BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 718
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
718 (Chu)
As Amended May 18, 2015
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+---------------------+---------------------|
|Transportation |12-1 |Frazier, Bloom, Chu, |Baker |
| | |Dodd, Eduardo | |
| | |Garcia, Gomez, Kim, | |
| | |Linder, Medina, | |
| | |Melendez, Nazarian, | |
| | |Santiago | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+---------------------+---------------------|
|Local |7-1 |Maienschein, |Waldron |
|Government | |Gonzalez, Chiu, | |
| | |Cooley, Gordon, | |
| | |Holden, Linder | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Prohibits cities and counties, including charter cities
and counties, from prohibiting, otherwise subjecting to civil or
criminal penalties, or impounding a vehicle by reason of the act
of sleeping or resting in a lawfully parked motor vehicle.
AB 718
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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 California 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:
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,
AB 718
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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: This bill restricts local governments from prohibiting,
otherwise subjecting to civil or criminal penalties, or removing
or impounding a vehicle by reason of the act of sleeping or
resting in a lawfully parked vehicle. According to the author and
sponsor, this bill 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.
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
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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. In cities
that ban sleeping in cars, this would be prohibited.
Analysis Prepared by:
Anya Lawler / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093 FN: 0000446