Amended in Senate May 22, 2015

Amended in Senate May 6, 2015

Amended in Senate April 21, 2015

Senate Bill No. 516

Introduced by Senator Fuller

February 26, 2015

An act to amend Sections 2550 and 2557 of the Streets and Highways Code, relating to highways.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 516, as amended, Fuller. Transportation: motorist aid services.

Existing law authorizes the establishment of a service authority for freeway emergencies in any county if the board of supervisors of the county and the city councils of a majority of the cities within the county adopt resolutions providing for the establishment of the service authority. Existing law authorizes a service authority to impose a fee of $1 per year on vehicles registered in the counties served by the service authority. Existing law requires moneys received by a service authority to be used for the implementation, maintenance, and operation of a motorist aid system of call boxes and authorizes moneys received by a service authority in excess of what is needed for that system to be used for additional motorist aid services, including, among other things, changeable message signs and lighting for call boxes. Existing law requires the Department of Transportation and the Department of the California Highway Patrol to review and approve plans, and amendments to plans, for implementation of a motorist aid system of call boxes.

This bill would begin delete instead end delete require begin delete that end delete begin insert each service authority to determine how end insert those moneys begin insert received by it are to end insert be used by the service authority for begin delete service expenses associated with end delete the implementation, maintenance, and operations of a motorist aid system, including begin delete the installation of end delete call boxes. The bill would additionally authorize the use of those moneys for traveler information systems, Intelligent Transportation System architecture and infrastructure, and other transportation demand management begin delete services. end delete begin insert services, and safety-related hazard and obstruction removal. end insert The bill would require the Department of Transportation and the Department of the California Highway Patrol to review and approve plans, and amendments to plans, for begin delete installation end delete begin insert implementation end insert of a motorist aid system of call boxes begin delete and any call box removal plan. end delete begin insert pursuant to specified guidelines. end insert

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 2550 of the Streets and Highways Code
is amended to read:

2550.  

The Legislature declares that its intent in enacting this
chapter is to encourage a motorist aid system comprising multiple
service elements and infrastructure along the California Freeway
and Expressway System to enable motorists in need of aid to obtain
assistance. However, it is not intended that a motorist aid system
be considered an emergency system.

SEC. 2.  

Section 2557 of the Streets and Highways Code is
amended to read:

2557.  

(a)  begin delete The moneys received and allocated by each service
authority end delete begin insert Each service authority shall determine how moneys
received by it end insert pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 9250.10 of
the Vehicle Code shall be used for the implementation,
maintenance, and operation of a motorist aid system, including
the lease or lease-purchase of facilities and equipment for the
system, on the portions of the California Freeway and Expressway
System and a county expressway system, and the unincorporated
county roads in that county, and on state highway routes that
connect segments of these systems, that are located within the
county in which the authority is established as well as associated
service expenses. The department and the Department of the
California Highway Patrol shall each review and approve begin delete plans
for installation end delete begin insert plans, pursuant to the “CHP/Caltrans Call Box
and Motorist Aid Guidelines,” referenced in Section 2451.5 of the
Vehicle Code, for implementation end insert of a motorist aid system of call
boxes proposed for any state highway route and shall be reimbursed
by the service authority for all costs incurred due to review and
approval of the plan.

(b) An authority or any other public entity may construct and
maintain, and lease or lease-purchase on terms and conditions it
deems appropriate, the facilities of a motorist aid system or it may
contract with a private person or entity to do so.

(c) If leases or lease-purchase agreements are entered into
pursuant to subdivision (a), or if revenue bonds are issued and sold
pursuant to Section 2558, the moneys received by each service
authority pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 9250.10 of the
Vehicle Code shall be used to the extent necessary to make lease
payments or to pay the principal of, and interest on, the amount
of bonded indebtedness outstanding, as the case may be. Facilities
and equipment acquired through the expenditure of proceeds from
the sale of those bonds shall have a useful life at least equal to the
term of the bonds.

(d) (1) Any moneys received and allocated by a service
authority pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 9250.10 of the
Vehicle Code may be used for purposes of paragraph (2) and for
full implementation and ongoing costs to maintain and operate the
motorist aid system pursuant to subdivision (a), including, but not
limited to, the following motorist aid and safety-related projects:

(A) Call boxes.

(B) Changeable message signs.

(C) Lighting for call boxes.

(D) Support for traffic operations centers.

(E) Contracting for removal of disabled vehicles from the
traveled portion of the right-of-way, including operation of the
freeway service patrol pursuant to Chapter 15 (commencing with
Section 2560).

(F) Traveler information systems, Intelligent Transportation
System architecture and infrastructure, and other transportation
demand management services.

begin delete

(2) Any amendment to an existing plan for a motorist aid system
of call boxes adopted by a service authority for any state highway
route and any call box removal plan shall, prior to the installation
or removal of the call boxes, be submitted to the department and
the Department of the California Highway Patrol for review and
approval and those call boxes shall not be installed or removed
until the amendment or removal plan has been so reviewed and
approved. The authority shall reimburse each department for the
costs of that review.

end delete begin insert

(G) Safety-related hazard and obstruction removal.

end insert begin insert

(2) Any amendment to an existing plan for a motorist aid system
of call boxes adopted by a service authority for any state highway
route shall, prior to implementation, be submitted to the department
and the Department of the California Highway Patrol for review
and approval, and shall not be implemented until so reviewed and
approved pursuant to the “CHP/Caltrans Call Box and Motorist
Aid Guidelines,” referenced in Section 2421.5 of the Vehicle Code.
The service authority shall reimburse each department for the
costs of that review.

end insert begin insert

(3) Service authority funding provided for projects described
in subparagraphs (B),(F), and (G) of paragraph (1) is intended to
supplement, and not replace, department expenditures for similar
infrastructure and services on the California Freeway and
Expressway System.

end insert

(e) A service authority may develop policies for the retention
of records, including, but not limited to, authority operations,
contracts, and programs, and the length of the retention period.

(f) A motorist aid system constructed, maintained, or operated
pursuant to this section shall meet the applicable standards of Title
II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (Public Law
101-336) and federal regulations adopted pursuant thereto.