BILL NUMBER: ACR 160 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 23, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Hadley
( 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 )
MARCH 30, 2016
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.
WHEREAS, Idling of motor vehicles contributes to global warming
and is linked to asthma, decreased lung function, cardiac disease,
cancer, and other serious health problems; and
WHEREAS, Children's lungs are still developing and are especially
at risk of developing health problems when they are exposed to
elevated levels of pollutants. Monitoring at schools has shown higher
levels of benzene, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and other air toxics
during the afternoon hour coinciding with parents picking up their
children; and
WHEREAS, Asthma is the most common chronic illness among children,
the largest cause of school absences, and is the third leading cause
of hospitalization among children under the age of 15 years; and
WHEREAS, An idling car wastes about half a gallon of gasoline per
hour, and a gallon of burned fuel emits about 20 pounds of carbon
dioxide; and
WHEREAS, One minute of idling puts more carbon monoxide into the
air than smoking three packs of cigarettes; and
WHEREAS, Idling produces between 10 and 12 percent more emissions
than driving for the same amount of gas used due to incomplete
combustion and ineffective operation of the catalytic converter; and
WHEREAS, Idling motor vehicles emit particulate matter, nitrogen
dioxide, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide; and
WHEREAS, On a daily basis, Americans may be burning as much as 3.8
million gallons of gasoline from voluntary idling, resulting in
about 40,000 tons of carbon dioxide. Annually, the cumulative effect
is the useless burning of 1.4 billion gallons of gasoline and the
emission of 13 million tons of carbon dioxide; and
WHEREAS, Most people waste one to two tanks of gas every year by
idling, and one hour of gasoline engine idle time equals 33 miles of
driving; and
WHEREAS, A common myth is that idling is better than turning the
car on and off, but idling is actually bad for the car. It is better
to turn off the car if the driver is going to idle for more than 10
seconds because it takes about 10 seconds worth of fuel to restart
the car. This uses less gas, increases fuel efficiency, and is better
for the car; and
WHEREAS, An engine runs at less than ideal operating temperature
when idling, which causes water vapor to accumulate in the exhaust
system and leads to corrosion; and
WHEREAS, California prohibits school bus idling for any amount of
time at schools and within 100 feet of a school (Section 39640 of the
Health and Safety Code and Section 2480 of Article 1 of Chapter 10
of Division 3 of Title 13 of the California Code of Regulations); and
WHEREAS, At least 27 other states and the District of Columbia
have laws imposing restrictions on idling at schools; now, therefore,
be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature encourages motorists to not
idle their motor vehicles near places where children congregate, such
as schools and parks; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.