BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENERGY, UTILITIES AND COMMUNICATIONS
Senator Ben Hueso, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 247 Hearing Date: 1/13/2016
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|Author: |Lara |
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|Version: |1/4/2016 As Amended |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Nidia Bautista |
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SUBJECT: Charter bus transportation: safety improvements
DIGEST: This bill requires charter buses to have specified
emergency equipment by July 1, 2017, including a secondary exit
door, burn resistant materials, event data recorder, and others.
This bill also requires charter bus drivers to instruct
passengers of locations and operations of emergency exits and
the use of seat belts prior to the beginning of a trip and
provide these instructions in writing.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Establishes the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)
with five members appointed by the governor and confirmed by
the Senate and empowers it to regulate privately owned public
utilities and common carriers in California. (Article XII of
the California Constitution; Public Utilities Code §301 et
seq.)
2)Defines passenger stage corporation as every corporation or
person engaged as a common carrier, for compensation, in the
ownership, control, operation, or management of any passenger
stage over any public highway in the state between fixed
termini or over a regular route, not including those
exclusively operating within a local jurisdiction or school
buses. Establishes the CPUC's authority to regulate, require
license or permit to operate, require insurance and workers
compensation, take appropriate enforcement action and other
provisions related to passenger stage corporations. (Public
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Utilities Code §§226 and 1031 et seq.)
3)Defines "charter-party carrier of passengers" as every person
engaged in the transportation of persons by motor vehicle for
compensation, whether in common or contract carriage, over any
public highway in the state and includes any person,
corporation, or other entity engaged in the provision of a
hired driver service when a rented motor vehicle is being
operated by a hired driver. Establishes the CPUC's authority
to regulate, require license or permit to operate, require
insurance and workers compensation, take appropriate
enforcement action and other provisions related to
charter-party carrier of passengers. (Public Utilities Code
§5351)
4)Establishes the CPUC's authority to regulate private carriers
of passengers including requiring public liability and
property insurance, cargo insurance, knowledge of rates,
documentation, timely reporting of revenues and payment fees,
and provides that the CPUC can take appropriate enforcement
action, etc. (Public Utilities Code §4001)
5)Provides the California Highway Patrol (CHP) with the ability
to take enforcement action related to requirements of buses of
charter-party carriers as required by the Public Utilities
Code, including ensuring a proper and current license or
permit from the CPUC. (Vehicle Code §14602.9)
6)Provides that the Department of Motor Vehicles shall regulate
the safe operation of buses, including tour buses, and
establish regulations regarding equipment and operations.
(Vehicle Code §34500, et seq.)
This bill:
1)Requires charter buses to be equipped with specified equipment
(listed below) and requires the CHP to adopt standards for
these new features by July 1, 2017. Specifically:
a. Burn resistant materials.
b. Emergency lighting fixtures with independent power
sources that will turn on in the event of an impact or
collision.
c. Interior and exterior luminescent emergency signage.
d. An event data recorder capable of recording certain
vehicle-related data in the event of sudden deceleration
SB 247 (Lara) Page 3 of ?
or hard braking.
e. Windows that can be easily opened and remain open
during an emergency.
2)Requires all buses manufactured after July 1, 2017, and used
for charter transportation in California to be equipped with a
secondary exit door.
3)Requires charter bus drivers to instruct passengers of exit
locations and operations prior to the beginning of a trip.
Background
On April 10, 2014, a FedEx Freight tractor-trailer truck
traveling southbound on Interstate-5 near Orland, California,
lost control and collided with a four-door sedan and proceeded
to drift across the grassy median separating the northbound and
southbound lanes. The FedEx truck then collided with the front
of a charter bus carrying 45 passengers, consisting of a group
of Los Angeles-area high school students and three adult
chaperones, on their way to a campus tour of Humboldt State
University. A post-crash fire immediately ensued as the diesel
fuel from the truck's fuel tank sprayed into the bus and ignited
as a result of the friction and sparks from the collision. The
fires spread quickly and visibility within the bus deteriorated
rapidly due to the smoke. Both the truck and bus drivers and
eight charter bus passengers died, including all three adult
chaperones and five high school students. Six of the passengers
died from asphyxiation due to inhaling the smoke and another
died from burns sustained in the fire.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigated the
incident and identified the truck driver's loss of control as
the cause of the accident. Additionally, the NTSB also examined
factors related to the safety features and operations of the bus
that may have contributed to the death toll. NTSB made several
recommendations to two federal agencies responsible for
regulating vehicle design and bus transportation, specifically
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal
Motor Carrier Safety Administration. As the NTSB noted, many of
the recommendations had previously been recommended by the NTSB,
in some cases for many decades. To date, the agencies have not
adopted these specific additional regulations on buses.
