BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 681 (Hill) - Vehicles: right turn violations
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|Version: January 5, 2016 |Policy Vote: T. & H. 10 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: January 19, 2016 |Consultant: Mark McKenzie |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: SB 681 would reduce the base fine from $100 to $35 for
turning right on a red light, or turning left from a one-way
street onto another one-way street, without coming to a complete
stop.
Fiscal
Impact: Unknown, significant loss of state and local penalty
assessment revenues. As noted in the Background section below,
many of the penalty assessments, fines, and fees added onto the
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base fine for convictions of traffic infractions are dependent
upon the amount of the base fine. Reducing the base fine for
failure to stop before turning right on a red light, or turning
left from a one-way street onto another one-way street, would
result in the following reductions in fine and fee revenues for
each conviction:
State Penalty Assessment: reduction of $60 per conviction.
(State Penalty Fund, distributed to nine other Special Funds,
and county General Fund)
County Penalty Assessment: reduction of $42 per conviction.
(various Special Funds)
Court Construction Penalty Assessment: reduction of $30 per
conviction. (various Special Funds supporting court
facilities)
Proposition 69 DNA Penalty Assessment: reduction of $6 per
conviction. (primarily state or local DNA Identification Fund)
DNA Identification Fund Penalty Assessment: reduction of $24
per conviction. (primarily state DNA Identification Fund)
Emergency Medical Services Penalty Assessment: reduction of
$12 per conviction. (primarily Maddy EMS Fund)
State Surcharge: reduction of $13 per conviction (state
General Fund)
The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has conviction data
indicating that over 300,000 annual red light violations were
reported to them for assessment of a violation point in recent
years (356,000 in 2015 and 305,000 in 2014). Staff notes,
however, that there is no reliable statewide data on the number
of red light violations that are a result of a driver turning
right on a red light. For every 10,000 violations subject to a
reduced base fine, there would be a total reduction of $1.74
million in state and local penalty assessment revenues. (General
Fund, various Special Funds, and local funds)
Background: Existing law requires a driver to stop at an intersection when
faced with a steady red light or red arrow, and to remain
stopped until an indication to proceed is shown. Except where a
sign is in place prohibiting a turn, a driver facing a red light
who has come to a complete stop may turn right or turn left from
a one-way street onto another one-way street. A driver making
such a turn must yield right-of-way to pedestrians in an
adjacent crosswalk and to vehicles approaching until the driver
can proceed with reasonable safety. Failure to stop at a red
light is an infraction punishable by a base fine of $100.
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Failure to yield right-of-way to pedestrians or approaching
vehicles when making a turn after coming to a complete stop is
an infraction punishable by a base fine of $35.
In addition to base fines for traffic violations, existing law
imposes numerous additional penalty assessments, fees, and
surcharges for convictions of these infractions, which
significantly increases the total bail owed as a result of
violations. For example, the total bail on a violation with a
base fine of $35 is $238, and the total bail on a violation with
a base fine of $100 is $490 (not including fees associated with
traffic violator schools). Existing law specifies a complex
process for the distribution of fine and fee revenues to
numerous state and local funds. Some of these add-on fines and
fees were enacted to fund specific activities, such as emergency
medical services or DNA-related activities, while others support
general court operations, court facilities construction, or
state and local general funds.
The following assessments and fees are a flat charge per
conviction: a $4 Emergency Medical Air Transportation Penalty
Assessment; a $40 Court Operations Assessment; A $30 Conviction
Assessment Fee; and a $1 Night Court Fee. The following
charges, however, are dependent upon the base fine:
- State Penalty Assessment: $10 for every $10 of a base fine*
- County Penalty Assessment: $7 for every $10 of a base fine*
- Court Construction Penalty Assessment: $5 for every $10 of a
base fine*
- Proposition 69 DNA Penalty Assessment: $1 for every $10 of a
base fine*
- DNA Identification Fund Penalty Assessment: $4 for every $10
of a base fine*
- Emergency Medical Services Penalty Assessment: $2 for every
$10 of a base fine*
- State Surcharge: 20% of a base fine
(* the base fines are rounded up to the next $10 increment for
purposes of calculating the assessment)
Proposed Law:
SB 681 would specify that failure to come to a complete stop
at an intersection when facing a steady red light prior to
turning right, or turning left from a one-way street onto
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another one-way street, is an infraction punishable by a base
fine of $35.
Related
Legislation: AB 1191 (Shelley), Chap 852/1997, increased the
base fine for red light signal violations to $100.
AB 909 (Hill), which was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger in
2010, would have reduced the base fine from $100 to $35 for
turning right on a red light, or turning left from a one-way
street onto another one-way street, without coming to a complete
stop. The veto message included the following:
A driver running a red-light, whether they are traveling
straight, or turning right, makes a very dangerous traffic
movement that endangers the nearby motoring public,
bicyclists, and pedestrians. Modifying existing law to make
red-light violations from a right turn less egregious sends
the wrong message to the public that California is tolerant
of these types of offenses. It is our responsibility to
protect the motoring public and not increase the risk of
traffic collisions.
Staff
Comments: This bill would decrease the base fine for what many
consider to be a less dangerous form of red light violation than
running straight through an intersection or turning left on red.
The author contends that previous legislation that increased
the base fine for a red light violation to $100 was intended to
target straight through and left turn on red violations since
they are the most dangerous violations at intersections, but
that the measure inadvertently made right turn violations
subject to the same increased base fine. By reducing the base
fine for rolling right turns, this bill is intended to ensure
the penalty matches the severity of the offense.
The DMV reports the following conviction data on the number of
red light violations that were reported to them for assessment
of a violation point: 356,376 total convictions in 2014, and
304,970 total convictions in 2015. Staff notes that there is no
reliable statewide data on the number of red light violations
that are a result of a driver turning right on a red light. The
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author has provided data from cities where red light enforcement
cameras have been installed that indicates an average of 40% of
tickets issued for red light violations are a result of drivers
failing to stop before turning right on red (nearly 97,000 out
of a total of approximately 243,000 citations issued through red
light cameras in 2014). It is unclear that this percentage
would be applicable statewide due to variations in enforcement
across jurisdictions, but it appears safe to assume that the
reduced base fines in this bill would apply to citations
numbering in the tens of thousands in a given year.
Bill history: Staff notes that this bill was originally
introduced as a measure to address problems related to "patent
trolls," which was approved by this Committee last May. The
measure was subsequently amended on the Senate Floor to instead
address a corporation tax issue by denying a business expense
deduction for a fine imposed on the Pacific Gas and Electric
Company by the California Public Utilities Commission. That
version of the bill was eventually reported out of this
Committee pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. SB 681 was subsequently
amended on January 5, 2016 to remove those provisions and insert
the current language proposing to reduce the base fine for
"rolling" turns on a red light.
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