BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2491|
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 2491
Author: Nazarian (D)
Amended: 6/13/16 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANS. & HOUSING COMMITTEE: 11-0, 6/21/16
AYES: Beall, Cannella, Allen, Bates, Gaines, Galgiani, Leyva,
McGuire, Mendoza, Roth, Wieckowski
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 4/28/16 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: Vehicles: stopping, standing, and parking
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill authorizes local governments to pass
ordinances that prohibit stopping, parking, or leaving a vehicle
standing within 15 feet of driveways of certain emergency
facilities that are regularly accessed by emergency vehicles.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Prohibits stopping, parking, or leaving a vehicle, attended or
unattended, in certain places, including, but not limited to,
intersections, crosswalks, sidewalks, tunnels, bridges, in
front of driveways, and within 15 feet of the driveway of a
fire station.
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Page 2
2)Provides a blanket exemption in cases when doing so "is
necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic" or when
directed to do so by a peace officer.
This bill:
1)Allows local governments to adopt ordinances that prohibit
stopping, parking, or leaving a vehicle standing, attended or
unattended, within 15 feet of a driveway used by emergency
vehicles to enter a fire department, police department,
ambulance service provider, or general acute-care hospital.
These prohibitions would be subject to the same exceptions
related to avoiding conflict with other traffic and obeying
peace officers as the general prohibitions related to parking
in existing law.
2)Exempts from these prohibitions vehicles owned by fire or
police departments, ambulance companies, or general acute-care
hospitals that are clearly marked as such.
3)Requires a local authority that enacts such an ordinance to
provide curb markings, street markings, and signs to delineate
the areas in which parking, stopping, and standing are
prohibited.
Comments
1)Purpose. According to the author, while existing law
prohibits parking, stopping, or leaving a vehicle standing
within 15 feet of the driveway of a fire station, there is no
equivalent, explicit prohibition for the driveways of other
emergency facilities, such as police stations, hospitals, and
ambulance companies. The author cites statistics from the
California Ambulance Association indicating that California's
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Page 3
365 ground ambulance companies operate some 4,500 ambulances
and transport over 2.9 million Californians each year. The
author points out that in urban areas, these vehicles
generally must be on the scene of an emergency within eight
minutes, and that rapid response is essential to achieving
good outcomes and saving lives. The author notes that when
emergency vehicles cannot enter or exit their facilities,
critical response time is lost and important services are
delayed. The purpose of this bill, according to the author,
is to give local authorities the ability to effectively
address the issue of keeping emergency response unit driveways
clear.
2)Beyond parking. This bill is intended to facilitate the
adoption of ordinances that preclude stopping of any kind
within 15 feet of driveways routinely used by emergency
vehicles. This includes stopping in lanes designated for
regular vehicle travel, such as occurs when cars back up
behind a red light. This bill was amended by the author to
make it clear that local governments that establish such "keep
clear zones" must provide pavement markings in the affected
lanes.
3)Which driveways, which vehicles? This bill authorizes local
governments to adopt ordinances that restrict stopping near
the driveways of certain emergency response-related
facilities. This bill does not concern all driveways at these
facilities, however. Driveways that are not used by emergency
vehicles, such as those providing access to patient and staff
parking areas, are not affected. Additionally, the parking
prohibitions authorized by this bill do not apply to emergency
vehicles themselves. Vehicles that are owned by fire
departments, police departments, ambulance service providers,
or general acute-care hospitals and clearly labeled as such
are exempt.
4)Is there a problem? It is not clear how often emergency
response is hampered by blocked driveways at hospitals,
ambulance companies, and police and fire stations, as this
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Page 4
data is not tracked by all local governments or aggregated at
the state level. However, at least one jurisdiction reports
reoccurring problems of this nature. Writing in support of
this bill, the North Hollywood Community Police Station (a
subdivision of the Los Angeles Police Department) states,
"There have been frequent occasions when vehicular traffic has
blocked the driveway [of] the police station, causing delays
and blocking the ingress and egress route for police and other
emergency vehicles. This is a situation that is not unique to
the [station]."
5)By ordinance instead of by statute. Existing law bans
parking, standing, or stopping within 15 feet of the driveway
of a fire station anywhere in California. An earlier version
of this bill simply expanded that blanket prohibition to
include the driveways of other types of facilities. In
contrast, the current version authorizes local governments to
adopt their own prohibitions with respect to other facilities,
giving them the tools to maintain access for emergency
vehicles as well as the discretion to pursue parking,
standing, and stopping limits in accordance with their own
needs. The author also amended this bill to require local
governments that pass such ordinances to erect signage and
apply curb markings so that members of the public know where
parking, standing, and stopping are forbidden.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:NoLocal: No
SUPPORT: (Verified 6/23/16)
California Ambulance Association
California Association of Highway Patrolmen
California Police Chiefs Association
California State Sheriffs' Association
Mayor Eric Garcetti, Los Angeles
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Page 5
North Hollywood Community Police Station, Los Angeles Police
Department
Peace Officers Research Association of California
OPPOSITION: (Verified 6/23/16)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 4/28/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper,
Dababneh, Dahle, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines,
Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson,
Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger
Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey,
Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mayes, McCarty,
Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell,
Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago,
Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber,
Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon
NO VOTE RECORDED: Chávez, Daly, Mathis, Olsen
Prepared by:Sarah Carvill / T. & H. / (916) 651-4121
6/24/16 14:33:44
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