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CPUC Regulated Bus Activities. Since its inception in 1911
(then as the Railroad Commission), the CPUC has regulated
private companies and individuals that own, operate, control or
manage transportation of people and property. Until 1995, with
passage of federal trucking deregulation laws, the CPUC licensed
and regulated many types of carriers transporting commodities
over public highways within California. Currently, the CPUC's
remaining authority is limited to non-rail passenger carriers
and household goods movers. Under state law, the CPUC is
required to license carriers, and investigate and enforce safety
and consumer protection laws for the following surface
transportation carriers:
Passenger Stage Corporations - for-hire carriers
transporting passengers over public highways on an
individual-fare basis. Examples include Greyhound bus
service.
Transportation Charter-Party Carriers - operate under the
direction and control of their chartering party that
arranges the transportation, on a prearranged basis.
Examples include tour buses and sight-seeing buses, as well
as limousines and transportation network companies, such as
Lyft and Uber.
Private Carriers of Passengers - includes not-for-hire
motor carrier transporting passengers in buses (vehicles
seating 10 or more) that are required to obtain a "CA
number" from CHP. Examples include church buses.
State Jurisdiction. Federal law imposes some restrictions on
the states' jurisdiction over vehicles. The California Bus
Association argues that states are preempted from regulating
vehicle design, including the requirement of an additional exit
door and others changes proposed in this bill. However, they
note that California has established unique requirements for red
rear lights. Legislative Counsel has found that states may
exercise "safety regulatory authority" over motor vehicles,
specifically referencing 49 United States Code Section 14501,
which provides that states can establish vehicle safety
requirements, in so far as, they are not in conflict or
inconsistent with a federal requirement. Legislative Counsel
believes the provisions of this bill are within California's
jurisdiction.
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Not all bus passengers covered. This bill specifically
addresses charter-party carrier buses, meaning only those buses
used for activities related to reservation of a bus for private
use, as was the case in the Orland bus accident. However, bus
vehicles are utilized in other activities that allow for
passenger transport, including additional activities licensed by
the CPUC, such as passenger stage corporations (example:
Greyhound buses) and private carriers of passengers (example:
church buses). Should this bill move forward, the author may
wish to consider expanding the proposed vehicle safety
requirements to include all buses that transport passengers by
moving the proposed requirements into the California Vehicle
Code. As a result, all buses, whether charter-party carriers,
passenger stage corporations or others would be required to
abide by the Vehicle Code requirements, unless explicitly
exempted, such may be the case for school buses, which often
have unique requirements. As part of its licensing
requirements, the CPUC currently requires all vehicles to be in
compliance of applicable Vehicle Code and related regulatory
requirements.
Costs are unknown. The proposed changes in this bill have costs
of varying degrees, but are not sufficiently known. Neither the
author nor those expressing concerns have provided detailed
information on costs related to each proposed change. The NTSB
notes some of these recommendations are already required on
buses in Europe.
Prior/Related Legislation
SB 109 (Corbett, Chapter 752, Statutes of 2013) required all
modified, or "stretch," limousines to have at least two rear
doors and two push-out exit windows.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.: Yes Local: Yes
SUPPORT:
Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety
OPPOSITION:
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None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: The author states, "NTSB has repeatedly
warned the Department of Transportation (DOT) about deficiencies
in charter bus safety standards over the last forty years, but
the DOT has failed to act. Due to the low safety standards,
buses are not nearly as safe as they could and should be.
Most recently in California there was a fatal accident in
Orland, California that killed eight people. The majority of
the causalities were caused by the difficulty passengers had
exiting the vehicle. The door was unusable due to the nature of
the accident and the bus was not equipped with a second door.
Among other issues, passengers struggled to exit the burning
vehicle through the windows because they were not designed to
stay open and kept slammed shut after each passenger jumped out.
This bill closes the gap in safety standards between buses and
other modes of transportation by requiring charter buses to meet
the safety requirements recommended by the NTSB. These
improvements will significantly increase passenger safety,
reduce and prevent future deaths in bus traffic collisions."
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