BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 223| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 223 Author: Dahle (R) Amended: 6/15/15 in Senate 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: Senate Rule 28.8 ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-0, 4/30/15 (Consent) - See last page for vote SUBJECT: Highways: exit information signs SOURCE: Town of Truckee DIGEST: This bill requires Caltrans to permit the placement of Business Logo Signing Program signs on Interstate 80 (I-80) within, or at exits leading to, the City of Truckee, until January 1, 2021. ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1)Requires Caltrans to adopt rules and regulations for its Business Logo Signing Program, which allows signs near freeway exits in rural areas to contain information about roadside AB 223 Page 2 businesses offering fuel, food, lodging, camping services, approved 24-hour pharmacy services, or approved attractions. These signs display up to six business logos for applicable businesses. Caltrans must provide equal access to all business applicants and may not approve signs in urban areas designated by the United States Bureau of the Census as having a population of 5,000 or more. Caltrans may not remove an information sign that was placed before January 1, 2003, if the population in an urban area grew to more than 5,000 but not less than 10,000 people. 2)Creates a limited exception to the Business Logo Signing Program and states that Caltrans shall, through January 1, 2021, allow the placement of information signs along State Highway Route 65 within, or at exits leading up to, the City of Lincoln. Caltrans must also report to the Senate and Assembly Transportation Committees before January 1, 2020, on the implementation of the exception, and offer any recommendations for extending the exception period and whether or not the authorization for the Business Logo Signing Program should be expanded to urban areas with populations of 5,000 or more. This bill creates another exemption by requiring Caltrans to permit information signs to be placed on I-80 within, or at exits leading to, the City of Truckee. The authorization in this bill shall apply only to incorporated areas with a population density of less than one person per acre surrounded entirely by land of the Tahoe National Forest. Comments Purpose of the bill. Around 2008, Caltrans removed at least eight business logo signs in the Truckee area following construction of the Highway 267 bypass and, according to the town, businesses have seen a decrease in business. AB 223 seeks to replace those logo signs to inform travelers of businesses that are available. City of Lincoln exception. Last session, the Legislature passed and the Governor signed AB 178 (Gaines, Chapter 131, Statutes of 2013) to help the City of Lincoln. The city's business AB 223 Page 3 community had been negatively impacted by the opening of the Lincoln Bypass the year before, because it 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. AB 178 established a limited exception to the Business Logo Signing Program by allowing business logo signs along State Route 65 until January 1, 2021 and required Caltrans to provide a report on or before January 1, 2020. That report shall include recommendations as to whether or not the business logo program should be expanded, and if so, in what ways. Why Truckee? According to the source, the Town of Truckee, Truckee is a town deep in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, surrounded by dense forest and national park land. This national forest land precludes private business signage for miles leading into the town. Truckee is a large incorporated area with fewer than .69 people per acre (spread over 33 square miles) and the last full-service opportunity before leaving the state (25 miles from the next town in Nevada). The source believes that informing drivers will assist public safety at night or during winter driving conditions with chain requirements and snow removal equipment. Truckee had logo signs on I-80 until 2008 when Caltrans removed the signs and replaced them with generic fuel, lodging, and food signs, because the population did not meet the definition of rural. In fact, Truckee's population never met the rural threshold, and it is not clear why the business logo signs were authorized to begin with. Since then, the source states that businesses in Truckee, particularly those not located in historic downtown, saw a significant drop in business. Some hotels saw a 20% drop-off in bed nights, which greatly impacts the business and town revenues. The Lincoln exception was intended to ease the transition for the city's businesses following the construction of the newly opened bypass for a limited time period. The signs near Truckee were taken down in 2008, during the great recession, more than seven years ago. Caltrans did not merely take down existing signs; Caltrans replaced those signs with generic blue signs with fuel, lodging, and food symbols that provide travelers with AB 223 Page 4 information about the location of services. Additionally, the source states that Truckee lost two major businesses, as those businesses moved to Nevada. As a result, this bill seems less designed to assist travelers than to help businesses in an economically struggling town advertise in the public right-of-way. Related Legislation AB 179 (Gaines, Chapter 131, Statutes of 2013) authorized a limited exception to the Business Logo Signing Program for signs along the State Route 65 within the City of Lincoln until January 1, 2021. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:YesLocal: No SUPPORT: (Verified7/6/15) Town of Truckee (source) Truckee Donner Chamber of Commerce 2 Truckee business owners OPPOSITION: (Verified7/6/15) None received ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-0, 4/30/15 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Chang, Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea, AB 223 Page 5 Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins NO VOTE RECORDED: Campos, Chávez, Gomez Prepared by:Alison Dinmore / T. & H. / (916) 651-4121 7/7/15 16:21:07 **** END ****