BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND HOUSING
Senator Jim Beall, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 413 Hearing Date: 4/28/2015
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|Author: |Wieckowski |
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|Version: |4/16/2015 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant|Eric Thronson |
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SUBJECT: Public transit: prohibited conduct
DIGEST: This bill adds violations to the list of activities
that are infractions related to transit operators, as well as
includes minors as potential violators of all existing
infractions.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law makes it an infraction for someone, who is not a
minor, to engage in a number of activities in a vehicle or
facility of any transit district, with varying fines and
penalties assigned to each tier of infraction, including:
1)Tier 1 (up to $250 fine and community service)
Eating, drinking, or smoking in areas where the system
operator has prohibited those activities
Disturbing another person by loud or unreasonable noise
Expectorating
Skateboarding, roller skating, bicycle riding, or roller
blading, except as necessary for utilization of the transit
facility by a bicyclist
The sale or peddling of goods, merchandise, property, or
services without written consent if the public
SB 413 (Wieckowski) Page 2 of ?
transportation system has prohibited those acts
1)Tier 2 (up to $400 fine and community service or jail time)
Fare evasion
Misuse of a transfer, pass, ticket, or token with the
intent to evade the payment of a fare
Unauthorized use of a discount ticket or failure to
present acceptable proof of eligibility to use a discount
ticket
This bill:
1)Includes minors as potential violators of all delineated
infractions
2)Specifies that the "loud noise" infraction includes playing
sound equipment on or in a system facility or vehicle, or
failing to comply with the warning of a transit official
concerning disturbing others with loud noise
3)Adds failing to yield seating reserved for an elderly or
disabled person to the list of Tier 1 infractions
4)Increases from Tier 1 to Tier 2 the penalty for the sale or
peddling of goods, merchandise, property, or services without
written consent
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, this bill improves transit
agencies' enforcement of specified prohibited acts and thereby
improves overall transit service. This bill does this by
clarifying existing law to provide parity for what constitutes
violations, allowing transit agencies to use administrative
penalties to cite and process minors, and by adding a
violation in line with the federal Americans with Disabilities
Act.
2)Why include minors? Existing law allows transit operators to
levy administrative penalties against adults who have
committed certain violations on their systems, but sends
minors who commit these violations through the judicial
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system. When San Francisco originally sought the authority to
levy administrative penalties for these violations, it
intentionally did not apply this new process to minors because
it thought the threat of a juvenile record might act as a
deterrent to the minors. This has not been the case,
unfortunately, and now transit operators want to subject
minors to an administrative process for resolving violations
in the same manner as adults, removing them from the criminal
process and reducing the overall pressure on the state's
stressed court system. This bill accomplishes this aim.
3)Why is peddling goods so bad? This bill increases the
potential penalty for the sale or peddling of goods on transit
property without written consent. This violation is being
elevated from the realm of eating or drinking or spitting on a
transit vehicle to be akin to fare evasion or fraud. It is
unclear why violators of this infraction need to be treated
more harshly than they have in the past. The committee may
wish to ask the author for justification of increasing the
penalty for the sale or peddling of wares on transit property.
Related Legislation:
AB 869 (Cooper) - relates to the process by which transit
operators levy administrative penalties for fare evasion. This
bill is currently pending in the Assembly Appropriations
Committee.
SB 24 (Hill) - restricts the use of e-cigarettes in specific
areas, including adding the use of e-cigarettes on transit
property to the list of activities that are infractions. This
bill is currently pending in the Senate Appropriations
Committee.
SB 140 (Leno) - defines "smoking" to include the use of
e-cigarettes, and references this definition in relation to the
smoking activity included in existing law as an infraction on a
transit property. This bill is currently pending in the Senate
Appropriations Committee.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
SB 413 (Wieckowski) Page 4 of ?
Wednesday,
April 22, 2015.)
SUPPORT:
California Transit Association (sponsor)
Free MUNI For Youth Coalition
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART)
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority
OPPOSITION:
None received
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