BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 223
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Date of Hearing: April 6, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Jim Frazier, Chair
AB 223
(Dahle) - As Introduced February 3, 2015
SUBJECT: Highways: exit information signs
SUMMARY: Authorizes, until January 1, 2021, the placement of
Business Logo Signing Program signs along Interstate 80 within,
or at the exits leading to, the City of Truckee.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Directs the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)
to adopt rules and regulations for its Business Logo Signing
Program - i.e., a program to allow the placement of signs near
freeways identifying the presence of specific roadside
businesses offering fuel, food, lodging, or camping services,
approved 24-hour pharmacy services, or specific approved
attractions, under the following conditions:
a) All business applicants must have equal access to the
program; and,
b) Caltrans is prohibited from placing business logo signs
within urban areas designated by the United State Bureau of
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Census as having a population of 5,000 or more (except for
the City of Lincoln, as described below).
2)Prohibits the removal of business logo signs placed before
January 1, 2003, due solely to population growth in an urban
area that results in a population of 5,000 or more but less
than 10,000.
3)Authorizes a limited exception to the Business Logo Signing
Program for signs along State Route 65 within the City of
Lincoln, until January 1, 2021.
4)Requires Caltrans, on or before January 1, 2020, to report to
the transportation committees of the Senate and Assembly on
the implementation of the exception for the City of Lincoln.
The report is to include recommendations as to whether or not
the period of this exception should be extended and whether or
not the authorization for the Business Logo Signing Program
should be expanded to urban areas having a population of 5,000
or more.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriation
Committee's analysis of a similar bill last session, AB 178
(Gaines), Chapter 131, Statutes of 2013, the bill will likely
have minor costs to Caltrans, which would be offset by fees.
COMMENTS: The Business Logo Signing Program was originally
created to provide motorists with information regarding specific
roadside businesses offering fuel, food, lodging, or camping
services alongside along Interstate 5. The program was later
expanded to rural areas generally.
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Implementing regulations promulgated by Caltrans set forth
criteria for businesses to be included in the program. For
example, gas stations must meet the following criteria:
1)The business must be generally neat, clean, and have a
comfortable appearance and an adequate scope of services.
2)For gas stations, a business must be located within one mile
of the freeway interchange and it must provide vehicle
services, including fuel, oil, tire repair, battery, and
radiator water. It must also provide public restrooms, water
fountains, and telephones and it must be open for a specified
number of hours per day.
Business logo signs only accommodate six logos per type of
service (i.e., food, gas, lodging or camping), and Caltrans does
not install more than one sign per type of service. To address
situations in which there are more qualified applicants than
available logo spaces, Caltrans has developed a priority system.
For lodging and camping signs, Caltrans prioritizes businesses
that are closest to the highway. For food and fuel signs,
priority is based on a point system that values proximity to the
highway and longer hours of operation.
Last session, the Legislature passed AB 178 to help the City of
Lincoln. The city's business community had been negatively
impacted by the opening of the Lincoln Bypass the year before
that diverted traffic from the historic downtown and its fuel
and food service providers. Lincoln is not otherwise eligible
to participate in the business logo program because its
population exceeds the definition of rural.
This bill was introduced to provide a similar, limited-time
exception to the Business Logo Signing Program for the City of
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Truckee. Truckee has a population of over 16,000 and is, like
the City of Lincoln, ineligible for participation in the
Business Logo Signing Program.
Truckee's population has exceeded the rural threshold since
inception of the Business Logo Signing Program so it is not
clear why business logo signs were even authorized to begin
with. Caltrans was unable to determine why the signs were
originally placed but it did confirm that, in 2008, at least 11
business logo sign accounts in the Truckee area were closed when
the department realized the signs did not comply with the
Business Logo Sign Program guidelines related to population.
Following removal of the business logo signs, Caltrans installed
general service signs directing traffic to exits where food,
fuel, and lodging are available but that do not display specific
business logos.
According to the author, businesses in Truckee were negatively
impacted following removal of logo signs. The author also
suggests the bill is necessary because construction of the
Truckee Bypass in 2002 has resulted in a downturn in Truckee
businesses.
Committee concern: The exception provided for the City of
Lincoln was intended to ease the transition for the city's
businesses following construction of the just-opened bypass.
The exception is for a limited duration (7 years). The Truckee
Bypass, on the other hand, was opened over 12 years ago, well
beyond what could arguably be considered a reasonable transition
period.
Previous legislation: AB 178 (Gaines), Chapter 131, Statutes of
2013, authorized a limited exception to the Business Logo
Signing Program for signs along State Route 65 within the City
of Lincoln, until January 1, 2021.
AB 1923 (Dickerson), Chapter 576, Statutes of 2002, was
originally introduced to expand the Business Logo Signing
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Program to areas up to 15,000. AB 1923 was subsequently
amended, and eventually signed to prohibit Caltrans from taking
down business logo signs in areas with populations that exceeded
5,000 but did not exceed 10,000.
SB 599 (Knight), of 1997, would have required Caltrans to allow
business logo signs in areas with populations larger than 5,000
if the city submits a written request to the department for such
placement. SB 599 failed passage in the Senate Transportation
Committee.
AB 1257 (Chandler), Chapter 560, Statutes of 1992, expanded the
business logo program beyond rural areas alongside of Interstate
5 to other rural areas of California.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Truckee Donner Chamber of Commerce
Truckee Town Council
2 private citizens
Opposition
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None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093