BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 718
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Date of Hearing: April 27, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Jim Frazier, Chair
AB 718
(Chu) - As Amended April 21, 2015
SUBJECT: Local government: powers
SUMMARY: Prohibits a city, county, or city and county from
prohibiting or otherwise subjecting to civil or criminal
penalties the act of sleeping or resting in a lawfully parked
motor vehicle.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Provides, under the California Constitution, that a city may
make and enforce within its limits all local, police,
sanitary, and other ordinances and regulations not in conflict
with general laws.
2)Authorizes a legislative body to pass ordinances not in
conflict with the Constitution and laws of the state or the
United States.
3)Prohibits local governments from regulating the movement or
parking of vehicles unless specifically authorized by state
law. With respect to parking, under current law local
governments may, by ordinance or resolution, do the following:
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a) Prohibit or restrict the stopping, standing, or parking
of vehicles on a local road or on a state highway in their
jurisdiction with the approval of the Department of
Transportation.
b) Prohibit or restrict the stopping, standing, or parking
of vehicles that are six feet or more in height within 100
feet of any intersection, street, or highway during all or
certain hours of the day.
c) Designate certain streets for the exclusive parking
privileges of residents and merchants adjacent to the
streets for their use or the use of their guests and issue
parking permits that exempt them from the restriction or
prohibition of the ordinance or resolution.
d) Authorize preferential parking permits for members of
organizations, professions, or other designated groups,
including but not limited to, school personnel, to park on
specified streets if the local authority determines that
the use of the permits will not adversely affect parking
conditions for residents and merchants in the area.
4)Makes it an infraction to violate any provision of the Vehicle
Code or any local ordinance adopted pursuant to the Vehicle
Code.
FISCAL EFFECT: None
COMMENTS: AB 718 restricts local governments from prohibiting
or otherwise subjecting to civil or criminal penalties the act
of sleeping or resting in a lawfully parked vehicle. According
to the author and sponsor, AB 718 is a response to an increasing
number of local jurisdictions that have enacted ordinances that
punish people for sleeping in a vehicle. They are concerned
that these ordinances are thinly veiled attempts to criminalize
homelessness that do not serve any legitimate public purpose.
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According to the sponsor, Housing California, "For many women
and children experiencing homelessness, sleeping or living in a
vehicle affords them a sense of safety that they cannot fully
experience sleeping outdoors. In the absence of adequate
shelter beds across the state, a car is the most practical
solution for many women and children. Many people who reside in
their vehicles have some form of part-time employment that
enables them to meet basic needs. A vehicle is not simple
shelter for them, but the transit source that connects them to
their only source of income. Likewise, a vehicle can also
represent the difference between whether a homeless child gets
to school or a disabled individual keeps in touch with a medical
provider."
Cities and counties have broad authority to regulate parking
within their communities. They can, among other things,
establish time limits, install meters, prohibit parking entirely
or at certain times of day on a particular street, and provide
preferential parking privileges in certain areas to residents
only. If a vehicle is parked in accordance with whatever
regulations a local government has applied to that particular
parking space, it is not clear what purpose is served by
additionally regulating what is happening inside the vehicle, so
long as the activity is otherwise legal. Sleeping is not
inherently more objectionable than eating, reading, listening to
music, talking on the phone, or any other number of activities
that someone might undertake in a parked car. While some cities
have attempted to justify these bans on public safety grounds,
it is hard to imagine how a sleeping person poses a threat to
public safety.
These types of ordinances not only appear to unfairly target the
homeless, but they can also pose a threat to public safety. If
a driver is fatigued, it is in the interest of public safety
that he or she park and rest rather than continuing to drive.
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In cities that ban sleeping in cars, this would be prohibited.
Double referral: This bill will be referred to the Local
Government Committee should it pass out of this committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Housing California (Sponsor)
Western Regional Advocacy Project
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Anya Lawler / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
AB 718
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