BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 210|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 210
Author: Gatto (D)
Introduced:2/2/15
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANS. & HOUSING COMMITTEE: 11-0, 6/23/15
AYES: Beall, Cannella, Allen, Bates, Gaines, Galgiani, Leyva,
McGuire, Mendoza, Roth, Wieckowski
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/27/15
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza, Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-1, 6/1/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: High-occupancy vehicle lanes: County of Los Angeles
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill restricts the hours of operation of
high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes on State Route (SR) 134 and
SR 210 in Los Angeles County.
ANALYSIS: Existing law permits the California Department of
Transportation (Caltrans) or local transportation agencies to
designate particular segments of highway lanes as exclusive or
preferential lanes for HOVs (HOV lanes), granting access only to
vehicles with more than one occupant. Prior to establishing an
HOV lane, existing law requires Caltrans or the local
transportation agency to complete a traffic engineering
assessment of the proposed HOV lane on safety, congestion, and
highway capacity. In some instances HOV lanes are only
restricted to HOVs at certain specified times of day when
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congestion is generally heaviest, and available to any vehicle
during less-congested times. In other instances, HOV lanes are
restricted to HOVs all hours of the day regardless of congestion
levels.
This bill:
1)Restricts, as of July 1, 2016, the hours of operation of any
HOV lanes on SR 134 between SR 170 and SR 210 and HOV lanes on
SR 210 between SR 134 and SR 57 in Los Angeles County to the
times of day with heavy commuter traffic, as determined by
Caltrans.
2)Requires Caltrans to report to the Legislature on the traffic
impact of limiting operations of these HOV lanes by January 1,
2018.
3)Allows Caltrans to reinstate 24-hour HOV lanes on or after May
1, 2017, if Caltrans determines that restricting the hours of
operation has created an adverse impact on safety, congestion,
or the environment and submits a notice of such determination
to the Legislature.
Comments
Purpose. According to the author, the 24-hour HOV lane
restrictions in Southern California lead to motorists frequently
being caught in bumper-to-bumper congestion at odd hours of the
night while the HOV lane remains empty. The author contends
that this bill resolves this issue on SR 134 and SR 210 by
mandating that Caltrans only restrict access to the HOV lanes on
these highways during the most congested times of day, as
determined by Caltrans.
Potentially concerning precedent. Environmental advocates claim
that HOV lanes are a proven way to encourage carpooling, reduce
congestion, and manage traffic without adding new
general-purpose lanes. HOV lanes can be challenging to
implement, however, due to general assumptions made by the
affected public that they provide little benefit to average
drivers and do not relieve congestion. Advocates for HOV lanes
suggest that, due to their complicated and controversial nature,
changes to HOV lane restrictions such as operational periods and
occupancy requirements should be based upon detailed technical
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analyses conducted by traffic operations experts and not driven
by general assumptions or anecdotal experience. Some are
concerned about the precedent this bill would set for the
Legislature to make decisions involving HOV lanes without basing
those decisions on sound traffic engineering studies.
Prior Legislation
Last session, the Legislature passed AB 405 (Gatto, 2014), a
bill identical to AB 210 except for the specified dates. AB 405
received only two "NO" votes on both the Assembly and Senate
Floors. Governor Brown vetoed the bill stating, "Carpool lanes
are especially important in Los Angeles County to reduce
pollution and maximize use of freeways. We should retain the
current 24/7 carpool lane control."
Further, in 2012 the Legislature passed and sent to Governor
Brown AB 2200 (Ma), which suspended the HOV lane on eastbound
Interstate 80 in the San Francisco Bay Area during the morning
commute. That bill was also vetoed by Governor Brown. In his
veto message, the Governor stated, "Encouraging carpooling is
important to reduce pollution and make more efficient use of our
highways. This bill goes in a wrong direction."
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
According to Senate Appropriations Committee:
One-time Caltrans costs of approximately $500,000 in 2015-16
to replace HOV lane signage to indicate limited hours of
operation (State Highway Account).
Potential future one-time costs of $500,000 for signage
replacement to the extent that the lanes are converted back to
full-time operation following a Caltrans determination that
part-time operation had specified adverse impacts (State
Highway Account).
Minor and absorbable one-time costs in 2017-18 for Caltrans to
report on the impact of limiting HOV lane use to periods of
heavy commuter traffic (State Highway Account).
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SUPPORT: (Verified8/27/15)
None received
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/27/15)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-1, 6/1/15
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang,
Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle,
Daly, Dodd, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia,
Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gray, Grove,
Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Low, Maienschein,
Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian,
Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon,
Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark
Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams,
Wood, Atkins
NOES: Lopez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Eggman, Gordon
Prepared by:Eric Thronson / T. & H. / (916) 651-4121
8/30/15 19:42:01
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