BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND HOUSING Senator Jim Beall, Chair 2015 - 2016 Regular Bill No: AB 1943 Hearing Date: 6/14/2016 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Author: |Linder | |----------+------------------------------------------------------| |Version: |6/8/2016 | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |No | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Consultant|Sarah Carvill | |: | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUBJECT: Vehicles: parking: public grounds DIGEST: This bill provides Riverside County Transportation Commission (RCTC) with the authority to enforce parking regulations on property it owns, and to contract with private vendors for parking enforcement services. ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1)Establishes county transportation commissions to coordinate public transportation services within counties, reduce traffic congestion, avoid redundant public transportation services, and provide adequate transit options for all residents. 2)Authorizes certain public entities to impose parking regulations on property they own. These entities include cities and counties, public schools, parks, municipal airports, hospitals, harbor districts, rapid transit districts, public transportation agencies, transit development boards, and county transportation commissions. 3)Gives public transportation agencies the ability to enforce the parking laws and regulations on property they own in the manner of other public entities, such as cities and counties. AB 1943 (Linder) Page 2 of ? 4)Establishes procedures regarding the enforcement of parking violations and for the removal of vehicles. This bill: 1)Expands the definition of a public transportation agency to include certain county transportation commissions. 2)Authorizes the RCTC to enter into contracts with private vendors for the enforcement of parking regulations, including vehicle removal. COMMENTS: 1)Purpose. According to the author, this bill corrects a technicality in the law that prevents county transportation commissions from being able to enforce parking restrictions at the facilities they own. The author claims that this will streamline the management of transit facilities and provide more consistent parking regulations than possible under current law. 2)Background. Existing code provides an exhaustive catalogue of public entities that are authorized to regulate parking on property they own. AB 953 (Roth, Chapter 192, Statutes of 2014) added county transportation commissions to this list. However, the provision conveying enforcement authority is directed to "public transportation agencies," which are defined in terms of the services they provide. Since county transportation commissions do not directly provide or operate transportation services, they do not fall under a "public transportation agency" as defined in this section. Thus these entities may lack the authority to enforce parking rules that they are explicitly authorized to establish. 3)A limited fix for a limited problem. While the authority gap described above would appear to be a serious issue for county transportation commissions across the state, nearly all of these entities are adequately covered by existing law. One AB 1943 (Linder) Page 3 of ? common way that this occurs is when a commission is also authorized to serve as an additional type of entity, such as a congestion management authority, a consolidated agency, or a toll authority, and derives the necessary enforcement powers from this designation. In other cases, parking facilities are operated by the transit provider, not the commission, so authority to enforce parking regulations at the commission level is unnecessary. Consequently, RCTC is currently the only county transportation commission that owns and operates parking facilities without adequate authority to enforce parking rules. This bill therefore expands the existing definition of "public transportation agency" so that it includes county transportation commissions created pursuant to the code section that establishes them in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties. Due to the limited scope of the problem and the fact that county transportation commissions are not all established in the same code section, this specific approach to closing the enforcement gap appears to be the most straightforward solution. 4)Other changes. This bill also makes several non-substantive changes to existing law and provides RCTC with the authority to contract with private vendors for parking enforcement, including towing. Related Legislation: SB 953 (Roth, Chapter 192, Statutes of 2014) - added county transportation commissions to the list of public entities that are authorized to regulate parking on property they own. Assembly Votes: Floor: 79-0 Trans: 16-0 FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on Wednesday, AB 1943 (Linder) Page 4 of ? June 8, 2016.) SUPPORT: Riverside County Transportation Commission OPPOSITION: None received -- END --