BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 247|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 247
Author: Lara (D)
Amended: 8/11/16
Vote: 21
PRIOR VOTES NOT RELEVANT
SENATE TRANS. & HOUSING COMMITTEE: 8-0, 1/12/16
AYES: Beall, Cannella, Allen, Galgiani, McGuire, Mendoza,
Roth, Wieckowski
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bates, Gaines, Leyva
SENATE ENERGY, U. & C. COMMITTEE: 8-0, 1/13/16
AYES: Hueso, Cannella, Hertzberg, Hill, Lara, McGuire, Pavley,
Wolk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Fuller, Leyva, Morrell
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 1/21/16
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza, Nielsen
SENATE FLOOR: 26-4, 1/27/16
AYES: Allen, Beall, Block, De León, Galgiani, Glazer, Hall,
Hancock, Hernandez, Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Jackson, Lara,
Leno, Leyva, Liu, McGuire, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Pan,
Pavley, Roth, Wieckowski, Wolk
NOES: Anderson, Moorlach, Morrell, Vidak
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bates, Berryhill, Cannella, Fuller, Gaines,
Huff, Nguyen, Nielsen, Runner, Stone
SUBJECT: Charter bus transportation: safety improvements
SOURCE: Author
SB 247
Page 2
DIGEST: This bill places new operating and equipment
requirements on charter buses.
Assembly Amendments delete some of the equipment requirements
and apply them only to buses designed to carry 39 or more
passengers and manufactured on or after July 1, 2020.
ANALYSIS: Existing law requires charter-party carriers of
passengers to be permitted by the California Public Utilities
Commission.
This bill:
1)Requires charter bus drivers of buses designed to carry 39 or
more passengers to instruct passengers, or play a video, on
exit location and operation and the importance of seatbelt
use. The instruction shall also include written or video
instruction that includes a demonstration of location and
operation of all exits. The California Highway Patrol (CHP)
shall adopt standards for these provisions by July 1, 2018.
2)Requires all charter buses designed to carry 39 or more
passengers and that are manufactured by July 1, 2020, to be
equipped with emergency lighting fixtures that turn on in the
event of a collision.
Comments
1)Purpose: Orland accident. In April 2014, a FedEx
tractor-trailer traveling on I-5 near Orland, California,
drifted across the grassy median separating the- north and
southbound lanes and collided with a charter bus carrying a
group of Los Angeles-area high school students travelling to
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Page 3
Humboldt State University for a campus tour. Diesel from one
of the truck's fuel tanks sprayed into the front of the bus on
impact, and friction from the crash ignited it, causing a fire
in the passenger compartment. The drivers of both vehicles
were killed, along with eight passengers - seven of whom died
from asphyxiation or burns rather than their impact-related
injuries.
Though the accident was caused by the truck, investigators
from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) also
examined factors related to the features and operation of the
bus that may have contributed to the fatalities. NTSB then
made several recommendations to the National Highway and
Transportation System Administration and the Federal Motor
Carrier Safety Administration, which have so far declined to
impose additional regulations on charter buses. This bill
proposes to adopt these recommendations - discussed below - as
state law.
2)What's covered; what's not. This bill deals with carriers
engaged in charter bus transportation. Charter bus
transportation is defined as the use of a vehicle designed to
carry more than 10 persons travelling together under a single
contract for a fixed fee. This definition excludes school
buses and public transit buses. This bill adopts the charter
bus definition but only for buses designed to carry 39 or more
passengers.
3)Passenger safety briefings. Unlike commercial airlines,
charter bus companies are not required to provide safety
information to passengers at the outset of each trip. The
charter bus company involved in the Orland accident had
prepared a safety video for passengers; however, the driver
did not show it at the outset of this particular trip. This
may have affected crash survivability: Although the bus was
equipped with seatbelts, many passengers were not wearing them
at the time of the accident, and several sustained serious or
fatal injuries after being thrown from their seats. Bus
passengers also reported having difficulty operating the
emergency window exits. Both the availability of seatbelts
and window exit operation would have been covered in the
safety briefing, had it been shown. The NTSB report
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recommends that charter bus operators be required to provide
pre-trip safety briefings, written safety materials, and
information on seatbelts.
4)Fire frequency. The California Bus Association knows of no
other instances of fires in buses in the past year. They
point to what they believe is an exemplary safety record of
buses, particularly when considered in the context of
passenger miles travelled. The CHP has searched media
articles for other instances of deaths from an inability to
exit a burning bus, and they could find none. Though not
specific to fires, the CHP has found that there have been
between two and seven fatal tour bus collisions (not
necessarily fire-related) annually in California since 2010.
Except for 2014, the year of the Orland fire, the number of
tour bus fatalities has been less than four annually during
that same period.
5)A slimmed-down version. As it passed the Senate, this bill
required buses to have burn-resistant materials in their
passenger compartments, emergency lighting systems that run on
an independent power source, reflective emergency signage,
windows that can be easily opened and remain open during an
emergency, and event-data recording systems triggered by
sudden deceleration or braking. The Assembly amendments
deleted most of these requirements, leaving only the
requirement for emergency lighting fixtures, delaying the
implementation to buses manufactured on or after July 1, 2020,
and limiting the applicability to busses designed to carry 39
or more passengers.
6)Limousine precedent. There is precedent for state law to
require improvements in the ability of passengers to exit
vehicles. In an unfortunately analogous circumstance, in
2013, a limousine caught fire on the San Mateo Bridge in the
San Francisco Bay Area, killing several passengers who were
trapped inside. The Legislature responded by requiring that
limousines have additional exits.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
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From the Assembly Appropriations Committee analysis: One-time
minor costs ($20,000) for the CHP to adopt the required
standards. [Motor Vehicle Account]
SUPPORT: (Verified8/22/16)
Consumer Attorneys of California
Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety
Consumer Federation of California
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/22/16)
None received
Prepared by:Randy Chinn / T. & H. / (916) 651-4121
8/22/16 21:33:53
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