BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2586
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GOVERNOR'S VETO
AB
2586 (Gatto)
As Enrolled September 9, 2016
2/3 vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |66-11 |(June 2, 2016) |SENATE: |23-11 |(August 25, |
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|ASSEMBLY: |67-7 |(August 30, | | | |
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Original Committee Reference: TRANS.
SUMMARY: Makes changes to a variety of parking provisions.
The Senate amendments:
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1)Delete provisions prohibiting valet parking services in
business districts from restricting motorists' ability to park
in available metered parking spaces and from prohibiting
motorists from using designated passenger loading areas.
2)Delay implementation, until January 1, 2020, of the
requirement that local authorities who prohibit or restrict
parking or stopping of vehicles for street sweeping or other
maintenance activities, must make the street available to
motorists as soon as the activities are concluded, regardless
of the posted hours.
3)Provide that a vehicle may park for up to two hours, rather
than up to the posted time limit, at inoperable parking meters
or inoperable payment centers.
4)Clarify that a violation for exceeding the two hour "grace
period" at an inoperable meter is subject to civil penalties
and is neither an infraction nor public offense.
5)Make related, clarifying amendments.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY, this bill:
1)Declared the intent of the Legislature that if a local
authority prohibits or restricts parking or standing of
vehicles for the purposes of street sweeping, the local
authority shall ensure that parking is made available as soon
as the street sweeping is completed.
2)Deleted the sunset on provisions authorizing parking, up to
the posted time limit, at inoperable parking meters or in
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operable parking payment centers (with kiosks), thereby
extending these provisions indefinitely.
3)Prohibited valet parking services in business districts from
restricting motorists' ability to park in available metered
parking spaces and from prohibiting motorists from using
designated passenger loading areas.
4)Prohibited a local authority, when using contracted private
parking enforcement services, from promoting incentives
(monetary or otherwise) for issuing higher numbers of
violations or increasing fines to cover the costs of the
contracted enforcement services.
FISCAL EFFECT: None. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS: According to the author, every year cities issue
thousands of parking tickets to motorists for every imaginable
violation. He notes that in many cases these excessive
citations are driven by budget deficits that forced many local
governments to run their parking enforcement programs as
revenue-generation mechanisms rather than as a mechanism to
enforce sensible parking restrictions. He points out that these
excessive citations add up and that in 2014 alone, the City of
Los Angeles generated $165 million in citations and, similarly,
the City of San Francisco generated $130 million. The author
has introduced this bill, which he describes as a "Parking Bill
of Rights," to address a variety of parking offenses that he
believes are being excessively cited by local jurisdictions and
are overly punitive.
Broken Parking Meters: In 2012, SB 1388 (DeSaulnier), Chapter
70, Statutes of 2012 established a general rule that a vehicle
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owner may park, up to the posted time limit, without penalty, in
any parking space where the parking meter or parking payment
center is inoperable. SB 1388 contained a provision that
allowed local jurisdictions to adopt different rules, provided
that adequate notice of the rule was provided at the parking
location. As a result, some local jurisdictions began banning
parking at inoperable meters using posted signs to notify
motorists, in compliance with SB 1388.
To address this loophole, Assembly Member Gatto introduced AB
61, Chapter 71, Statutes of 2013, to prohibit local
jurisdictions from ticketing at inoperable meters. AB 61
included a sunset provision making it inoperable after January
1, 2017. The author contends that the intent of AB 61, to make
as many parking spaces available to motorists as possible, has
been achieved and it also created an incentive for local
jurisdictions to promptly repair or replace broken meters.
Local jurisdictions, on the other hand, contend, that AB 61,
while well intended, encouraged increased parking meter
vandalism which, when successful, allows motorists to park for
free. Given data that shows that parking meter vandalism is
more frequent at meters that offer longer term parking (such as
10-hour meters) and the fact that the majority of parking meters
are set at two hour increments, the author has amended this bill
such that a vehicle may only park for a maximum of two hours at
an inoperable parking meter. This amendment would allow the
parking spaces with inoperable meters to be utilized but would
discourage parking meter vandalism.
Private Parking Enforcement: The author points out that in the
face of limited manpower, many local governments have turned to
the privatization of parking enforcement operations. While the
author does not take issue with this method of performing this
much needed enforcement, he notes that some parking enforcement
contracts contain provisions that incentivize enforcement
contractors to issue citations. The author feels that these
practices results in overly harsh or unfair enforcement. While
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it could be argued that these parties are simply enforcing
existing law, as the author points out, creating financial
incentives for these companies or other incentives, such as
improved prospects for renewed contracts, can lead to
overzealous enforcement resulting in costly fines to motorists
for what can be perceived as relatively minor offenses.
GOVERNOR'S VETO MESSAGE:
I am returning Assembly Bill 2586 without my signature.
This bill requires local authorities to make parking spaces
available to motorists as soon as street sweeping or other
maintenance activities are completed.
During posted street sweeping hours, local agencies may provide
several types of services such as tree trimming, leaf removal
and utility maintenance. The current policy, which establishes
a clear restriction on parking during regular road maintenance,
leaves no gray area as to when motorists can park and provides
agencies time to complete their work. If enacted, this bill
would add more confusion for motorists who occupy spaces in the
belief that they are available when maintenance crews may still
need to provide services in the area. It would also hinder
localities' ability to provide important services to their
residents.
Analysis Prepared by:
Victoria Alvarez / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093 FN:
0005130
AB 2586
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