BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 491
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Date of Hearing: August 19, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
SB 491
(Committee on Transportation and Housing) - As Amended June 29,
2015
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
No
SUMMARY:
This omnibus bill makes numerous changes to provisions of law
regarding transportation, including:
SB 491
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1)Removing the requirement for Caltrans to report the delivery
date of the construction phase of a project as erroneously
required by SB 486 (DeSaulnier), Chapter 917, Statutes of
2014.
2)Prohibiting the wearing of earbuds or headsets covering,
resting on, or inserted in both ears when operating a motor
vehicle or bicycle.
3)Restoring the California Transportation Commission's (CTC's)
authority to relinquish segments of State Routes (SR) 92, 185,
and 238 to the City of Hayward, if Caltrans and the City reach
an agreement. These provisions are identical to the provisions
of prior legislation granting CTC relinquishment authority for
these route segments [AB 1386 (Hayashi), Chapter 291, Statutes
of 2009], which were inadvertently removed by the 2012
Transportation Omnibus Bill, [AB 2679 (Committee on
Transportation), Chapter 769, Statutes of 2012.]
4)Making technical corrections to statutory provisions
pertaining to prior relinquishments to ensure the statutes
accurately reflect the statutory provisions authorizing those
relinquishments.
5)Making the Vehicle Code consistent with the principally at
fault accident determinations under the Insurance Regulations
by increasing the threshold for reporting an accident with
property damage to the DMV from $750 to $1,000.
6)Making numerous other technical and clarifying changes.
SB 491
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FISCAL EFFECT:
Negligible fiscal impact.
COMMENTS:
Purpose. The Assembly Transportation Committee and the Senate
Transportation and Housing Committee (Committees) traditionally
author an annual transportation omnibus bill, combining various
statutory modifications that are technical in nature,
non-controversial, and have no opposition into a single bill.
Suggestions for omnibus provisions are solicited from a broad
range of stakeholders. The Committees insist that the
transportation omnibus bill be a consensus measure, therefore,
if there is opposition to an item, it must be removed. There is
no known opposition to any item in this bill.
Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)
319-2081