BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1964
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Date of Hearing: April 4, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Jim Frazier, Chair
AB 1964
(Bloom) - As Amended April 11, 2016
SUBJECT: High-occupancy vehicle lanes: vehicle exceptions
SUMMARY: Creates a new program (upon expiration of the existing
program) to allow plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs)
access to high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes for a three-year
period, regardless of vehicle occupancy level. Specifically,
this bill:
1)Provides that decals issued in the green sticker HOV access
program (discussed below) prior to January 1, 2018, are valid
until January 1, 2019, also consistent with the existing
sunset date.
2)Provides that decals issued in the green sticker HOV access
program on or after January 1, 2018, and before January 1,
2019, are valid until January 1, 2021.
3)Strikes the cap on the number of decals that can be issued in
the green sticker program.
4)Creates a new program, beginning January 1, 2019, that
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provides for the issuance of an unlimited number decals to
allow HOV access for PHEVs until January 1 of the third year
after the year of issuance; requires decals for this program
to be distinguishable from white or green stickers.
5)Sunsets the reconstituted HOV access program when the new car
PHEV market share reaches 8.6% cumulatively for two
consecutive years.
6)Provides for a 60-day enforcement transition period in the
event that clean air vehicle access to HOV lanes is
discontinued.
7)Makes other, non-substantive changes to related provisions.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Directs the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to issue decals
for clean air vehicles, until January 1, 2019, as follows:
a) White stickers are available for an unlimited number of
vehicles that meet California's super ultra-low emission
vehicle standard for exhaust emissions and the federal
inherently low-emission vehicle (ILEV) evaporative emission
standard. Vehicles that meet these requirements are
typically certified pure zero-emission vehicles (100%
battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell) and compressed
natural gas vehicles; and,
b) Green stickers are available for 85,000 vehicles that
meet California's enhanced AT PZEV requirement or
transitional zero-emission vehicles (TZEV) standard,
generally referred to as PHEVs.
1)Requires that drivers of clean air vehicles displaying the
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appropriate white or green access sticker be allowed to use
HOV lanes and freeway ramps, regardless of occupancy level,
until such time as the Department of Transportation (Caltrans)
determines that federal law does not authorize the state to
allow these vehicles to use HOV lanes or ramps.
2)Requires Caltrans to remove individual HOV lanes, or HOV lane
segments, during periods of peak congestion from these access
provisions if it finds that the lane exceeds a level of
service C (generally meaning at or near free-flowing traffic
with minimal delays) and that the operation or projected
operation of clean air vehicles will significantly increase
HOV lane congestion.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS: In 2012, Governor Brown issued an executive order
laying the foundation for 1.5 million zero- or near-zero
emission vehicles to be on California's roadways by 2025
(referred to as the ZEV mandate). In response, the California
Air Resources Board promulgated regulations requiring the
largest automakers to derive 15% of their annual California
sales from electric vehicles and other zero- or near-zero
emissions vehicles by 2025. This equates to approximately
270,000 vehicles annually.
Transitioning to clean air vehicles presents some significant
hurdles for consumers to overcome, for example, upfront costs
are higher than internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.
Moreover, electric vehicles, with their relatively limited
miles-per-charge capability, often induce range anxiety. Given
this, and given the importance of these vehicles in meeting
climate change goals, federal and state governments offer
incentives to spur the commercial success of these vehicles.
Typical incentives include: reduced purchase prices, tax
credits, rebates, sales tax exemptions, HOV access, and free
parking. These incentive programs appear to have been
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successful in enticing consumers to purchase clean air vehicles
over ICE vehicles. For example, in a survey report released in
2014 by the California Center for Sustainable Energy, 59% of
respondents indicated that access to HOV lanes was an important
motivation for purchasing a clean air vehicle.
California's experiment in incentivizing the purchase of clean
air vehicles by offering HOV lane access for single-occupant
vehicles was first authorized in 1999 with the passage of AB 71
(Cunneen), Chapter 330, Statutes of 1999, for super ultra-low
emission vehicles and ILEVs (white sticker vehicles). That
access was later expanded by AB 2628 (Pavley), Chapter 725,
Statutes of 2006, to allow hybrid vehicles. Yellow decals were
issued for these vehicles. Since allowing large numbers of
hybrids into HOV lanes would reduce the effectiveness of the
lanes by compromising their ability to offer a quicker commute
than adjacent mixed-flow lanes,
AB 2628 limited the number of stickers (yellow) for hybrids that
were allowed to be issued to 75,000 and allowed Caltrans to
suspend HOV lane privileges for hybrids on any particular lane
that reached a specified level of congestion. The yellow
sticker program was eventually allowed to sunset.
SB 535 (Yee), Chapter 215, Statutes of 2010, essentially
replaced the hybrid yellow sticker program with a new program
aimed at incentivizing the purchase of enhanced AT PEZ. The new
program (which uses green stickers) was capped at 40,000
vehicles and was originally scheduled to sunset on January 1,
2015. SB 286 (Yee), Chapter 414, Statutes of 2013, and
AB 266 (Blumenfield), Chapter, 405, Statutes of 2013,
subsequently extended sunset dates for both the green sticker
and white sticker programs to January 1, 2019. The cap has also
been raised incrementally to the current limit of 85,000 decals,
all of which have been disbursed.
An HOV lane, commonly referred to as a "carpool" or "diamond"
lane, is part of a traffic management strategy designed to
provide an incentive for commuters to form carpools by offering
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reduced travel times. The declared legislative intent in
establishing these lanes is to relieve traffic congestion,
conserve fuel, and reduce vehicular emissions.
