BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 247
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Date of Hearing: June 13, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Jim Frazier, Chair
SB
247 (Lara) - As Amended June 8, 2016
SENATE VOTE: 26-4
SUBJECT: Charter bus transportation: safety improvements
SUMMARY: Requires a charter-party carrier of passengers engaged
in charter bus transportation to ensure each vehicle operated
for that purpose is equipped with specified safety features.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires each vehicle used for charter bus transportation to
be equipped with interior and exterior luminescent or
retroreflective emergency signage by July 1, 2019.
2)Requires each vehicle used for charter bus transportation
manufactured after on or after
July 1, 2020, to be equipped with a secondary door for use as an
additional emergency exist, windows that can be easily opened
and remain open during an emergency, and emergency lighting
fixtures that will turn on in the event of an impact or
collision.
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3)Requires each vehicle used for charter bus transportation to
comply at all times with applicable federal motor vehicle
safety standards (FMVSS).
4)Requires the Department of the California Highway Patrol (CHP)
to adopt standards and criteria for the implementation of the
above safety equipment by July 1, 2017.
5)Requires the driver of each vehicle used for charter bus
transportation instruct all passengers on the safety equipment
and emergency exits on the vehicle prior to the beginning of
any trip and requires CHP to adopt standards and criteria for
the implementation of this requirement by July 1, 2017.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Defines "charter-party carrier of passengers" as a person
engaged in the transportation of persons by motor vehicle for
compensation over any public highway.
2)Establishes the "Passenger Charter-Party Carriers Act," which
directs the California Public Utilities Commission to issue
permits or certificates to charter-party carriers, investigate
complaints against carriers, and cancel, revoke, or suspend
permits and certificates for specific violations.
3)Defines "charter bus transportation" as transportation using a
vehicle with a capacity of more than 10 persons, including the
driver, of a group of persons who have acquired the exclusive
use of the vehicle to travel together under a single contract
at a fixed charge.
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4)Requires CHP to regulate the equipment, maintenance, and safe
operation of specified vehicles.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS: In April 2014, a tractor trailer drifted across the
median of Interstate 5 near Orland and collided with a charter
bus carrying high school students on a college visit to northern
California. The collision disabled the bus door and caused
diesel fuel from the tractor trailer's fuel tank to spray into
the passenger compartment of the bus and ignite. Both drivers
and eight bus passengers were killed from the impact of the
collision or injuries sustained in the fire.
After its investigation of the accident, the National
Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) made a number of
recommendations to the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA) and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration (FMCSA) for ways to improve the safety of both
charter buses and motor carriers. Those recommendations
included requiring rigorous performance standards for
flammability and smoke emissions characteristics for bus
interiors, requiring new bus designs to include a secondary door
for use as an additional emergency exit, requiring a pretrip
safety briefing for bus passengers, requiring windows to be
easily opened and remain open during an emergency evacuation,
developing standards for on-board crash data recorders,
requiring all motorcoaches be equipped with emergency lighting
fixtures outfitted with an independent power source, and
requiring interior luminescent or exterior retroreflective
markings for emergency exits. The federal entities identified
in the NTSB report have not yet adopted these recommendations.
The report also identified, but made no recommendations relating
to numerous other accident factors in the Orland collision, such
as the absence of a highway median barrier at the collision
site, disuse of seatbelts by some bus passengers, and the
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volatility of the tractor trailer's fuel tank.
This bill codifies a number of the NTSB report's recommendations
in California statute for vehicles used in charter bus
transportation.
The author believes that SB 247 will close the gap in safety
standards between buses and other modes of transportation, such
as airplanes and rail, and address the potentially dangerous
conditions faced by bus passengers. The author intends to
ensure that, although accidents will continue to happen, the
survival rate of passengers in those future accidents is as high
as possible, and that no future deaths are caused by inadequate
emergency exit systems.
According to CHP, the annual number of fatalities caused by
collisions with charter buses has been fewer than four since
2010, and it is unclear if any of those are attributable to the
same fatal circumstances of the Orland collision.
The Legislature has enacted similar safety requirements for
charter party carrier vehicles in recent years, including
equipment requirements for modified limousines as a result of a
fatal limousine fire in San Mateo.
Federal preemption potential: Under the federal National
Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, states cannot adopt a
safety standard for motor vehicle equipment that conflicts with
a federal standard in effect on the same aspect of performance
of that equipment. However, SB 247 would mandate the
installation of certain safety features to, in effect, mitigate
the impact of a traffic accident, but would not mandate that the
performance of that equipment meets a specified standard. For
this reason, it appears the requirements of this bill would not
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be preempted by federal law. For example, under this bill, a
motorcoach would be required to be equipped with windows that
are easily opened, but those windows would still be required to
meet all federal standards for characteristics such as size,
design, and manufacture.
Previous legislation: SB 611 (Hill), Chapter 860, Statutes of
2014, among other provisions required modified limousines to be
equipped with two fire extinguishers.
SB 109 (Corbett), Chapter 752, Statutes of 2013, required
modified limousines to be equipped with specified safety
features, including an additional emergency exit and push-out
windows.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Consumer Attorneys of California
Consumer Federation of California
Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety
Opposition
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ABC Bus Companies, Inc.
All West Coachlines
Amador Stage Lines
American Star Trailways
California Bus Association
Carreras Tours, LLC
Certified Transportation Services, Inc.
Classic Charter
Discovery Luxury Motorcoach Charters
Goldfield Stage
Greyhound Lines, Inc.
Lin Lines
Motor Coach Industries
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Pacific Coachways
Pacific Coast Sightseeing Tours and Charters, Inc.
Pacific Monarch Ltd.
Royal Coach Tours
San Diego Charter Company
Sierra Pacific Tours
Silverado Stages
Silver Bay Tours
Storer Coachways
Sundance Stage Lines
The Volvo Group
WESS Transportation Services, Inc.
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Analysis Prepared by:Justin Behrens / TRANS. / (916)
319-2093