BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó






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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                        AB 869|
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                                   THIRD READING 


          Bill No:  AB 869
          Author:   Cooper (D)
          Amended:  6/18/15 in Senate
          Vote:     21  

           SENATE TRANS. & HOUSING COMMITTEE:  11-0, 6/16/15
           AYES:  Beall, Cannella, Allen, Bates, Gaines, Galgiani, Leyva,  
            McGuire, Mendoza, Roth, Wieckowski

           SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE:  Senate Rule 28.8

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR:  77-0, 5/7/15 (Consent) - See last page for  
            vote

           SUBJECT:   Public transportation agencies: fare evasion and  
                     prohibited conduct


          SOURCE:    Author


          DIGEST:  This bill authorizes a transit district to pursue  
          criminal penalties if a person fails to pay the administrative  
          penalty or successfully complete a civil administrative process  
          for minor transit-related offenses.


          ANALYSIS:   


          Existing law:
          
          1)Makes it a criminal infraction for a person to engage in any  








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            of the following activities in a public transit vehicle or  
            facility:


             a)   Fare evasion.


             b)   Misuse of a transfer, pass, ticket, or token with the  
               intent to evade the payment of a fare.


             c)   Disturbing another person by loud or unreasonable noise.


             d)   Smoking, eating, or drinking where those activities are  
               prohibited by the transit provider.


             e)   Expectorating.


             f)   Willfully disturbing others by engaging in boisterous or  
               unruly behavior.


             g)   Carrying an explosive or acid, flammable liquid, or  
               toxic or hazardous material.


             h)   Urinating or defecating except in a lavatory. 


             i)   Willfully blocking the free movement of another person  
               unless permitted by First Amendment rights.


             j)   Skateboarding, roller skating, bicycle riding,  
               rollerblading, or operating a motorized scooter, except as  
               necessary for utilization of the transit facility by a  
               bicyclist.


             aa)  Unauthorized use of a discount ticket or failure to  
               present acceptable proof of eligibility to use a discount  







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               ticket.


             bb)  Selling goods or services if those activities are  
               prohibited by the transit provider.


             cc)  Willfully tampering with, removing, displacing,  
               injuring, or destroying part of a transit vehicle or  
               facility.


          1)Authorizes transit agencies to adopt civil adjudication  
            procedures and impose and enforce administrative penalties for  
            any of the above-listed offenses that are committed by adults.  



          2)Allows transit agencies to set their own administrative  
            penalty amounts, but prohibits the amounts from exceeding the  
            maximum statutory criminal penalties for the same offenses.


          3)Prohibits a person who receives a notice of fare evasion or  
            passenger conduct violation from a transit agency from also  
            being cited for a criminal infraction for the same offense.


          This bill specifies that:

          1)A person cannot be charged with a criminal violation as long  
            as he or she either pays the administrative penalty on time or  
            otherwise successfully completes the civil administrative  
            process.

          2)A transit agency may charge a person with a criminal violation  
            if the person does not pay the administrative penalty on time  
            or otherwise successfully complete the civil administrative  
            process.

          3)If a transit agency chooses to charge a person with a criminal  
            penalty, then the agency must dismiss the civil charge and  
            personally serve the person with the new notice of criminal  
            violation.







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          4)A transit agency must include a printed statement with the  
            served notice of administrative violation that the violator  
            may be charged with a criminal violation if he or she fails to  
            pay the fine when due or successfully complete the civil  
            administrative process.

          Comments
          
          1)Purpose.  According to the author, existing law creates a  
            difficult choice for transit agencies in how they choose to  
            enforce fare evasion and other passenger misconduct.  Agencies  
            can either issue criminal citations with costly fines that  
            discourage payment, or they can issue administrative citations  
            with no enforcement recourse if not paid.

            For example, according to the author, the Sacramento Regional  
            Transit District (RT) issues criminal citations for fare  
            evasion and other prohibited conduct; the current base fine  
            for such a violation is $20, but the addition of court fees  
            and assessments brings the total to $151.  An increasing  
            number of these citations result in dispositions in which  
            individuals either (1) fail to appear, or (2) are unable to  
            pay the fine.  Existing law provides an alternative approach  
            to RT through the authority to enact an administrative process  
            to handle fare evasion and other prohibited conduct cases.  RT  
            has not utilized this remedy for enforcing fare evasions,  
            however, due to the lack of any compliance mechanism for those  
            cited that fail to appear or pay the fine.

            This bill addresses this challenge by allowing transit  
            agencies to first issue an administrative citation for fare  
            evasion or passenger misconduct and then switch to a  
            misdemeanor citation if the alleged violator fails to pay the  
            fine or fails to complete the administrative process.

          2)Chaptering amendments.  This bill has chaptering conflicts  
            with two other bills, SB 140 (Leno) and SB 413 (Wieckowski).   
            Should these bills continue to move through the Legislature,  
            the author will need to resolve these conflicts at some point.

          FISCAL EFFECT:   Appropriation:    No          Fiscal  
          Com.:YesLocal:   Yes








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          SUPPORT:   (Verified7/1/15)


          Amalgamated Transit Union
          Sacramento Regional Transit District


          OPPOSITION:   (Verified7/1/15)


          None received

          ASSEMBLY FLOOR:  77-0, 5/7/15
          AYES:  Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom,  
            Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Chang, Chau,  
            Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly,  
            Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina  
            Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez,  
            Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, 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,  
            Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Mark  
            Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams,  
            Wood, Atkins
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Campos, Roger Hernández, Steinorth

          Prepared by:Eric Thronson / T. & H. / (916) 651-4121
          7/1/15 16:37:25


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