The success of HOV access programs for clean air vehicles
triggers concerns that allowing these additional cars in the HOV
lanes may result in degraded performance of the lanes. The fear
is that, if HOV lanes become sufficiently degraded, their
benefits (i.e., traffic congestion relief, fuel conservation,
and reduced emissions) will be lost and carpooling will be
discouraged. Consequently, both state and federal existing law
require Caltrans to monitor the performance of HOV lanes and to
take action to remedy the degradation if it occurs.
The latest HOV performance monitoring report issued by Caltrans
(based on 2014 data), indicates that in the first half of 2014,
59% of the HOV lanes were degraded. That number rose to 63% for
the second half of 2014. According to Caltrans, the connection
between clean air vehicles and degradation has yet to be
established. Traffic counts indicate that clean air vehicles
constitute a relatively small percentage of the peak hour HOV
volume. For example, in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, clean
air vehicles constituted up to 5% of the peak HOV traffic on
individual freeway segments.
In response to the HOV lane performance monitoring and
consistent with federal law, Caltrans submitted to the Federal
Highway Administration (FHWA) an action plan to remedy the HOV
lane degradation. That plan called for, among other strategies,
increased enforcement, improved incident management response
times, and improved detection. The action plan specifically
stated that Caltrans would not be considering prohibiting clean
air vehicles from HOV lanes at this time because:
1)These vehicles constitute a very low percentage of the users
of HOV lanes; and,
2)Prohibiting these vehicles runs counter to the Governor's
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Executive Order that directs state agencies to take action to
support and incentivize the purchase and use of these
vehicles.
FHWA responded to Caltrans' proposed action plan last year,
indicating that the plan did not adequately provide "proactive
or tangible strategies to affect immediate mitigation for
bringing the facilities into compliance or at least leading
towards that goal." As a result, Caltrans will be considering
other options (reportedly not including removal of clean air
vehicles) to improve HOV lane performance, such as raising
vehicle occupancy levels.
According to the author, AB 1964 is necessary to provide
long-term certainty for consumers of PHEVs. As the 2019 sunset
date approaches, the author asserts that the value of the green
sticker and the incentive for purchasing a PHEV will continually
diminish. Furthermore, AB 1964 recognizes that the HOV access
incentive should, at some point, stop. The state should not
have to be in the position of indefinitely subsidizing or
otherwise incentivizing ZEVs. That was not the intent of the
initial HOV access incentive, as evidenced by both a sunset date
and a cap on the number of decals that could be issued. AB 1964
addresses this issue by including a performance metric for the
revised program. Under this bill, HOV access incentives for
PHEVs will cease after the PHEV market share of total cars sold
reaches 8.6% and sustains at least this level for two
consecutive years. This will ensure the incentive is in place
long enough for the market to be able to sustain itself. (Of
the 15% ZEV mandate, PHEVs are estimated to likely make up 8.6%
of the total cars sold.)
Committee comments and concerns:
1)That the state should help spur the commercial market for ZEVs
is undeniable. First, transitioning from ICE vehicles to
vehicles that meet the ZEV mandate is the cornerstone of the
state's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the
transportation sector. The more ZEVs that are purchased, the
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sooner we meet these goals and the sooner we realize a
healthier environment. Second, the 15% ZEV mandate will not
be easy for automakers to attain and HOV access for clean air
vehicles has proven to be an effective incentive to help. A
recent University of California, Los Angeles study showed that
the ability to access HOV lanes prompted the purchase of more
than 24,000 plug-in electric cars and hybrids, representing
40% of ZEV sales in major urban areas. AB 1964 represents a
creative approach to providing a more sustainable way to
continually offer this incentive.
2)Increasingly, the HOV lane performance is degraded. This bill
will effectively allow a significant increase in the number of
vehicles that will be eligible to access the HOV lanes,
thereby exacerbating the HOV lane degradation to the point
that carpool requirements may have to be increased to three or
more occupants.
Related legislation: AB 1851 (Gray and Ting), among other
things, removes the 85,000 cap on the number of decals that can
be issued in the green sticker program. AB 1851 is scheduled to
be heard by this committee on April 11, 2016.
The Governor's administration has proposed trailer bill language
to extend the white sticker program until 2025, consistent with
recently enacted federal law. The Governor's proposal would
also remove the cap on the number of decals that can be issued
in the green sticker program.
Previous legislation: AB 71 (Cunneen), Chapter 330, Statutes of
1999, first authorized access to HOV lanes for vehicles in the
white sticker program.
AB 2628 (Pavley), Chapter 725, Statutes of 2006, expanded the
HOV lane access by allowing hybrid vehicles to use the lanes.
Yellow stickers were issued for this program.
SB 535 (Yee), Chapter 215, Statutes of 2010, essentially
replaced the hybrid yellow sticker program with a new program
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aimed at incentivizing the purchase of enhanced AT PEZ. The new
program (which uses green stickers) was capped at 40,000
vehicles and was originally scheduled to sunset on January 1,
2015. Sunset dates for both the green sticker and white sticker
programs were subsequently extended to January 1, 2019, by SB
286 (Yee), Chapter 414, Statutes of 2013, and AB 266
(Blumenfield), Chapter, 405, Statutes of 2013.
SB 853 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review), Chapter 27,
Statutes of 2014, among other provisions, expanded the number of
available green stickers from 40,000 to 55,000, AB 2013
(Muratsuchi), Chapter 527, Statutes of 2014, expanded the number
from 55,000 to 70,000, and AB 95 (Committee on Budget), Chapter
12, Statutes of 2015, expanded the number from 70,000 to 85,000.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Auto Alliance
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
AB 1964
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