
community. Because of the town's narrow roads and pathways,
these facilities began using golf carts as the primary means of
transportation between the non-contiguous portions of their
facilities in the 1970s. In 2008, the Legislature provided La
Verne with an exemption to the general statewide prohibition on
golf cart use on public roadways. The author states that the La
Verne Police Department has recorded no accidents or injuries
stemming from the use of golf carts on public roads by the
university or retirement community since the exemption has been
in effect.
Not widely used. La Verne has restricted the use of golf carts
to employees of the university and retirement communities. The
police chief of La Verne reports that the golf carts are not
frequently used and that he sees them on the street on a
less-than-daily basis.
Course change. The January 1, 2016, sunset on the use of golf
carts in the City of La Verne was intended to allow time for the
university and retirement communities to transition to safer
vehicles which meet the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.
By eliminating the sunset, the City of La Verne will be
permanently allowed to permit the use of golf carts, a change in
the policy articulated in the original legislation. In support
of this policy change, the author's office notes that there have
been no accidents with the golf carts, a fact confirmed by the
La Verne police department.
Related Legislation:
SB 241 (Bates), which passed this committee on an 11-0 vote
AB 173 (Holden) Page 3 of ?
earlier this year, would extend by five years the County of
Orange's authority to adopt a neighborhood electric vehicle
transportation plan and to submit its report on the results of
that plan to the Legislature. This bill is pending in the
Assembly.
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 78-0
Trans: 16-0
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local:
No
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday,
June 3, 2015.)
SUPPORT:
University of La Verne (sponsor)
Hillcrest Retirement Community (sponsor)
City of La Verne Fire Department
City of La Verne Police Department
LeadingAge California
San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership
OPPOSITION:
None received
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