Amended in Senate April 6, 2015

Senate Bill No. 523

Introduced by Senator McGuire

February 26, 2015

begin delete An act to amend Section 9552 of the Vehicle Code, relating to vehicles. end delete begin insert An act to add Section 39719.4 to the Health and Safety Code, relating to greenhouse gases, and making an appropriation therefor. end insert

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 523, as amended, McGuire. begin delete Vehicles: fees. end delete begin insert Schoolbus replacement. end insert

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Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the State Air Resources Board from the auction or sale of allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism relative to reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, commonly known as cap and trade revenues, to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and to be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for specified purposes. Existing law provides various programs to fund the acquisition of schoolbuses.

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This bill would create the Schoolbus Replacement for Small and Disadvantaged Communities Grant Program, and would appropriate $5 million annually from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to the State Department of Education for the program. The program would be administered by the department in conjunction with the State Air Resources Board, and would provide schoolbus replacement grants to school districts or county offices of education with an average daily attendance of less than 2,501 and with more than 50% of the pupil population qualifying for free or reduced-rate lunch programs, and to certain other eligible applicants. The bill would impose various requirements in that regard. The bill would also make legislative findings and declarations.

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Under existing law, fees required by the Vehicle Code are delinquent when a vehicle is operated on a highway without those fees first having been paid and when those fees have not been paid within 20 days of the vehicle’s first operation, subject to specified exceptions.

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This bill would increase that amount of time to 30 days.

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Vote: majority. Appropriation:  begin delete no end delete begin insert yes end insert . Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

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

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begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

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The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:

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(a) The Legislature has previously provided funding for
replacement of polluting and aged schoolbuses in small and
disadvantaged communities.

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(b) Schoolbus replacement programs currently exist in the Bay
Area and the Los Angeles Basin. For example, the Lower-Emission
School Bus Program is a partnership between the State Air
Resources Board and air districts, and is administered by the Bay
Area Air Quality Management District in the Bay Area. The goals
of that program are to reduce the exposure of schoolchildren to
harmful emissions of particulate matter, oxides of nitrogen, and
nonmethane hydrocarbons, which contribute to summertime smog.

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(c) Air districts currently evaluate qualified projects in
disproportionately impacted communities, according to regional
poverty level, particulate matter exposure, toxic exposure, and
disproportionate impact mapping that works to promote schoolbus
replacement in densely populated areas.

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(d) It is also necessary to provide funding for schoolbus
replacement in less populated areas with disadvantaged
communities.

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begin insert SEC. 2. end insert   

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begin insert Section 39719.4 is added to the end insert begin insert Health and Safety
Code end insert begin insert , to read: end insert

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begin insert 39719.4. end insert   

(a) The Schoolbus Replacement for Small and
Disadvantaged Communities Grant Program is hereby created,
to be administered by the State Department of Education in
conjunction with the state board. Commencing in the 2015-16
fiscal year, the sum of five million dollars ($5,000,000) annually
is hereby appropriated from the fund to the department to fund
the purchase of new schoolbuses to replace existing schoolbuses
by applicants eligible under this section. Funds made available
under the program shall be used to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions in the state in accordance with Section 39712.

(b) (1) A school district or county office of education with an
average daily attendance of less than 2,501, with more than 50
percent of the pupil population qualifying for free or reduced-price
lunch programs, shall be eligible to apply to the department for a
grant under this section.

(2) A school district or county office of education meeting the
requirements of paragraph (1) and providing pupil transportation
services through a cooperative, consortium, or joint powers
agreement, shall be an eligible applicant under the program.

(3) The Division of State Special Schools of the State Department
of Education shall also be an eligible applicant under the program.

(c) The State Department of Education shall develop priority
categories for funds available under this section based solely on
vehicle age and accumulated mileage. An eligible applicant shall
submit, as evidence of the condition of the vehicle to be replaced,
the most recent inspection report of the Department of the
California Highway Patrol, a repair estimate made by an
independent repair shop, and any other information requested by
the department.

(d) The State Department of Education shall estimate the cost
of a replacement schoolbus of the same capacity as the schoolbus
being replaced. Program funds made available to an applicant
for a schoolbus may not exceed that estimated cost. However, an
applicant may use other funds available to the applicant to
purchase a schoolbus that is more expensive than the model used
by the department to make its cost estimate.

(e) A schoolbus purchased with funds made available by this
section shall meet the requirements of federal Motor Vehicle Safety
Standard 222.

(f) (1) A schoolbus that has been disposed of is not eligible for
replacement under the program.

(2) For an eligible applicant with fewer than three schoolbuses,
a schoolbus shall be considered disposed of for the purposes of
replacement if it is designated as a temporary schoolbus. A
temporary schoolbus is a schoolbus that has annual mileage of
no more than 10 percent of the total average annual mileage of
all nontemporary schoolbuses of that applicant measured over the
prior five years.

(3) After a schoolbus is designated as a temporary schoolbus,
it may only be used as a schoolbus if it is in compliance with all
applicable provisions of the Vehicle Code and associated
regulations.

(g) Schoolbus purchases with funds made available under the
program shall be made by the Department of General Services,
to the extent practicable. The title to a schoolbus purchased by the
Department of General Services shall be in the name of the
applicant for which the schoolbus was purchased.

(h) Funds shall be made available for schoolbuses used in
special education in a proportion to total funding not less than the
proportion of special education schoolbuses to the total number
of schoolbuses in the state, as determined by the State Department
of Education. The department may adopt regulations to implement
this section in an equitable manner.

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SECTION 1.  

Section 9552 of the Vehicle Code is amended to
read:

9552.  

(a) When a vehicle is operated on a highway of this state
without the fees first having been paid as required by this code,
and those fees have not been paid within 30 days of its first
operation, those fees are delinquent, except as provided in
subdivision (b).

(b) Fees are delinquent when an application for renewal of
registration, or an application for renewal of special license plates,
is made after midnight of the expiration date of the registration or
special plates, or 60 days after the date the registered owner is
notified by the department pursuant to Section 1661, whichever
is later.

(c) When a person has received as transferee a properly endorsed
certificate of ownership and the transfer fee has not been paid as
required by this code within 10 days, the fee is delinquent.

(d) When a person becomes an automobile dismantler, dealer,
manufacturer, manufacturer branch, distributor, distributor branch,
or transporter without first having paid the license and special plate
fees as required by this code, the fees are delinquent.

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