BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2687
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Date of Hearing: May 18, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
2687 (Achadjian) - As Amended April 25, 2016
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|Policy |Public Safety |Vote:|7 - 0 |
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
No
SUMMARY:
This bill conforms prohibitions and punishments for drivers that
have passengers for hire when they commit specified offenses
related to Driving Under the Influence (DUI) to ensure
consistent treatment with commercial drivers. Specifically,
this bill:
1)Makes it unlawful for a person who has 0.04% or more, by
weight, of alcohol in his or her blood to drive a motor
vehicle when a passenger for hire is a passenger in the
vehicle at the time of the offense.
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2)Specifies that it is unlawful for a person who has 0.04% or
more, by weight, of alcohol in his or her blood to drive a
motor vehicle, as specified, and concurrently do any act or
neglect any duty that proximately causes bodily injury to
another person other than the driver.
3)Defines "passenger for hire" as "a passenger for whom
consideration is contributed or expected as a condition of
carriage in the vehicle, whether directly or indirectly
flowing to the owner, operator, agent, or any other person
having an interest in the vehicle."
FISCAL EFFECT:
Cost to the DMV will exceed $1 million (MVA) for programming the
additional byte.
Unknown nonreimbursable costs to cities and counties for
enforcement and possible incarceration, offset to some extent by
fine revenues.
COMMENTS:
1)Background. Under current law individuals driving "commercial
vehicles" are prohibited from driving such a vehicle with .04
or more Blood Alcohol Content (BAC), at the time of driving.
Generally, individuals are prohibited from driving if they
have .08 or more BAC. Taxi drivers and drivers for ride
sharing services (Uber, Lyft) are governed by the .08 limit.
That limit applies whether or not there are passengers in
their vehicles.
Under current law commercial vehicles include a vehicle that
AB 2687
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can carry more than 10 people. This encompasses bus drivers
and individuals driving larger shuttles. One of the reasons
the law imposes lower alcohol limits for drivers of commercial
vehicles is that commercial vehicles are much larger vehicles
with a greater potential to cause injury and death in the
event of a collision. That particular concern is not present
with taxi drivers and ride sharing drivers, who are operating
standard size vehicles.
2)Purpose. According to the author, "When the San Luis Obispo
County District Attorney's office was prosecuting a case
involving two passenger for hire drivers, they found that the
Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) level for passenger for hire
vehicles was inconsistent with other commercial vehicles."
AB 2687 holds the drivers of passenger for hire vehicles to
the strictest standard and ensures passenger and pedestrian
safety. Commercial vehicles include passenger transportation
vehicles when designed, used, or maintained to carry more than
10 persons, including the driver. Such vehicles encompass
shuttles and larger vans used in manners that would be
consistent with the definition in this bill of "passenger for
hire." A lower limit for drivers of commercial vehicles is
also consistent with the increased regulations that are placed
on commercial drivers generally.
3)Support/Opposition. The California District Attorneys
Association supports holding drivers for hire to a higher
standard. In opposition, the California Public Defenders
Association states, "There are already available ways to
prohibit the evil contemplated by this bill, and all this bill
does is make it easier to convict the unimpaired."
AB 2687
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Analysis Prepared by:Pedro Reyes / APPR. / (916)
319-2081