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 generally 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 require each service authority to determine how those moneys received by it are to be used by the service authority for the implementation, maintenance, and operations of a motorist aid system, including 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 services, and safety-related hazard and obstruction removal. 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 implementation of a motorist aid system of call boxes pursuant to specified guidelines.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 2550 of the Streets and Highways Code
2 is amended to read:
The Legislature declares that its intent in enacting this
4chapter is to encourage a motorist aid system comprising multiple
5service elements and infrastructure along the California Freeway
6and Expressway System to enable motorists in need of aid to obtain
7assistance. However, it is not intended that a motorist aid system
8be considered an emergency system.
Section 2557 of the Streets and Highways Code is
10amended to read:
(a) Each service authority shall determine how moneys
12received by it pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 9250.10 of
13the Vehicle Code shall be used for the implementation,
14maintenance, and operation of a motorist aid system, including
15the lease or lease-purchase of facilities and equipment for the
16system, on the portions of the California Freeway and Expressway
17System and a county expressway system, and the unincorporated
18county roads in that county, and on state highway routes that
19
connect segments of these systems, that are located within the
20county in which the authority is established. The department and
21the Department of the California Highway Patrol shall each review
22and approve plans, pursuant to the “CHP/Caltrans Call Box and
P3 1Motorist Aid Guidelines,” referenced in Section 2421.5 of the
2Vehicle Code, for implementation of a motorist aid system of call
3boxes proposed for any state highway route and shall be reimbursed
4by the service authority for all costs incurred due to review and
5approval of the plan.
6(b) An authority or any other public entity may construct and
7maintain, and lease or lease-purchase on terms and conditions it
8deems appropriate, the facilities of a motorist aid system or it may
9contract with a private person or entity to do so.
10(c) If leases or lease-purchase agreements are entered into
11pursuant to subdivision (a), or if revenue bonds are issued and sold
12pursuant to Section 2558, the moneys received by each service
13authority pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 9250.10 of the
14Vehicle Code shall be used to the extent necessary to make lease
15payments or to pay the principal of, and interest on, the amount
16of bonded indebtedness outstanding, as the case may be. Facilities
17and equipment acquired through the expenditure of proceeds from
18the sale of those bonds shall have a useful life at least equal to the
19term of the bonds.
20(d) (1) Any moneys received and allocated by a service
21authority pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 9250.10 of the
22Vehicle Code may be used for purposes of paragraph (2) and for
23full implementation and ongoing
costs to maintain and operate the
24motorist aid system pursuant to subdivision (a), including, but not
25limited to, the following motorist aid and safety-related projects:
26(A) Call boxes.
27(B) Changeable message signs.
28(C) Lighting for call boxes.
29(D) Support for traffic operations centers.
30(E) Contracting for removal of disabled vehicles from the
31traveled portion of the right-of-way, including operation of the
32freeway service patrol pursuant to Chapter 15 (commencing with
33Section 2560).
34(F) Traveler information systems, Intelligent
Transportation
35System architecture and infrastructure, and other transportation
36demand management services.
37(G) Safety-related hazard and obstruction removal.
38(2) Any amendment to an existing plan for a motorist aid system
39of call boxes adopted by a service authority for any state highway
40route shall, prior to implementation, be submitted to the department
P4 1and the Department of the California Highway Patrol for review
2and approval, and shall not be implemented until so reviewed and
3approved pursuant to the “CHP/Caltrans Call Box and Motorist
4Aid Guidelines,” referenced in Section 2421.5 of the Vehicle Code.
5The service authority shall reimburse each department for the costs
6of that review.
7(3) Service authority
funding provided for projects described
8in subparagraphs (B),(F), and (G) of paragraph (1) is intended to
9supplement, and not replace, department expenditures for similar
10infrastructure and services on the California Freeway and
11Expressway System.
12(e) A service authority may develop policies for the retention
13of records, including, but not limited to, authority operations,
14contracts, and programs, and the length of the retention period.
15(f) A motorist aid system constructed, maintained, or operated
16pursuant to this section shall meet the applicable standards of Title
17II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (Public Law
18101-336) and federal regulations adopted pursuant thereto.
19(g) Nothing in this section relieves a service authority of any
20obligation under the law to receive appropriate permission or
21approval from the department for activities within rights-of-way
22under the jurisdiction of the department.
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