BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1677
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 11, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
1677 (Ting) - As Amended April 20, 2016
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Policy |Transportation |Vote:|10 - 4 |
|Committee: | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill authorizes additional tour bus inspections by the CHP,
in conjunction with local governments. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the CHP to develop protocols, in consultation with
representatives of local jurisdictions where tour buses
operate, for entering into memoranda of understanding (MOUs)
with local governments to increase the number of tour buses
inspected by the CHP.
AB 1677
Page 2
2)Stipulates that any inspection conducted pursuant to CHP's
protocols not be duplicative of existing inspection
requirements imposed by state law.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Costs for CHP to develop the protocols and MOUs would be
absorbable. Costs for additional inspections would depend on the
added workload, which is unknown. CHP indicates that, for an
additional 2,500 bus inspections, annual costs would be about
$210,000 (Motor Vehicle Account). (The bill should be amended to
specify that the MOUs include language requiring locals to
reimburse the CHP for inspections performed pursuant to an MOU.)
COMMENTS:
1)Background. Current law generally vests the Public Utilities
Commission (PUC) with the responsibility to regulate charter
party carriers (CPCs) and passenger stage corporations (PSCs).
Tour buses operated by CPCs and PSCs are required to be
inspected every 13 months by the CHP and every 45 days by the
tour bus operator. The findings of the inspections carried out
by the CHP are reported to the PUC, and tour buses may not
legally operate unless the bus operator's terminal and
maintenance facilities have been inspected. Terminal
inspections typically include inspections of a vehicle's
registration, the driver's licensure, and the condition of the
vehicles. Due to the size of tour bus fleets, the CHP only
inspects a representative sample of each carrier's fleet in
the annual inspection. According to some estimates, the CHP
inspects less than 1/3 of all buses, leaving some buses
uninspected.
2)Purpose. This bill requires the CHP to develop protocols for
AB 1677
Page 3
entering into memoranda of understanding with local
governments to allow the local government to request that CHP
increase the number of locally operating tour buses inspected
by the department pursuant to existing 13-month inspection
requirements. The author cites a number of incidents
occurring in San Francisco that resulted in fatalities and
injuries in recent years as demonstrative of the need to fully
inspect tour buses operating in California.
3)Related Legislation. AB 1574 (Chiu), pending on this
committee's Suspense file, requires the PUC to verify with DMV
that the buses, limousines, and modified limousines used by a
PSC or CPC have been reported and meet safety requirements.
Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)
319-2081