Amended in Assembly June 23, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Concurrent ResolutionNo. 160


Introduced by Assembly Member Hadley

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(Coauthors: Assembly Members Achadjian, Alejo, Arambula, Atkins, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Daly, Eggman, Beth Gaines, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Irwin, Jones, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Patterson, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Steinorth, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, and Wood)

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March 30, 2016


Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 160—Relative to vehicular air pollution.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

ACR 160, as amended, Hadley. Motor vehicle idling: children.

This measure would encourage motorists to not idle their motor vehicles near places where children congregate.

Fiscal committee: no.

P1    1WHEREAS, Idling of motor vehicles contributes to global
2warming and is linked to asthma, decreased lung function, cardiac
3disease, cancer, and other serious health problems; and

4WHEREAS, Children’s lungs are still developing and are
5especially at risk of developing health problems when they are
6exposed to elevated levels of pollutants. Monitoring at schools has
P2    1shown higher levels of benzene, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and
2other air toxics during the afternoon hour coinciding with parents
3picking up their children; and

4WHEREAS, Asthma is the most common chronic illness among
5children, the largest cause of school absences, and is the third
6leading cause of hospitalization among children under the age of
715 years; and

8WHEREAS, An idling car wastes about half a gallon of gasoline
9per hour, and a gallon of burned fuel emits about 20 pounds of
10carbon dioxide; and

11WHEREAS, One minute of idling puts more carbon monoxide
12into the air than smoking three packs of cigarettes; and

13WHEREAS, Idling produces between 10 and 12 percent more
14emissions than driving for the same amount of gas used due to
15incomplete combustion and ineffective operation of the catalytic
16converter; and

17WHEREAS, Idling motor vehicles emit particulate matter,
18nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide; and

19WHEREAS, On a daily basis, Americans may be burning as
20much as 3.8 million gallons of gasoline from voluntary idling,
21resulting in about 40,000 tons of carbon dioxide. Annually, the
22cumulative effect is the useless burning of 1.4 billion gallons of
23gasoline and the emission of 13 million tons of carbon dioxide;
24and

25WHEREAS, Most people waste one to two tanks of gas every
26year by idling, and one hour of gasoline engine idle time equals
2733 miles of driving; and

28WHEREAS, A common myth is that idling is better than turning
29the car on and off, but idling is actually bad for the car. It is better
30to turn off the car if the driver is going to idle for more than 10
31seconds because it takes about 10 seconds worth of fuel to restart
32the car. This uses less gas, increases fuel efficiency, and is better
33for the car; and

34WHEREAS, An engine runs at less than ideal operating
35temperature when idling, which causes water vapor to accumulate
36in the exhaust system and leads to corrosion; and

37WHEREAS, California prohibits school bus idling for any
38amount of time at schools and within 100 feet of a school (Section
3939640 of the Health and Safety Code and Section 2480 of Article
P3    11 of Chapter 10 of Division 3 of Title 13 of the California Code
2of Regulations); and

3WHEREAS, At least 27 other states and the District of Columbia
4have laws imposing restrictions on idling at schools; now,
5therefore, be it

6Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
7thereof concurring,
That the Legislature encourages motorists to
8not idle their motor vehicles near places where children congregate,
9such as schools and parks; and be it further

10Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
11of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.



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