BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 229
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Date of Hearing: April 29, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ACCOUNTABILITY AND ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW
Rudy Salas, Chair
AB 229
Chang - As Amended April 22, 2015
SUBJECT: State employees: travel reimbursement
SUMMARY: Prevents state agencies from prohibiting state
employees traveling on official state business from using
transportation network companies or lodging in a short-term
rental. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires reimbursements for these necessary and actual
expenses to be made consistent with the agency's policies for
reimbursement of other lodging and other vehicles for hire.
2)Defines "short-term rental" and considers it a commercial
lodging establishment for this section.
3)Defines "transportation network company" as having the same
meaning as a specified Public Utilities Code section.
4)Requests the University of California (UC) to adopt travel
reimbursement policies consistent with this bill.
AB 229
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EXISTING LAW requires the director of the Department of Human
Resources (CalHR) to adopt general rules and regulations that
limit the amount, time, and place of expenses and allowances to
be paid to officers, employees, experts, and agents of the state
while traveling on official state business.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS: According to the author, the intent of this bill is
to ensure state employees can use "sharing economy" services
like ride-sharing or home-sharing while traveling on state
business. This bill would prevent agencies from prohibiting the
reimbursement to traveling state employees for the use of
transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft, in which
participating drivers transport passengers in their own
vehicles. Additionally, this bill would not allow agencies to
ban the use of short-term rental arrangements like Airbnb, which
allows participants to rent out their homes or rooms in their
homes for a specified number of nights.
Current CalHR rules as well as memorandums of understanding
(MOUs) with employee bargaining units that specify travel
reimbursement information do not currently prohibit the use of
transportation network companies or short-term rentals for
employees traveling on state business. These documents do not
name either of these types of services when setting
requirements.
Instead, rules and MOUs set lodging reimbursement maximum rates
by location and require travelers to submit itemized receipts
when claiming reimbursements. Rules and MOUs specify that to
qualify for reimbursements, lodging must be in commercial
lodging establishments. This bill specifies, for purposes of
the section added by this bill, that short-term rentals are
considered commercial lodging establishments.
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This bill also defines a transportation network company to have
the same meaning as a Public Utilities code section, which
defines the term as an organization that "provides prearranged
transportation services for compensation using an online-enabled
application or platform to connect passengers with drivers using
a personal vehicle." While CalHR rules and MOUs do not
specifically mention transportation networks companies, they set
requirements for taxi and similar transportation. Currently when
state employees use taxis while traveling, depending on their
employee group, they are either not required to submit taxi
receipts or must only submit them when the ride exceeds $10.
This bill also encourages UC to adopt similar travel
reimbursement policies as those specified in this bill.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
None on file
Opposition
None on file
AB 229
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Analysis Prepared by:Scott Herbstman / A. & A.R. / (916)
319-3600